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All of the Christmas shopping is finished and all I have to do now is to prepare Christmas Eve dinner. Each year our immediate family have dinner together at home. Dad and I cook it with all the trimmings and we settle down with "Carols By Candlelight at the Myer Music Bowl" playing in the background. There is just the the four of us, although over this past few years that four increased to five or six. If it is a hot evening we will set the table down near the pool under the shade of the trees. How lucky are we Aussies to be able to enjoy a meal out doors. Some friends in Texas has just had their snow commence and now have a fire burning 24/7. The very first snow measured 5 inches and they said that it was so beautiful that they went hiking to take photos of the prarie lands. How wonderful. However, several days later the snow was so heavy that the roads required clearing in order to allow people nto travel to work.
On Monday evening Ms. K and I took her Grandmother for a drive to see some of the homes whose front yards were adorned with Christmas lights. There are so many people who go to so much trouble to bring a little Christmas cheer to the rest of the community by designing and setting up rope lights, LED lights, net lights and loads of inflatables and ornaments in the windows which include nativity scenes, reindeers, elves, santas and slieghs, all amongst flashing Christmas lights. There is usually music playing and it is all worth a visit to just see the looks on the faces of the visitors. In a country where it is usually quite hot at this time of year the decorated yards truely bring a sense of spirit to the season. We loved every minute of the outting and arrived home smiling. Merry Christmas everyone!
When my children were very little I decided to buy a Christmas CD each year until we built a collection of Christmas songs to play in the lead up to Christmas. I will never forget playing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” over and over again for Alex who would stand and dance and try to sing this song. I think he was about three years old at the time. His excitement levels would rise to a point where he would jump off the arm of the lounge chir telling everyone that he was pretending to be Santa Claus flying through the air and that it was the most wonderful time of the year lol.
Nowadays so much has changed. One only has to watch the evening news to realize that Christmas is more a survival time of year. A time seeped in stress, depression, grief, mounting debts and unemployment. For many people this special time of year is a period so congested with social obligations that there is little time to enjoy one’s self. Indeed, many even talk about “getting through the Christmas frenzy” or the “silly season”. I sat at the hairdressers last Saturday and listened as many of the other patrons complained about not knowing what to buy their families who already had everything; they were “over” Christmas before it had even started. How sad I thought to myself afterall, it is the most wonderful time of the year. 
Whatever happened to those Christmas’ of old where the wonder and awe of the festive season existed? Whatever happened to the days when singing Christmas songs and setting the Christmas table together brought smiles to everyone’s faces regardless of age? J and I have always tried to make Christmas at home here a stress free event and I have always found that the simplest of Christmas’ have been the most enjoyable. As little children grew older we made time for a special meal for our little family; usually it was Christmas Eve, the rest of the time was left for visiting or entertaining extended family. That special meal was a time to relax and enjoy quality time together. I guess we sat together seeped in sharing and caring. As the years passed by and little people became adults we moved the special meal to Boxing Day brunch so that any pressure to be at the boyfriend’s place or the girlfriend’s place…was removed. No matter when our time together is…we try to engage a true celebration of Christmas joy, for if we get caught up in the exhaustion of consumerism and outdoing each other, we eventually miss the true meaning of Christmas.
This year we are going to Grandy’s house to share lunch on Christmas Day. Some of the extended family will also come. After lunch we plan to play cards and drink a toast to Grandma who is no longer with us. It will be very relaxing and I look forward to it very much.
Christmas presents, although important, have never been the priority of our Christmas’ and this year J and I have talked to the children about how we can “do” the present tradition a little differently yet again. We are thinking of perhaps a short holiday later in the year together. Immediately at Christmas our favourite pressie is our special Christmas meal together and after all these years we still sing out aloud while setting the table together, we share in the memories of Christmas' past and we make a point to hold on to the joy of Christmas. We tell of the little boy who danced over and over again to the "most wonderful time of the year" and the little girl who dressed her dollies in red and white and another little boy who sat in a toy trolly pusghed by his older sister and brother delivering toys to the teddies and dolls lined up against the wall. Everyone smiles and joins in with yet another story. I do love Christmas time!
