Christmas is for Grandparents and Children
Ok I’m going to go right ahead and say it. Christmas is for Grandparents and Children! Having neither grandparents nor children, I’m finding it really hard to get in the Christmas spirit this year. And I love Christmas! Christmas is my favorite holiday! I’m normally up on my Christmas schedule of shopping, wrapping, decorating, planning, and what not, but not this year. Here it is the 13th of December with only 11 shopping days left till Christmas (Yikes!) and I haven’t got my Christmas tree or decorated it, haven’t sent out my Christmas cards (and I’m known as the card lady by some of my friends because I give cards for every occasion), I’ve only bought one gift for the co-worker I drew in the gift exchange at work, and only because my company Christmas dinner was last night. I just barely made out a list of people I need to buy gifts for today. I have no desire to fight the Christmas crowds and I like to shop. I enjoy finding the perfect gift for each person on my list. And for the life of me I just can’t muster any joyous Christmas spirit. Not even driving around looking at Christmas lights with friends while listening to Harry Connick Jr. singing Christmas songs, helping a friend decorate her tree, or a wonderful holiday turkey meal cooked by
Flower in the Dale has helped. (Thanks Flower for the great meal!)
In the last 4 years I’ve lost all of my grandparents. They passed away within 6 months to a year of each other, one right after the other. Add an aunt and an uncle too, and that was a lot of funerals my family has had in 4 years. Without my grandparents, Christmas just hasn’t been the same.
When my grandparents were alive, Christmas was a huge family affair. The entire family of 40 to 50 people gathered at my grandparent’s house for a big Christmas dinner and visited with loved ones we didn’t get to see everyday. There was always a lot of food, dessert and laughter. My grandma was known for her homemade candy and her chocolate sheet cake, (my personal favorite). The family had grown so big that it wasn’t financially possible to buy gifts for everyone, so the family gift-giving rule was: 1) buy gifts for the grandparents, and 2) buy gifts for the little children. Of course everyone also bought gifts for their immediate families, but those would be opened at home, not at the big Christmas family affair. After dinner we would all crowd into the living room with the children in front of the tree and the grandparents in their favorite chairs as the appointed Santa of the evening passed out the gifts. It was delightfully joyful to watch the children tear through wrapping paper to find wanted toys and sometimes unwanted clothes. It was heart-warming to see great love and Christmas spirit glowing in my grandparent’s eyes as they looked at their beloved family gathered around their feet. To me, this was what Christmas was really about. I looked forward to the big Christmas gathering at my grandparent’s house every year. Last Christmas was the first Christmas without any grandparents living and the big family gathering didn’t happen. Everyone tried to do their own family thing with their immediate families. It just wasn’t the same for me. Probably because my immediate family is small, and there are no little children. I have goddchildren, but without the big family gathering, I don't get to see them open their gifts. It will be the same this year for Christmas. Next Christmas I will have a new nephew and hopefully that will make Christmas seem more Christmasy.
I miss my grandparent’s smiles, wit, antics and laughter. I miss being able to lay my head on my grandparent’s shoulders and feeling like all would be right with the world. I miss my grandparents love. I miss Christmas at my grandparent’s house.
I think another reason I’m having trouble finding the Christmas spirit this year is because last Christmas I made a promise to myself that I wasn’t able to keep and I know my grandparents would want more for me this Christmas. I feel like I've disappointed them as well as myself.
With my grandparents in my thoughts, I’m going out to fight the Christmas crowds and shop for my immediate family and my dearest friends and hopefully find some Christmas cheer along the way.
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