Tags
carols, christmas, Christmas 2016, decorations, family, lunch, ornaments, sharing, traditions
Well, here we are in full blown Christmas mode for another year. For some reason I feel Christmas has come early this year and haven’t quite felt prepared for it but have spent the last two weekends getting into the spirit.
And today I was thinking about
What I love about Christmas…
Over the past few years and since I have been able to buy a few lovely decorations for my tree, I am loving the beautiful Christmas decorations you can now find. Gorgeous ornaments to place on your tree, glass baubles, whimsical and beautiful decorations you can find almost anywhere now, but particularly those in home ware stores or my favorite boutique stores. Each year I am beginning to buy a special ornament so that eventually, I will have a lovely collection to pull out each Christmas. This year I found the most beautiful snow globe with a Santa inside giving presents to a child. It was a reproduction of an ornament from old and looks just like it came out of the 1950’s
I love beautifully set dinner tables at Christmas time. My mum used to bring out her good silverware and silver candlesticks to lay on the Christmas table each year. As a young girl it was my job to polish all that silver which I did so patiently as I knew they were Mum’s pride and joy. On Christmas Eve, she would let me unlock the crystal cabinet and carefully help her bring all her beautiful plates, white with gold trim and her crystal bowls which she would fill with nuts and lollies of all colours. Dad would have his old records playing over and over while this very important activity was going on, getting ready for the next two days, Christmas Eve festivities with Mums side fo the family, then Christmas lunch with the eight of us, then boxing Day was when Grandma visited and we had another big lunch.
and I love spending time with my family at Christmas…
So much has changed since those days.. now that my own children have grown and we have moved away, we need to make our own traditions and we are slowly working out what suits everyone. I had moved down to mybeachretreat thinking and imagining Christmas here each year with everybody but the reality is, life is busy and full of commitments and when your children partner up, its more than likely that you have to share or create new traditions which work for everyone.
Last weekend Bill and I, our children and grandchildren all had a Christmas lunch together as on Christmas day the Grandchildren will be with their dad and Mel with her partners family so we have decided each year to do this a few weeks before the madness of Christmas is upon us and we had a beautiful day with Mel preparing her first Christmas lunch for us all and did a superb job.
Today my siblings and I gathered at a restaurant along with aunts and uncles, cousins and nieces and shared a lovely meal together. As we all lead busy lives and all live far from each other its a very special lunch which we all treasure and value and if we all still lived in Melbourne it would be easier to meet up more but the reality of living in separate towns means that our catchups are not as often as we would like.
With these two lunches complete, I can now begin to relax and know that after next week I get to stay at home which is what I love doing on Christmas day now since we have moved near the sea. We open our doors to anyone in our family who wants to come down and appreciate the travel is not for everyone but are grateful to those who do make it down to share a meal with us and make it a special day. I am looking forward to this and then being able to put my feet up for the two weeks afterwards before we begin another year.
I’m also looking forward to another new tradition we are making on Christmas Eve spending it with Bre and our Grandchildren and watching Carols by Candelight together.
So, as this next week begins with the hurrying of late night shopping for some, carols by candlelight, wrapping up those gifts and placing them under the tree. For all those with little ones feeling the excitement with them, putting out milk and cookies for Santa, enjoy your week and enjoy your family and festivities. I’m leaving you with my favorite Christmas Carol which always reminds me of Dad singing each Christmas Eve and each year I hear it, it always reminds me of my childhood and where I learnt what Christmas is all about.
So from our family
to yours,
have yourselves
a
Very Merry Christmas…
xxx