Christmas and Holiday Traditions

Somehow we’d get to sleep. Excitement brewing. It was the night before Christmas.

Cookies and orange juice put out by the fireplace for Santa Claus. A note with coloured pencil crayons.

The best part of the morning was feeling the lump of my stocking at the end of the bed. Filled with little gifts neatly wrapped. Always an orange and jube jubes in the bottom.

The stocking was the start of Christmas day.

Only crumbs would be left on Santa’s plate.

Unraveling the memories of childhood. I think to today.

The time with family and friends. All together. The essence of last week and tomorrow forgotten. The mind in the sharing of the holiday.

Wrapped in love and joy, a dinner of turkey, gravy, winter vegetables and cheer.

I’ve made my own traditions.

The cranberry-orange chutney. The ginger-molasses cookies. Shaped in hearts. Sprinkled with love.

Even for my little nieces.

They get something straight from my heart.

Ma’s Open House on Christmas Eve lives on.

This year’s cross-generational guests presumed innocence.

What a delight to giggle and share all the yearnings for the year. Fantasizing the non-fictions for the future.

It was so pleasurable today to read an pal’s Facebook post. The skid of consumerism slowly being unfolded to a donation of choice to a developing country. Aid for water, food or education. Their choice.
His children are young teenagers.

Old traditions, new traditions.

We're certainly in charge of making are own holiday traditions.

Aren't we!