Christmas Traditions

In one of my Church classes on Sunday, our instructor asked us to share some of our memories of presents received at Christmas and also Christmas traditions.

It made me think of what I hold special in my own heart- spending it at my grandparents home and being with family and friends. I am only now beginning to realize that not everyone I called "tito" (uncle) or "tita" (auntie) or "kuya" or "ate" (ah-teh) are actually related to me.

I remember how confused I was growing up.

December 25 was my grandfather's birthday. Every 24th we'd stay up late and eat alot of food. We'd have everyone over for a noche buena.
We'd go to midnight mass and then the young 'uns would take a nap and later wake up to eat the fiesta of food.

My grandfather's friends would come as a band and play for him. They did this until his passing away.

Everyday this week, I've been asked by so many people if I am ready for Christmas, if I have bought all my presents. It really made me think.

I don't really recall nor do I associate presents with Christmas. Maybe it's just my memory failing me but my early memories of Christmas was spending time with my family. Although I do recall one specific time when my cousin and I got different colored watchea that transformed into a robot. We complained because he and I got different colors. My aunt got us matching colors the next day.

But for the most part, what I associate Christmas with is the time I spent with family. Now that we are all older and located all over the world, its nice to know we can start our own Christmas traditions. As I have been away from them for many years, I am grateful for the lessons I learned and were taught at an early age.

As with many of you, I am glad that my family isn't perfect. Besides which family is? Having lived with many different families throughout my young life so far, I've come to see this truth come to life even more. But the great thing I've learned from each family is, working through the difficult moments. It cannot be ignored, it must be faced and dealt with.

Being on my own for many years, I'm happy to say that I'd been able to create my own Christmas traditions. Many are simple partly due to circumstances but most came out of my own experiences and conscious decisions.

I hope that as this season comes and goes, the traditions we all hold dear can help us remember the true meaning and purpose of this season-- the birth of our Savior. May we learn to love ourselves as much as He loves us, and in turn, we can love and serve others as He does for us. If it doesn't, we can always choose to make it so.

Merry Christmas everyone!