I am not terribly sentimental, but I have saved two beautiful Christmas cards from my friend “rjj“. They feature winter scenes painted by Kawase Hasui. That winter, I was feeling cold, sad, and sick and decided to do a version of one of the scenes, but in the spring. I never did finish the painting but was pleased I had not lost all my skill. This is my incomplete painting. What inspirations have come to you from unexpected places?
We celebrate Christmas at our house. On Christmas Eve, we make Stone Soup and read a version of that folktale. Afterwards, we go to church – a small United Church of Christ – for a candlelight service.
This year, I played flute during the service. I started playing flute when I was very young. I started playing the French horn a few years later, but stopped after I broke my teeth in a car accident (wear your seat belt!). I still think of myself as a horn player even though that hasn’t been true for decades. However, thanks to our church’s music director, I felt like a musician again. It was good.
After the service, we always drive around to look at Christmas lights, and when we get home our sons open two gifts. One gift is always a new pair of pajamas, a tradition we stole from one of Darth Husband’s cousins. The other gift is selected by the son, but Darth & I have veto power (mostly to avoid late-night Lego sessions when we are waiting for Santa). On Christmas day, we get up early and see what Santa brought.
We open gifts and hunker down with each other. We play new video games, watch new movies, read new books, and build new Lego kits. We eat candy for breakfast. We have family dinner that night after lighting a candle-powered carousel handed down through my husband’s family. I love this tradition. What holidays do you celebrate in winter? What traditions do you have that you love?
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