Christmas Traditions

Happy rainy Monday!  I have made no secret of the fact that I am a Christian.  I can’t say if I was born a Christian, because I was adopted as a baby, but I was raised one, and I tried to instil my beliefs in my daughters, particularly around Christmas.

When my girls were young, one tradition we had was to have a birthday cake on Christmas Day, to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  It was made in the shape of a star and the frosting was always yellow.

One of the other traditions was to always get together as a family.  This was challenging for my siblings on the west coast, but those in Ontario got together Christmas Day and/or Boxing Day.  My daughters’ father had left before Kaitlyn’s first Christmas, so it was especially nice to be around family.

When the girls were quite young, we would go up to my parents home ahead of Christmas, but when my oldest was about four, she decided she wanted Santa to come to our house.  That began a many year tradition of going up to my parents (a nearly five hour drive) on Christmas morning.  It was very challenging in some of the weather we got around that time of year, but we managed it.

A newer tradition that my brother Paul started a few years ago, was the ‘Deck Paul’s Halls’ annual event.  It was intended to have the nieces and nephews decorate his tree, but there are a couple of aunts that seem to be more into it than the younger ones, but nonetheless, it is a great time to be together and we enjoy the time together.

Time goes on and traditions change a bit as families change, until we settle into new traditions.  We lost my mother just over ten years ago and then three years ago, my father sold the house, so we are settling into new traditions.  I must confess that my father has been away for a couple of Christmases, which makes me sad, but his girlfriend has so much of her family in Australia, I understand

Now, my girls come to my place for Christmas.  This year, my girls will arrive on Christmas Eve with their stepsister Victoria and Victoria’s boyfriend Shavoy.  This is kind of a bi-annual tradition.  Victoria is the daughter of the woman my ex-husband left me for, but Victoria and my kids seem to have been disowned by Gary and Litsa, so I am happy to welcome them all.  Victoria is a lovely person and we enjoy her company.

So, I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas, with all of your own traditions and pray that all of you have a prosperous new year!  God bless.