I apologize, I am behind on my posting. Not on our activities, but on my posting. :P
I had a pretty happy childhood, all things considered. Sure, our family had its dysfunction, and I had your typical childhood happenstances and issues. But overall, it was a pleasant childhood and I credit my parents mostly with that. Well, and God. :) I'm sure He had a heavy hand in all of that ;).
Ever since I was a small child, I wanted to be a mom. And I wanted to recreate some of those aspects of my childhood for my own children, because they are what I hung onto when the days were dark. I wanted to give them roots, memories, and connections. So I purposed that I would carry on some of the family traditions and make my own. I'm all about family, and all about tradition. I can even remember being as young as 6 and knowing that someday, if I ever had a daughter, her middle name would be the same as mine--just as my middle name was the same as my mothers, and so on. And while the first name changed just about every 6 months ;), I always knew I would pass that on. And I did.
One thing that was special about both my parents, but especially my mother (or maybe I just remember her more?) was their ability to make every day, ordinary occurrences special and magical. Every year during the Christmas season, we'd watch a few particular movies that happened to come on TV at the time. We'd look forward to them all year.
One movie that my Grandma recorded for us (she had cable! and knew how to work her fancy VCR!) was "Home Alone". And some of the lines in that movie are classic among my family. We still laugh about memories surrounding that particular movie. It's kind of a violent movie, filled with bratty behavior, so I waited to share this particular movie with my kids. But this year, it seemed appropo. So on Thursday, our activity together was drinking eggnog and watching "Home Alone."
The girls enjoyed it, and I was transported back in time, cherishing the connection to my past--my siblings and I all together on the family room couch (we used to all fit! Now our hips get in the way LOL) watching and laughing--and my future--my precious girls. We enjoy other viewings of movies, like "Elf" and "It's a Wonderful Life" (my all-time Christmas favorite, and I cry every single time). We like to watch movies together (within reason of course for the girls), so it's a pleasant and often conversation-sparking thing we do. And I LOVE Christmas movies especially :D So I enjoy sharing them with my kids.
There wasn't any particular spiritual point to this activity, but sometimes expressing Christ is simply expressing His love and principles to each other. We won't take anything but each other with us to Eternity (and even that, or rather the degree, is under some debate), and I firmly believe that people and relationships--with God and with each other--is The Point.
And when we purpose to live a life of peace, joy, and purpose, the connections we create naturally flow out of goodness and kindness. Love is the operative word. Sure, it might not be the most fun thing for the parent to read the same darn book 50 times in a row, or watch the same movie until your kids get sick of it, which is usually FAR after you are. Yet, it brings you closer together. Practicing service and love to each other can only serve to better you and the people you are serving and loving.
And I encourage you to connect to your own past, and find the beauty and joy in the traditions that shaped you, and share them with others you love. It's just all the more special and wonderful that way. :)
2 comments:
I'm with you on the Nostalgia, Melissa. I remember a few years back, spontaneously bursting into tears (well, okay, not bursting, but eyes watered) as I thought about how many memories I have tied to this season. Most of them involve Auntie Robin's house, the smells coming in from the kitchen, trying to fit 20+ kids and a dozen adults into her living room, already dominated by a massive tree full of presents. I remember Corrie getting in trouble for running her hand through the candle flame because they said she was setting a bad example.
I remember the year we all got chicken pox! AHHHHH! That was fun, huh? Thank God we only had to do THAT once.
I don't think I really thought about it consciously at the time, but somewhere in my mind, I knew I was blessed to have such a big family that was so cohesive and could do things together, and no matter how long we were apart, the instant we were all in one house, it was like we never left.
Now, as to movies and book traditions, being a member of the 'Bad' Stephens, ours were a little off the beaten path. We watched Edward Scissorhands and the Nightmare Before Christmas and read the Hogfather by Terry Pratchett (still my favorite Discworld novel). I remember Dad explaining what Hannakuh was and telling the story of the Macabees. I thought that while it was good that we never lost focus of what we were celebrating,it was great that we could explore what other people celebrated too and just be aware of these other cultures and their traditions.
Of course the downside of this season is it makes me miss Grandpa, as I'm sure is the case for most of the cuz's.
Anyway, that's a lot more than what I thought I was going to say, but this is a pretty memorable season for all of us, I think.
We should compare more stories!
Yes...I think in some ways Christmas always holds a pang for me remembering *both* my Grandpas, because of course they were both part of Christmas. Grampa Bob, I had a lot longer, but remember him playing Santa lol...and Grampa Ronnie, I thought he WAS Santa when I was little. He passed during the Christmas season, which of course makes that all a little harder.
You know what says Christmas to me? Aunt Randee's sugar cookies. Even though she makes them at other times of the year.
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