I love the lights, music, and happy spirit of the Christmas season. Making gifts, decorating, baking and cooking, and watching heartwarming movies makes the holiday time fun and cozy. I sometimes become overwhelmed at the thought of all the presents to present to offspring, but I believe I have overcome that hurdle this year (more on that later).
In the past singing in various choirs has been a wonderful way to bring the holiday mood up. I haven't sung in a holiday choir for a few years, since I tend to get a bug in my throat at this time of year; I'm not fighting it, I am just lying low and enjoying everyone else's fabulous singing.
Here in the Northwest we have a situation that doesn't happen in every part of the country (though more in other parts): It's dark here A LOT. It gets fully light at about 8:00 AM, and fully dark by about 4:00 or 4:30 PM, depending on how cloudy it is. This makes for enhanced enjoyment of Christmas lights. Bless all of you who put up light extravaganzas and even leave them on until morning! I have been taking a 1-hour walk early in the morning (dark) and give many thanks for the lovely front yards and rooftops that have interesting, colorful shows, seemingly just for me. I have read this season comments on various blogs and news establishments about how un-green Christmas lights are, and how much it costs to have them going. Bah humbug to that! When you barely have 8 hours of daylight, Christmas lights are more than simply a way to celebrate the season, they truly light up lives. Mine, at least.
Do you have holiday traditions that help you enjoy the season?
3 comments:
Sometimes we carol people, if we can get up the nerve, with a guitar and tambourine.
We usually watch "Scrooge" with Albert Finney, to keep us humble. Dickens understood pride and created a masterpiece to illustrate it.
We leave our Christmas lights on all night over Christmas Eve, "to watch for Jesus to be born."
I agree Christmas lights aren't green, but I definitely think we should keep them anyway. We need something to brighten up the dark and rainy place in which we live.
I am just grateful that we have holidays - I suppose just having the day off is the tradition in and of itself. I've always had great angst because there is not any ONE particular thing I have to do every year to make it "Christmas".
I never truly realized until this year how much I LOVE music. For the first time ever, I had no voice - so singing beautiful Christmas songs was out of the question. I finally now understand how someone who cannot carry a note and LOVES singing feels. When I tried to sing, my head was carrying the tune and I tried to belt out the music the best I could - but I squeeked, and went terribly flat and sharp (both at the same time!)
Other than music, lights,and family - I guess my "traditions" aren't terribly significant.
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