My family has always strove to keep Christ in Christmas, making sure the kids always knew the reason for the season. But while doing this we have also allowed room for the magic of Santa too. So up until recently, on Christmas Eve, we set out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer. Occasionally, Santa has decided to knock on the back door, exclaim “ho ho ho” amid a flourish of jingle bells, and leave a gift for each child on the back deck on Christmas Eve. It’s usually a pair of new pajamas they can wear that night. Santa has also left muddy footprints on the kitchen floor along with a few Santa hairs on the empty cookie plate for the kids to find in the morning. Nothing like evidence that Santa has been there to add to the magic!

On Christmas morning, so unlike their mother, my two youngest are up before dawn. I can hear them running back and forth from the living room where their gifts are, back to their rooms, whispering excitedly. My husband and I tear ourselves from the warmth of the blankets, and I go to wake up the older siblings that do take after their mother. They all have a place where their gifts are placed, so they sit patiently waiting while I grab the camera and that much needed shot of caffeine. Every thing ready, we all sit and someone reads from the Bible the story of the birth of Christ, and what this day is all about. It is the calm before the chaos. Once we are done reflecting, the gifts are opened starting with the youngest. While they are opening gifts I preheat the oven for the cinnamon rolls I fix every year. They are not homemade, but still a treat nonetheless. After all gifts are opened and “Thank you’s” exchanged, we begin the clean up, trying not to throw away any new things that got mixed up in the paper.

Although I was raised with a big Christmas dinner being served, we have chosen to make it a day of snacks and homemade pizza. My parents come over and my mom and I fix it all and lay it out on the table. Everyone is free to eat as much as they want all day long. This is a treat for my kids since these are things they don’t normally get and they are never allowed to eat all day long! We then all sit down and watch movies or play games.
I have realized over the years in talking to different friends here in DeSoto, Missouri and abroad, that not everyone celebrates the day in the same manner. Some get up early on Christmas morning and go to church. Some have elaborate meals served at beautifully set tables and others choose to forgo all the fuss and just go out to eat.

To some, Jesus does not even gain a mention, rather it’s about the gifts and partying. Others spend the day or even the whole week traveling to visit friends and family. And of course there are those that insist it’s just another day like every other and don’t celebrate at all, the “Scrooge” spirit prevailing. Regardless how any of us spend the season, we all have our own traditions and ways of recognizing what this time of year means to us. Those ways may change throughout the years as family and friends increase or decrease. We may add traditions as we go, replace things on the menu, or add a whole new menu. The “to buy for list” may lengthen, or get shorter according to our finances. No matter how different our traditions are from others, it still boils down to the same things. Christmas is about being with, giving to, and receiving from those we love, reaching out to those less fortunate, and celebrating the gift of a Savior. Hopefully, those of us who do have are reaching out to those that don’t. And if you or I are ever one of those who don’t have finances to give of material things, we always have ourselves.

Our time, our friendship, our love, our service. This can be applied to our relationship with God as well as friends and family. If you are alive, it is a gift to you. So try to wade through all the stress of the season and find what it is you can do to make the season bright. Build traditions and return to them yearly. Make a memory.