Christmas is a wonderful time to pause and reflect. To feel grateful for what we have and to make those around us feel happy. Because, frankly, happy people make the world a better place.

Christmas traditions are important

This Christmas marks a transition in our family traditions. I lost my father earlier this year and I can’t help but to think of all the ways we celebrated Christmas through the years. When we gather we will remember all the ones with my dad, my grandparents before. My children, now adults will remember and we pass these stories to my grandchildren.

This remembering is the heart of tradition. While where we have dinner or how we exchange gifts may change, what ties us as family is our own stories and history.

I have so many stories. My grandfather would collect all the ribbons and bows while we unwrapped and decorate himself to the delight of us grandkids. He was also the mad homemovie maker with his old Bell&Howell 8mm film camera. Here’s a clip from 1961 – 8 mm transferred to video (where it got the funky music added) then to digital. I’m the brown-haired girl in the Princess Leia buns.

My grandmother made a killer fruitcake. Yes, a delicious fruitcake. She’d make a batch on one Christmas, keep them wrapped in cheesecloth and foil in her refrigerator, and brandy them occasionally all year to give away the next Christmas. My dad was meticulous about tinseling the tree – one.strand.at.a.time.

I hope you’ll share some of your stories in the comments. More importantly, I hope you share them, renew them, with your family.

Here’s to friends and family, those with us and to those absent.

May your Christmas be full of love, laughter and happiness. May you keep Christmas in your heart all year long.

featured image, original artwork by Darleen Click