My Christmas
Christmas season is here! During this Yule season people start preparing for the celebration since Thanksgiving including me. For this year the day falls on Monday which I think is fortunate as we all get a long weekend being together with our families and get some time to relax at home or go traveling to somewhere that has been planned earlier.
My family's celebration of Christmas is amazing and 'remarkable'. It's all about reunion, food and gifts. It might sound boring to some people but to me, it is something that I look forward to it ecstatically every year. It is my most favorite celebration of the year. Christmas brings a lot of meaning to our family. Being brought up in a Christian family and church, we had already been told about the real and important religious meaning behind the celebration of Christmas when we were little. It's the day when little Jesus Christ was born to Mary at that night in a manger in Bethlehem. This true meaning has always been remembered by our family but for a lot of people, it has been forgotten over the years.
I remember when I was little, we would decorate our Christmas tree on the first day of December. We have a reusable tree, every year we would use the same tree and same ornaments. The only thing we had changed a few times was the lights. People believe this tree is green all year round and it's the easiest tree to find during winter time. It symbolizes the eternal and never changing love of Jesus Christ. The scent of the real trees definitely brings the 'holiday scent' to families. It's one of the essential things to have during Christmas to bring up the spirit at home.
Every year before Christmas, we would start shopping for Christmas presents for every member in our family. Some of my sisters who worked out of town would bring the presents back usually two to three days before Christmas and put all of them under the Christmas tree. As a kid, I enjoyed myself looking for presents under the tree that have my name written on them. I would spend my time doing that over and over again as I couldn't wait to open them up. I always believed the biggest box was the best present when I was little but this belief had changed when I grew up later. Not everything big is always good. As usual, my mom would be the cook of our Christmas feast which usually took place on the Christmas Eve. Some of the times we would have turkey and ginger house, but most of the times we would have roast chicken, some western inspired food and some Chinese food.
After dinner, my sisters and I would go to church and join the caroling group. The caroling group would visit to our church members' houses and sing some beautiful Christmas carols loudly and then say prayers for the families. We definitely brought the Christmas spirits to the atmosphere at my hometown. When people hear us, they would know Christmas is here. At that time, we were like performers where everyone would wait for us and some kids would wait outside the house to get sweets from Santa that came along with us. We would sing joyfully while walking toward the house. Once we finished our task of the night, we would go home as soon as we could to open the gifts together with our family. That was the happiest time we anticipated every year. Most of the time I would receive some clothing where I would wear them on the next day to the church, on the Christmas day. I usually received about eight or more presents and that was a lot!
I used to go to Sunday school when I was little. On Christmas day, our church would give away presents to students that have a good attendance rate and good scores on examinations. That was the time we could make our parents proud as the announcer would call out our names loud. It was a small church where everybody knows each other every well. At the end of the worship, all the kids would go up onto the stage and sing. The Santa Clause would then come in and go to the stage to give each of us sweets and cookies. Every kid loved this! Adults have gifts too, each of them would receive a simple gift such as a nice hand towel or soaps before we left.
I still miss my childhood Christmas. Until this day, my families still continue our traditional way of Christmas celebration. Even though I am apart from them, I still carry the same tradition in my family with my husband and our dog. It brings a warm, calm and peaceful feeling to my heart. No matter where we are, we should never forget the true meaning and value of Christmas. It is also a precious time to be with family and friends.
Merry Christmas everyone!
