Christmas Thoughts: The Meaning Of Christmas

[andrewducker]

An hour ago it rained lightly, and afterwards the air was heavy with moisture, not quite thick enough to be mist. The setting sun, reflected through dust and clouds, turned a quarter of the sky pink, and lit the moisture from within, causing everything to glow in technicolor, as if I was living in The Wizard Of Oz. The hills and trees were supersaturated and everything was, for a moment, magical.

We were discussing in work last week what people associated with Christmas. And to one person it was having a large tube of Smarties and a large tube of Fruit Pastilles. Because her parents had given her one of each every year when she was a child, and they still did, even though she was now in her 40s with children of her own. And every time she got them, and with each one she ate, there was an explosion of childhood memory, from when Christmas was more magical to her.

In a few minutes* I shall go and have a shower, and put on something smarter than I am currently wearing. And I shall gather with my family at around the time that the first star appears, and we will turn down the lights, and play Christmas carols**. We will hug, and wish each other "Happy Christmas". And then we will pull out presents from under the tree, and pass them to the person they are intended for, until there is wrapping scattered all over the floor. And then we will tidy it up and eat the food that my father (with help from a variety of family members***) has spent hours preparing today.

And that's what Christmas means to me. To be inside, in the warm, with family, while outside it is cold and dark. To hear the music of my childhood Christmases, and to see the looks of happiness on people's faces when they open their presents.

What does it mean to you?

*We do presents on Christmas Eve, due to my paternal grandmother, around whom Christmas used to revolve, being from Austria, and that being the habit of _her_ childhood. I wonder how many generations are built on traditions designed to recreate the childhood of people long since dead.
**To which some of us will sing along, but it's not mandatory. Unlike the families of some my less fortunate readers my parents are not believers that if The Rules Of Christmas are not closely followed then Christmas Will Be Ruined.
***Not me. I spent the day installing Windows on my father's computer, a tradition in and of itself. It launches pretty damn fast from his new SSD. I'm envious!

Comments

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

So what do your lot do on christmas day itself then, if you do the traditional gift/meal type stuff today?

On which note, merry christmas old chap.

[andrewducker]

Same thing we do every day, try to take over the world!

(Christmas day itself is apparently supposed to be for prayer and quiet contemplation. So we use it to play with all the presents we got, feel stuffed and watch TV.)

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

We did something similar when I was a kid. On Christmas Eve we'd have a Polish style christmas with my paternal Grandmother, since she was originally from Poland and get presents from her and my parents. On Christmas day we'd go see our maternal Grandparents, exchange presents with them and have a more British christmas dinner.

I didn't realise for quite a while that other families didn't do things like that on Christmas Eve.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Mostly about family, and finding great gifts that you're certain the other person/people will enjoy. :)

My wife's family has always done Christmas on the Eve, which works well, because my family has always done it on the Day. Huzzah for no conflicts!

[naath.livejournal.com]

Christmas is about arguing with family members I usually try to avoid; and eating too much food :)

Oh, and about tacky multi-coloured lights on a tree covered in baubles collected over many years.

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

last year, I was in an unusually foul mood [partly due to being in a crap relationship, partly due to hating my job, being in constant pain, having no frickin money, generally being a dick etc etc]. Mum was in a foul mood because Daughter wasn't 'grateful' enough for all the shiny things.

and daughter was just generally upset because Mum and Dad were being assholes.

I took mum aside, told her to chill the fuck out: it was not Daughters fault that she had gone totally overboard and near killed herself with stress.
Mum took me aside and told me to cheer the fuck up. It wasn't Daughters fault that my life generally sucked.

This year has been vastly better. Much more mutual support, lost of positive time together, and for a really nice change I'm in a relationship that is both stable and makes me extremely happy.

So today has been spent making sure everything is ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow will be spent being as calm and relaxed as is humanly possible, because the year has been very rough for them and they need and deserve the nicest day possible.


and Monday, I catch a flight to Moscow. And hope, somewhat desperately, that nothing bad happens before the 5th - cos if it does, there's no way I can get back.

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

mainly it is an excuse to have a laugh with my parents, my brother and his wife. I can't really think of any specific things - we have a roast dinner, but we have one every Sunday (when we're home); we give presents, but there's only 5 of us so that's not a massive thing either and again it's a nice bit of fun. Drink beer and/or go to the local pub. Oh, go out for a walk somewhere, but we only started that when we moved up to Northumberland.

I often wonder how much I miss out on by not having a big family, but then I remember that there's never any rowing or fighting, not really, and we all get on great. So swings and roundabouts..

[octopoid-horror.livejournal.com]

The meaning of Christmas for me is depression, disgust at other people, bad memories and loneliness (the latter entirely by choice I should note). I dislike being around other people (be they friends, family or random types) at Christmas and can offer little Christmas cheer so hopefully am not missed, thus my plan is to spend it by myself.

I generally try to be as unchristmassy as possible on Christmas Day. This year it will involve a big pot of chilli and all four Terminator films.

The christmas day when I ate curry then watched Straw Dogs, Cross of Iron and Clockwork Orange was good.

I'm not one of these "GRR CHRISTMAS IS A CHRISTIAN THING SO YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE IT" types though, nor am I Oliver Cromwell - other people can do whatever they like for christmas/winterval or whatever and it's nice they have fun - I just don't want to have fun with them.

[random-redhead.livejournal.com]

I love that installing windows has become part of your tradition!

Family christmas means getting as many people as possible into the house (So no one is in their own bed or sleeps well), Kids can get up and open stockings - No Earlier Than 7am - and wake the visitors once the householders are up and getting breakfast together. Presents under the tree happen after the breakfast things have been cleared away and when My Dad (now known as GrandDad) is ready, he has always been the one who wont speed up him morning routine no matter how many excited children charge around. Young members of the family distribute the parcels from under the tree. Presents are unwrapped and exclaimed over, paper spread everywhere, preferably with help from dogs and or cats. Paper tidied up. Matriarch of house prepares christmas lunch with help from as many as will fit in the kitchen, Patriarch pours drinks for all. Keep the kitchen happy. Sit down to lunch about 3pm, roll away and snooze after, pref with family film, interspersed with dog walking. light evening food, cold buffet, not up to the table (Special treat) and sleep when eyes wont stay open any longer.

Personal christmas means saying no to all family offers due to *work* commitments. Just the two of us. presents may be before breakfast. breakfast may include alcohol. christmas dinner will be a late lunch, not on a table and I will need two plates for all the trimmings and vegetables. Key tv shows. going for a walk if there is snow. Its a time to slow down, relax and recharge. And eat about my body weight in food. I'm mainly looking forward to the vegetables. I think this means i've got old.

[diotina.livejournal.com]

Even though I'm not remotely religious, it is a time for me to catch up with myself and be grateful for all the friends and family I have and reconnect with those folk I haven't been able to make time for during the year.

I do like that I have been doing Christmas with O Leary-KittsCooke clan for three years now--it reminds me that it's never too late to start your own tradition.

[cosmolinguist]

Andrew tells everyone that I talk about Christmas Eve the whole year -- I didn't think I was that bad, but I might be.

There's been a lot more fluctuation in Christmas Day, but every Christmas Eve (except for the one when I was two days old) has been spent the same way: we go to my grandparents' house in the early afternoon.

The Catholics (which used to include my brother and I but is now just my dad, uncle and cousins) go to church in the afternoon. The Lutheran half of the family is much more relaxed about church.

My aunt, grandma and mom -- now with help from me, as they can't make me go to church any more -- finish the dinner that grandma's been working on all day, and it's more or less ready by the time church is over. My grandma's stuffing is amazing. Then all the food has to be put away and the dishes washed, before anyone opens any presents. This was an excruciating wait when I was a kid, and as soon as I was old enough to be trusted to not drop the china, I was helping dry the dishes to hurry it along.

Then my grandpa hands out all the presents from under the tree -- even this year, in his failing health, he started off this production with a hearty, sarcastic "Ho ho ho!" Everyone demurely hangs on to their presents until they're all handed out, then they are opened one at a time, in order of age (youngest first of course), even now the youngest will be 30 in a couple of months.

Then, when I was little my parents and grandparents used to play cards, in teams of the men against the women, and there'd never be such shouting and calling of people by their middle names (and this is before there was any wine at Christmas!) and shrieks of laughter. Now we all join in and we don't play cards because of my grandpa's poor eyesight, but we still stay up late and threaten to take back each others' Christmas presents.

[pisica.livejournal.com]

Chris and I rather liked being able to start our own traditions. :) We volunteered at a homeless drop-in centre and hung out at home the rest of the day. Opened pressies on the 24th because, well, we could! Also it was Hanukah. :)