My Own Utopian Experiment #37: Enjoy happy time of the year and renew gratitude.
Christmas is the celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a religious holiday. Even though you are atheist, it is magical and spiritual. Because of this reason, we can hold different traditions. I know a few from the people I know: putting fake candles instead of ornaments on Christmas tree, having a pot luck instead of the traditional dinner, matching pajamas, ugly Christmas sweater and even ugly socks. I know a family that they do not prepare for gifts for everyone. They raffle or play bingo to get the rewards. People are creative. It is fun to hear what people do for Christmas so I would share some of mine. We have small family so Christmas tends to be low key and easy going. We do not do much. We sometimes miss the big gathering but we get to do whatever we want. There are always both sides of coin. We are the creator of our own culture and tradition. It is a good thing. We can be really creative. There’s no set of rules and expectation at all. What we do is less important. We just enjoy our home, people and the time gather are the most important.
For us, the most fun part is putting Christmas tree. We all had different ideas when we put up Christmas tree so we had a family meeting over this a few years back. We decided the Thanksgiving Weekend is the perfect time since we all did not put it up before Thanksgiving. We sometimes hang everything we have. Quite a busy tree! We kept it simple this year. Another cherished moment is playing Santa! My child still believes in Santa. I hope this lasts as long as it can. We talk about Santa a lot in Dec. He claims that Santa is very sneaky since he knows how to come inside while we do not have a chimney. He is sure Santa has magic to make it happen. He sometimes worries he may be on naughty list for being grumpy at homework. I ensure him every time Santa is counting but forgiving as long as he does not do it again. He changes his wishes a couple time and then ask me if Santa is mad at keep changing wishes. He makes wishes multiple times to ensure Santa gets it right. All the innocent conversations and witness of the innocent soul are indeed Christmas gifts for me. He is planning put out for Santa’s snack. He is looking into checking his gift under the tree on Christmas morning. He is counting day by day. This is a reminder I need to go back to retrieve some of the sweetness and innocence in me. How exciting the holiday can be! Full of surprises and full of magic!
This time of the year, it is important to renew our gratitude. My list always has family, friends, people, love, joy, hope and peace every year. I would like to renew my gratitude for simply living this year and make it this far. Wars, accidents, natural disasters are happening. We beat all odd this year. We are all living, safe and have people in our lives. This itself is a miracle. Enjoy this miracle. Have a wonderful holiday! Happy new year! I always say 365 opportunities. How wonderful! Sending my warm wishes and love as always. I will come back in Jan 2025.