Thoughts on Christmas

I have been thinking a lot about Christmas lately.  Who hasn’t?  While I am not “old” yet, I have been around for a lot of Christmases.  There are a lot of things which have changed over the years, and a lot of other things which are the same.  One thing that hasn’t changed over the many Christmases of my life time is the interest in special treats for the holiday.  My mom was one who loved to make holiday treats.  She made holiday breads, candies, cookies, and even a sweet roll Christmas wreath.  I was usually her helper, being the only daughter, and have fond memories of making treats with Mom.  Many of the treats were gifts for the neighbors.  She would even leave a loaf of sweet bread on the mailbox for the mailman and one on our garbage can at the curb for the garbage man.  I don’t make many of those treats any more, but one of my daughters really likes the cookies we used to make with a cookie press (which I now own) and my other 2 daughters love the peanut butter fudge.  Occasionally we make some of the treats that my mom did, and we always think of my mom when we do. Even my nieces and nephews think of Grandma when they make the family’s traditional treats.

Shopping for gifts or making gifts is still the norm for Christmas, even though malls were not around when I was younger.  I would have enjoyed going to the mall just to see the decorations then, now I try at all costs to avoid the mall at Christmas time.

Christmas lights are the same and yet different now.  I used to love when we would pile into the car (without seatbelts) to drive around the wealthier parts of town to see the decorated houses.  I loved one house that always looked like a castle from a distance.  Now, we go to a place that has light displays, where we pay to drive around slowly and let the grandkids ohhh and ahhh over the lighted reindeer jumping over the road and a large Santa waving at us.  I would probably make my husband take me each year to see the lights even if we didn’t have grandkids around to go with. 

As our lives become more busy and hectic, it seems harder each year to take time to remember the reason we celebrate the season.  I pulled out some nativity storybooks today to read to my grandchildren tonight as we go to see the lights, so that we can talk about the real meaning of the things we do at this Christmas season. And when we are done, maybe we will come back here to drink hot chocolate and eat peanut butter fudge.

~Gayle