Keeping Christmas

"Ding dong merrily on high, the Christmas bells are ringing!"🎝🎜🎝!!!

Yes, they are still ringing because the 'Days of Christmas' actually conclude on January 6th and is called 'The Epiphany', which means to reveal,  as when baby Jesus was revealed to the world by the Magi when they saw gave gifts of gold, frankincense & myrrh, which were gifts for a king. Of course most of the world missed it anyway. & it will keep on missing it until we learn to 'Keep Christmas'.

I have decided to keep this swag as is, without the 'I', to keep reminding myself to keep Jesus birthday as the focus & not 'I'.

The top guy on the three tiered Mr. Lunt's (named after the Veggie Tale character) looks like he fell asleep!  A little early for that long winter's nap!

in the magic of Christmas...

Can't you just see it in kitty Patsy's eyes? This is the expression we should all have at Christmastime. Eyes & hearts full of wonder that is always new, always fresh.

I got this little girl caroler years ago because she reminded me of our little blondie. She always sang Christmas songs at the top of her tone-deaf voice! It was music to my ears though. 🎄 Another daughter went caroling this year with her church, an almost extinct tradition. One of the grandson's (he's 21!) went also. I love it!    

The Christmas Day feasting (or gorging or buffeting, pronounced buFFAYing, or smorgasbording the body until you are the one that's stuffed to the proverbial gills because the turkey has been reduced to a pile of picked clean bones) menu remains the same in my family, world without end, amen. But so far, the only one who will take the baton of feasting tradition is the youngest blondie caroler. I know that everyone has their own desire to create their own traditions, but some things CANNOT be improved upon. Like the traditional Christmas fare of turkey and/or ham or even a goose, with wild rice, cornbread, or dried bread cubes dressing. (Some people call it stuffing. Probably more appropriate!) fluffy, buttery mashed potatoes, all manner of vegetable casseroles & fruit salads, melt in your mouth made-from-scratch yeast rolls & whole berry cranberry sauce. I think most of us dream of the family Christmas dinner all year long, & not just because it starts the seasonal taste buds salivating, but traditions produce memories which produce connection, a sense of belonging & actually a community of family & friends. Mother's turkey & dressing. Aunt Cindy's Sweet Potato Casserole. Aunt Angela's baked garden Acorn Squash. Sister Erynn's Pumpkin & Pecan Pies. Grandmothers Plum Pudding. Aunt Matilda's Oyster Dressing. Uncle David's delectable Venison Summer Sausage, Granddad's superb antelope jerky, Great-Granny's fruitcake (gulp! 😧). The dinner table is spread with the burgundy & white homespun tablecloth, (this color chosen because it doesn't show spills as well.😌), the Christmas dinnerware is set with the pretty silverware, seasonal napkins & glass, green drinking goblets. Another table is set up on the side, groaning with the weight of all the combined family effort of food for the body as well as for the soul. Thus ensues eating accompanied by laughter, the same stories & jokes every year, but all dutifully laughed at & listened to, as if it were the first time told. Memories of Christmas pasts are partaken of, for everyone has one. Then, sighs of satiated appetites & "I don't think I can eat another bite", smiles of contentment & stomach patting, (later on more repast in all of the desserts!) The women whisk away the dishes to start on the monumental clean-up, & the men retire to the living room to talk their good-natured men talk (although no politics talking is allowed at Thanksgiving or Christmas. For obvious reasons. 😬)  I myself like this arrangement because I like the companionship & chatter among the women in the kitchen, making lighter work for all, talking about the children or grandchildren or just plain kind & gentle talk about our lives, laughing & expressing our individual 'homekeeper' expertise which all says 'love'. These changeless "no shadow of turning" traditions are part of our identity, our belonging as before said, this sense of community. Of course, this is only one way of keeping Christmas, but an important one.

Sameness. A good word. A necessary word. Same old Christmas carols, same family or friend though a year older, same evergreen wreath on the front door, same yards displaying colorful bright lights, some may be a bit garish, some simple & worshipful, some spectacular! Same hot cocoa before a crackling fire. Same mystery & secrets, same Christmas stories read aloud each night, same family Christmas pajamas, new or old, same excitement of expectation. & possibly the same post-Christmas  blues. But Christmas doesn't have to end with a date. Christmas was always meant to be a continuance of ongoingness. Let me share with you a part of a writing from Henry Van Dyke, a Presbyterian minister from the early 1930's.

"Are you willing to forget what you have done for others & to remember what other people have done for you, to ignore what the world owes you & to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background...to see that your fellow men are just as real as you are & try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints... & look around for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness...Are you willing to consider the needs & desires of little children, to remember the weakness & loneliness of people who are growing old, to trim your lamp so that it will give more light; to make a grave for ugly thoughts & a garden for kindly feelings, with the gate open. Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world; stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death? & that the blessed Life which began in Bethlehem over two thousand years ago is the image & brightness of Eternal Love? If you can do these things, daily, then you can keep Christmas. & if you can keep it for a day, why not always?"

So you see, we can CHOOSE to keep Christmas. Every day. Because, Jesus came & He showed us how. By laying down our lives for others, as He did for everyone, no one left out. No one.

"So we will not "spend Christmas nor "observe" Christmas. We will "keep" Christmas. May we keep it in our hearts, that we may be kept in its hope."  Peter Marshall

"That it may be said of each of us that we know how to keep Christmas well..." from "A Christmas Carol", Charles Dickens. & from the words of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, God bless us everyone."

Indeed...

Raintree Perk of the day: 

"Oh come let us adore Him,

Christ the Lord!"

THAT'S  keeping Christmas! Every day!