Saturday, December 24, 2011

A "different" kind of Christmas

 Merry Christmas Eve!


Today there's no hustle and bustle - it's going to be a laid back, peaceful kind of day.  The kind that we talk about having if all the food were ready, the gifts bought and wrapped, the traveling safely completed. 


I am at home, drinking my Christmas Eve coffee (which is undeniably my Saturday morning coffee, my spring and fall coffee, my coffee with friends) and it's a peaceful way to start this day.  Ottmar Liebert's Christmas Santa Fe is playing in the background and I'm taking some small strolls down memory lane:   of memories past and memories not yet made, for they are all important.  I'm 'connecting' with friends via FaceBook and experiencing their day (your day) in ways I wouldn't otherwise get to do.  I love that about Social Media even though I do believe that we need to be a bit cautious about 'all' that we share.  But I digress - that's another blog for another day.  

So why, or how, you ask, is this a 'different' kind of Christmas.  Well, to start with I want to say that I'm not a Scrooge!  I L. O. V. E. Christmas!  I love the anticipation of Christmas, the days and weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas when the world takes on a glow, an energy, a joy in the midst of craziness of Black Friday and Cyber Monday and people lining up to give away their money in a frenzy!  Been there, done that, might even do it again some day.  

But not this year. This year is different.  

Again.  

Different. 


Not bad.  Just different. 
  
Eight years ago, we began to be 'different'.  My Mom died in 2003 and that Christmas was our first 'different'.  It was hard, we were grieving, and we adjusted.  My sister and I learned how to do Christmas again, creating new traditions.  Prior to that, our Christmas' traditions stayed the same for many years.  Christmas morning started at my sister's home - we got to see what Santa brought my nephews! Then we'd head to Mom's house for gift giving and receiving and oh-such-wonderful food! 

And we'd pull out the Twister board.  

Twister, you ask? What's up with THAT?  Well, only one of our best, most funnest traditions started oh-so-long-ago by our sweet boys who enjoyed the gifting as much as anyone.  

We dividing into 'teams':  red, yellow, blue and green.  (The tiny purple mark - that was the 'team' that Andrew created for Mom.  Last Christmas, with both Mom and Andrew gone, we landed on purple!  Thanks for joining us, you two!)  We'd spin and that team would open a gift each - wow - we could really enjoy our time, stretching out the gift giving, watching each person open their gift, oooooh'ing and aaahhh'ing over them!  


Good times!


Times I miss.  I miss them because I miss the folks who are missing from our family.  I miss them because I do love tradition - that something to count on to be the same when so much changes.  (I wonder if I could toss in another 'miss' or two in that sentence?)


So what's changed this year?  The decorations you see are from last year.  I decorated my patio and hung some lights up the staircase banister.  Neither my sister or I put up a tree.  I've heard that from many people - that they just did not decorate this year.  That's different too.  In all my years as a therapist, I've not heard so many people say that they just did not decorate this year.  I hope that they are enjoying this day in a different kind of peace of the season.  I hope that they are realizing that it's not necessarily the tree, the lights, the shopping that make the season 'merry and bright'.  I miss the tree and will have it again, but I'm ok with this year's 'different' Christmas.  Last night, we Skype'd for Christmas since Matt 'n Kelsie couldn't be here with us.  Deb at her house, me here baking a pumpkin cheesecake to take to Dad's, M 'n K in the ATL with Buddy and Macy!  Next Thanksgiving, I'll remember to be extra grateful for Skype in our lives!  Getting to spend time with them, watching them open their gifts, was ALMOST as good


If there's one thing we can count on - next year will likely be another 'different' Christmas.  So, I'm heading to the kitchen to play around with something else to take for Christmas lunch.  It's a laid-back Christmas Eve.  I hope yours is Merry and Bright, quiet and calm, filled with joy, peace and laughter.  


Merry Christmas!