Telling Your Story
The look, the scent, the feel of Christmas is everywhere. Trees are lit, city streets are decorated, annual parades, plays, light displays, gatherings and events are underway.
Have you watched an evening Christmas parade in your town? Have you sat down to watch It's a Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?
Are favorite Christmas tunes playing on repeat in your home, vehicle or barn? It isn't quite full-on Christmas for me until I listen to the Flying W Wranglers Christmas album and a good rendition of the Little Drummer Boy.
Do the decorations remain the same year after year? Is the tree and nativity scene placed just so? Are the wreaths on doors and in windows, centerpieces, mantle pieces and stockings hung in order?
And how about the food? Here, the same favorite cookies and treats are baked each year. Hot, fresh, sticky, pecan rolls out of the oven on Christmas morning, Grandma's sloppy joe recipe and a favorite Jello salad made once a year for Christmas Eve supper after the candlelight service, the same cake roll with ice cream filling, a pumpkin cake roll, and homemade buns are worked into the various family gatherings every year. They all factor in to make home for the holidays real and not just a cliché. One of my favorite Christmas traditions is to get out and look through the cookbooks and recipe boxes from my mom, Grandma and Mr. Beren's grandma. It's a way to remember the women in my family tree, a way to remember how they built and maintained holiday tradition.
There is one tradition that I secretly wish I would not have begun—fresh, hot, sticky pecan rolls on Christmas morning. Now I must live up to expectations or face the sad puppy eyes of disappointment from an expectant family on Christmas morning. Never mind I have to get up extra early to make these magical once-a-year delicacies happen. I did not choose this tradition wisely when I had the opportunity many years ago! Considering they only get made once a year, I will carry on, loss of sleep or not.
Christmas holiday traditions wrap us in a sort of security blanket in a world moving like a runaway train. We can count on a little part of life within our control to remain the same, even if we don't accomplish every single item on our Christmas tradition schedule or take some shortcuts here and there.
Home. Nesting. Family. Closing the door to the world's noise and distraction. Bathe in the quiet truth of Christmas. The making of memories is in those traditions.
We never know when a loved one or ourselves will spend the last Christmas together around a table filled with food, laughter and love. I'm not being morbid, we simply don't know. Memories made during the holidays will carry us when someone is gone—or carry them when you are gone. Holiday traditions are more than something we do every year just because. There is an underlying cause and effect, subtle, but oh so important.
Holidays are a time to make the most of the here and now by leaning into the good things and traditions, both large and small. Be present, take it all in, be grateful for the traditions and people that are part of it and don't forget to express gratitude toward the people who are part of the traditions.
Bev Berens is a freelance writer and empty nester from Vestaburg, Mich. She can be contacted at uphillfarm494@yahoo.com.