Standing on my Soap Box

On this day we are one month away from Christmas, and I gotta be honest with you. I don’t like this time of year. GASP! A born again, evangelical Christian who doesn’t like Christmas?? Sacrilege. Before you all get ready t tell me how I am a horrible person, let me explain.

Christmas is supposed to be all about the birth of Jesus Christ, but it is not! It is however, all about things like “Black Friday”, and the deals you can get, and the thrill of the hunt.

Please don’t get me wrong I LOVE a good sale and refuse to pay full price on most non food items. I can go and get new leather shoes that are worth $100 and pay only $30 for them, or I can save $70 on a new leather purse. My kids may wear some of the brand names like Hollister, or Aeropostale, but I refuse to pay full price for that, it’s only clothes, (or in my case, my fetish for shoes and purses), but that is not my point today.

My point today is that we have taken so much out of the celebration of the birth of a King, and in the month leading up to the day we celebrate his birthday (I have no idea if December 25th is actually his birthday or not, and that is not the point here) our focus isn’t on Him. Please don’t get me wrong, I do the shopping and the running around like everybody else, and because I am the queen of procrastination I do it mostly all in the last 2 weeks leading up to Christmas.  (much to the displeasure of my husband, he doesn’t like my procrastinating ways)

So what am I saying here? (Cause you know, being on a soap box, there has to be a point!) Let’s remember in all our running what the real meaning of Christmas is all about.

Now it’s time for me to get off my soap box and let’s have some fun… Christmas memories, do you have any special memories?  Seeing as I am older than 20 (times 2) I have a ton of memories from over the years.

When I was little the big thing was to go to someone’s house for Christmas Eve, and then come home to a surprise and see that “Santa” had been over early. I’m not sure how my young mind didn’t figure it out that Santa is supposed to come when you are sleeping, not when you are away.

Anyways, we would open our gifts Christmas Eve evening, cause I knew that the next day we’d be going to Carrick to go see my Grandma and Grandpa Rempel But you know, the funny thing is, now as a grownup I see the house grandma and grandpa lived in (my cousin owns their old house now) and I count how many people we would have had in that little house, and I wonder how we did it, and where did we all fit? How did we not get into arguments? There would have been at least 4 couples, two single people 2 babies in the house, my youngest cousin and I would have been about 5 and 7, and the house was TINY and full of furniture. But you know what those were the best times! Those were the times of love in a family – love of grandparents to their children, and grandchildren.

Traditions at Christmas as I grew up and continue to this day include French toast breakfast with bacon – it’s what we have every year since I was a kid. We eat, and open presents with my family, then the kids play, my husband, my friend and I clean up while my parents go home so my mom can get the turkey ready, then we head over to mom and dad’s and eat again. (As an aside, did you know that gluttony is the acceptable sin? it is ok, because that is how we fellowship! Ok, that doesn’t make it right, but it is what is accepted, sad isn’t it)

Now I think about Christmas morning now, and it is my parents, my husband and I, a friend of ours and my three boys.  Our house is 3 times the size of my grandparents (and trust me my house is not big, so you can imagine how small my grandparents was), and my kids get bored.

I don’t know about you, but I think as my kids get older we need to develop some new traditions… maybe even go out for a walk to wear of what we have eaten so far before we get ready to stuff ourselves on stuffing…

Until next time.