Tag Archives: Christmas Day

A Reason

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Every day, the approaching holiday requires thinking.  It is Advent, and each day of this time we look at the calendar andn receive a piece of chocolate, just for looking at the day, and hopefully, understanding and knowing it.  It is about getting close to the end of the year, when just six days from New Year’s Eve, we celebrate, and, remember the birthday of the most glorious man to be born–Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

It is  not just to have an entire week of holidays, that we celebrate.  It is about a man who found a way to give the gift of life, every single day of his life.  Even if now, we cannot hear his voice, we can, still, have his words remembered and told to us from generation to generation, as all knew, even from the beginnings of time, that he was the One who would make the world a better place to be.  We have history books, and Catechism classes that recount, and retell, and make a real, all of Jesus’ teachings.  And, each day, each birth, there is carried on the glorious ability of Jesus to save and create, at the same time.

So, on Christmas Day, we remember the creation of Jesus, and by association, the creation of a new world–the Christian World.  From the beginning of time till now, we still wish to be as good as he is, finding within ourselves to give gifts, to pass on gifts, from person to person, from family member to family member, and ultimately, to instill in ourselves and our friends and family, the new gifts of life shown to us from Jesus Christ.

Why am I so ardently talking of Jesus?  It is because I come from a background of Christianity.  It was going to school, to Private Catholic Schools, for my entire education that has taught me the value of life, of myself, and of caring.  I am more satisfied with myself, and some would say this is a self-righteous declaration made to justify the validity and worth of a quickly fading Christian World.  It is, and, yet, it is not.  Science and the Scientific Endeavor to discover and create is destroying the old facts of the world, and creating a new world of wealth and power.  Some would say we will one day defeat death and live forever without dying….  But again, that is just a pipe-dream of Science, and, even, of Christians, as well.

So, why not have Science Day, instead of Christmas Day?  Because we value our life, even our life as it exists in bones in the grave.  We are all the same, our DNA 99% of our being, all linked together, and shared in this common ancestry.  We are proud of who we are, of who we will become, and we want to have life, infinitely, forever.  And, this is done through history stories, through science stories, through cultural stories, and through the leadership of the Christian Church.  Am I justified in ranking Religion on par with Government?  No, but it does have almost the same power as the Government, and has just as much reaction from everyone, regardless if it is friendly or not a friendly statement made to the public.  Every nation on earth has a religion, even those who purport to be pure of such subjective leanings.  So, if such a declaration is what defines the modern nation, why is there no such thing as a Science Day?  Science runs on very strict rules of experimentation and mathematical methods of describing the world, and only the most rigorous work ever gets recognition, because, it is what will define the world.  So, where is our respect, to all this work?  It seems almost duplicitous that we have forgotten the wealth of Christianity.  Churches and Cathedrals abound in every nation, even in those who purport to be areligious.  There is a secret code and a secret brotherhood in Christianity, and the following of it, has made it rich, made the world rich, and made the Church rich.  So, does this observation make it necessary that we enshrine Science like Religion has enshrined Jesus and Christians?

I would miss Christmas Day and all the 60 days of Advent before the Day.  I love the richness of having , of feeling, of believing, and of sharing what I can.  The greatest reason to do this, is because of Jesus.  I feel like he does, and I lead, like he does, by example.  This opinion is truly yet another voice in the crowd that gathers to support December 25th.  I gladly throw my voice into the sea, to be part of that humanity, to hopefully live infinitely, forever.

It is apropos, as the Fall season has so many little holidays that just make Autumn fun and memorable, that in going into the stores, I already think of My List…  The Christmas Season List of things I have reason to do, and of things I want to do.  So, happiness comes in red, and gold, and silver, all hung on the evergreen, on the holly, and on the wreath.  I value the richness, and that it feels like the world shares in good faith.  So, just for that one day, we have a reason to live.

Making Short Bread Crumble

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On the holiday a couple of years ago, my parents had a Thanksgiving get-together that had not happened in several years–about four or five years–since the last of us had moved ourselves out of their grand old house.  The invites were sent a month hence, and this guaranteed that all of us could make it.  It was terrifying actually.  The reason?  My grandparents had moved into the nursing home only a couple of months before…  The reason?  They were incapable of taking care of themselves.

So, it was a Halloween scare we had for our Thanksgiving dinner.  With special guidance and help, we took them out to the house.  We, the kids, were all feeling that this would be the last time we were seeing our stalwarts.  My grand mother and my grandfather came from the old country, and we always saw them as part of a grand old past.  Great in their day, and great in their time.  So, watching these people face their possible end, on earth, to go, to… perhaps… heaven?…  we felt trepidation and concern and possibly, even, guilt about the whole situation.

Emails were shot out, back and forth, between all of us.  There is nothing to do, in all possibility, when faced with a certain end.  So, we bothered ourselves with industriousness.  None of it was going to benefit us in any monetary way, in fact, we were anticipating a great expenditure of time and space and money, just to get through it all.

I don’t know what was worse about that particular holiday:  all the things that we had to do that was involving us in death, or not knowing what would happen even when we did everything right…  everything that we knew how to do.  We could not have certainty, even if we did our utmost.  Our best.

Now, a couple of years later, our grandparents are still here, in the nursing home, idling (as we do to accuse them of enjoying their time in Club Med.)  And, we are celebrating the coming Thanksgiving on our own.  We will visit, since we are a short drive away, only, and bring them treats that are sweet and savory…  things that we purchase at the Farmers’ Market as we pass by several of these markets on our way in. I know that they like these little gifts and that even in their momentary enjoyment of it all, that they they truly enjoy it all, not regretting not leaving yet,  as we all know, that heaven is absolutely the best, the most perfect, place to ever be.  So, I doubt that they actually do not regret it.

That particular year, the year of the first Thanksgiving that my grandparents had to stay inside the nursing home, we brought everything, all the treats, all the gifts, that would come at Thanksgiving, as well as all of the that that would be had at Christmas.  And why do I remember this, so especially?  The Short Bread Cookies we bought at the Farmers’ Market got crushed and crumbled underneath some heavier groceries.  What could w e do with all this waste?  At that, it is our grandmother’s favorite savory.  Well, because I am not the only foody, I called the other best foody I know; my brother, and we concocted an apple crumble recipe that would have a topping of Short Bread.  It did work.  And now, with our grandmother’s very hard-won approval, we now have an annual tradition of Sort Bread Crumble.

Even if my grandmother will not be here to insist on it, Short Bread Crumble has become a family favorite at each and every fall and winter holiday.  Often, we take turns picking up the ingredients and baking it into the food that we will eat.  Part of the growing joy is giving these baked squares in pretty packages to everyone who is close.  We spend a weekend baking, and the gifts are done for the holidays.  How many toys and how many hundred dollar bills can actually be useful?  How much food will not be contributing to the weight-gain of the nation? Where we found such as tasty and satisfying gift as our Short Bread Crumble, we immediately stored it, filed it, away into our Secrecy File.  It is an official family tradition, and it is as if it is our official, institutionalized, treasure–of our family.

How will the growing joy, grow?  How will my grandchildren eat it?  Will they want more sugar, or, is the savory buttery, weight, satisfying enough?  Is it already perfection?  Or will there be a second recipe by the time my grandchildren are old and married?  As I am now, I cherish the greatness of our crumble, that it is right now.  As the months of the year go by, starting  from the start in January, I find my anticipation growing.  Will there be opportunity for another weekend of baking?  Will my grandmother do another surprising thing, and ask for rainbow sprinkles on the top of the Short Bread Crumble?  Will she insist on this suggestion, insisting that the crunch and the color of the sprinkles is what makes it Short Bread and not just butter and brown sugar?

The greatest value of this family recipe is the accident it was just before it was made into something to cherish.  Each time we remake it, each time we re-cherish it, taste it, , I enjoy it.  So, occupying my time, I feel I am not wasting any of it.

As for the coming holiday, I am wishing that everyone will have wonderful holidays.  That everyone will have joy and merriment.  So, with a bit of earliness, Happy Holidays!