Wondering about Christmas

In case you were wondering, the Christmas tradition is experienced in all parts of the world, not just in the countries that you would expect a tradition to be experienced, like Pakistan where the military finally located Osama bin Laden.  Of course, their traditions may not be similar to our tradition here in American but it is a Christmas tradition, nonetheless.

For this writer and I am sure not everyone shares my feelings, it is about the birth of a gift; a gift from our Creator to mankind; a gift of love, peace, harmony, and forgiveness.  A gift that helps us acknowledge and recognize the sacredness of life and of each other.  A gift of unsolicited grace.

As a boy, I remember the Christmas holiday in the community in which we lived:  Wellington Heights, Virginia.  A small, quiet, family oriented community where the parents would get together and decorate the largest in the yard Christmas Tree and everyone would gather there two days before Christmas to sing songs to each other and to walk around the community and sing songs to those who were sick for a hour or so and then we would meet at someone’s home for hot chocolate and doughnuts.  On Christmas Eve, a member of the community would dress up like Santa Claus and knock on everyone’s door and hand each of the children a present to hold us over until tomorrow:  a present with our very own name on it. 

Sometimes the parents would get together and buy the same toys for the boy and for the girls so that we could play during the holidays together; these gifts ranged from cowboy outfits, sleds, to bicycles as I recall.  Sad as I am about this, I cannot recall the gifts for the girls but I am sure it revolved around dolls.

Some Christmas Holidays, I remember the family driving to North Carolina to visit relatives and while I always liked these trips because I could lay down in the back of the station wagon while my Dad drove the car, I did not care too much for the relatives whose names I could never remember and who always said, “my how you have grown.”  Years later when I discovered others had these same experiences, I remember someone telling me when that statement was mentioned answered, “grown what?”  For several years after that moment of awareness, I was somewhat miffed at myself for not being clever enough to think of that statement on my own, but used it often nevertheless.

As I grew older and had my first child, a beautiful daughter, Christmas became a holiday of presents; presents that I could not really afford but ones that I wanted to give.  It was not until a divorce, remarriage, and a few years later that I stumbled upon the real meaning of Christmas.  I say stumbled because I sure was not looking in that direction at all, but I am now…