Christmas this year

When I think about my memories of Christmas, I can't remember a single one on which I did not wake up on Christmas morning at home with my grandparents - until this year.   We didn't have tons of traditions, but we were always together on Christmas day.  Maybe not doing a whole lot, but together and usually eating a meal of some kind!  I miss that.  I miss waking up in a house with people that i love and that know me and don't care if I stay in my pj's until noon.

I am realizing that when family members are no longer with us, especially matriarchal family members,  traditions can be lost too and leave you wondering what to do on Christmas and even other holidays or special days.  So, in remembering and cherishing the traditions I had with my grandmother, I'm seeing that I get to make some new ones up for me and maybe for a family I might be part of one day.  It's not so much that I must have traditions, but I think traditions help us, well at least they help me, to remember the little things and to celebrate being together.

Among those traditions, I want there to be a great cooking of breakfast!  Breakfast is my favorite, and it's so much more fun to cook a big breakfast for lots of folks you love.  So, breakfast it is.  Another tradition I want to start is doing an advent wreath and devo at home.  We do it at church, but I would like to do a personal/family one.  A third possible tradition is the giving of new pajamas at Christmas.  I'm sort of borrowing this one from friends, but I think it's great, and who doesn't like pajama pants?  And last on my list of traditions to try out is doing something on Christmas that is memorable and that is giving of myself to another.  I hear about people going caroling at a retirement home on Christmas day or visiting people who can't get out, or maybe inviting someone to Christmas dinner...whatever it is, it will be about  remembering God's gift to us at Christmas and then sharing that gift of Love and Grace with another. 

I've enjoyed reading through Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri Nouwen lately...tonight even: "Christmas is the renewed invitation not to be afraid and let him - whose love is greater than our own hearts and minds can comprehend - be our companion."

I'm remembering something the pastor from my church said a few Sundays back.  It went something like this:  Christmas is a time for those who have drawn away from God and who have been drawn away to come back to Him. 

This year I will wake up on Christmas morning in my apartment in Oxford, just me and my canine roommate,  and I will celebrate the birth of the One who saved me and who gives me hope for this life and life eternal.  I might be tradition-less for now, but not for long :-)

Merry Christmas...