The holidays that happen during December are one of the most prestigious holidays in my Country. It almost feels like everything pauses while all households get into the mood of the occasion. There is so much desire to enjoy and we all have good reasons to do so. It's a good time to relax, spend quality with family, and do anything you feel like doing to make the best of the season.
Each household probably has its way of celebrating the season. Mine is not different although I have to say that you can easily build a rollercoaster based on my family's up-and-down approach to each Christmas celebration. Some years we gather together as a family to celebrate the occasion. In other years, only those who are within proximity go home to celebrate.
There are certain things about how my family celebrates this season which are quite flexible. However, there is another side of it that has become a tradition.
Let's have a look at those things;
1. Observing the Religious Element of the Season.
I was born into a family of Catholics and we always find ways to get actively involved with the series of religious and spiritual events that unfold during the Christmas season. It's one of the traditions we follow in our home and we stick to it regardless of how tired any of us may be.
My Mum in particular is the one that led us in this direction. She runs a business of her own as a seamstress and this is the business she's been doing since she was a teenager. Her business is usually very busy during festive seasons and she comes home late in those seasons. You can only imagine how tired she would be at those moments.
Regardless of how tired she is and all the stress she has to go through during the day, she still gets involved with religious activities during Christmas, especially the Vigil Mass that's usually celebrated on Christmas Eve. Since we grew up under her watchful eyes, we all still maintain this tradition to this very moment.
2. Sumptuous Meals must be available.
My family has never known what it truly means to be RICH in the real sense of being rich. We struggled with many things that could be taken care of with money and it was quite obvious when I was growing up. Being from a Country like ours also had its role to play in making life tough for us.
Regardless of all that, one of the things we always do is to make sure that there are a lot of sumptuous things to eat during the Christmas season. My Mum does her best to be done with the kitchen work before noon. Of course, we all assist her in doing that so everything can get taken care of ASAP.
Even when we were in a very bad financial position, we still tried as much as possible to have something good to eat on those days. I practice that at the moment despite not living together with family. Regardless of how busy I am, I usually respect that tradition and make an effort to have something nice to eat on Christmas days.
Those are part of the things I understand to be part of my family's December tradition. It doesn't matter if we are celebrating together under the same roof or doing it individually. I'm always sure we will do each of those as part of the celebration.
Thanks For Not Missing Any Full-stop or Comma.
Thumbnail Image is taken from Unsplash