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Tradition!
9 singles share their beloved Christmas celebrations.
December 21, 2005
Wild Animals and Midnight Amusement Rides
I've been blessed with an abundance of nieces and nephews, and for years I took the girls to the Wild Animal Park on Christmas Adam (the day before Christmas Eve) for the festival of lights. On Christmas Eve, I took all of them on a hunt for snow (which is difficult to find in San Diego). As the kids are all now teens and young adults, this tradition has ended. A few years ago I replaced it with a trip to Disneyland for New Year's Eve. I take my 16-year-old niece along with a few of the high school kids I mentor. This year will be our fourth trip, and it's something I look forward to all through December. They keep me up most of the night and then we go get donuts in the morning. It's a lot of fun.
To replace the Christmas portion of the traditions, this year I will incorporate my Italian family members (who all live back East) for a West Coast Christmas Eve feast with friends and family. This has brought new excitement to the holidays this year.
While Christmas is nothing like it once was, I've made the decision I can either change with it and make new traditions, or become bitter and resentful over the path I'm on. As a still-single 31-year-old with a lot of life left to look forward to, I've chosen to make the most of each day, including the holidays. The added benefit is that by sharing celebrations and things with others, I'm often blessing them without even realizing it—and that is the true spirit of the holidays.
Tricia
Frosty and Family
It sounds silly, but when I think of Christmas, I always remember watching "Frosty the Snowman." It was my favorite Christmas cartoon when I was growing up. It was always how I knew Christmas was coming. My sister and I would curl up on the couch with a blanket and hot chocolate and watch it with our dad. This year I had a chance to share it with my kids. Even better, my mom and dad are also with us, so we had three generations all cozied up under the blankets watching "Frosty the Snowman" together! It's not easy being a single person, let alone a single mom, but I wouldn't trade a moment like that for the world.
Dana
Friends and Family Day
The first Saturday night in December I invite friends over to decorate the tree, sing carols, and talk. It's a time of catching up with friends and sharing what God has done in our lives. Many of my friends are now married with kids so the numbers grow each year. What a joy it brings to my heart as I look around the room and realize it's all because of Jesus.
Mark
Something Old, Something New
One of my favorite Christmas traditions started a few years back. The year before this specific Christmas, I'd moved into a new apartment and inherited my great-grandmother's Mikasa china. In years previous, my aunt, uncle, and cousins would get together with my immediate family on Christmas Eve after church for Christmas goodies and stocking stuffer presents. I decided to invite everyone to my apartment for an actual meal after church that Christmas Eve. I love the chance to play hostess for a group of people who are so important in my life—and I get to use my china!
Another more recent tradition involves my two cousins (both high-school-age boys), my sisters, and me making presents to exchange that night. Because we make them (and because some of us are very un-crafty!), the focus isn't on spending money and the secular trappings of the season. Instead, we focus on the people they're for—which makes them all the sweeter to receive as well.
Deb
A Sweet Time Making Sweet Rolls
Our Christmas tradition has been going on for at least 25 years (which is most of my life!). My mom, my two older sisters, and I meet at my house at 7:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve carrying armloads of baking ingredients. We spend the morning making homemade sweet rolls from scratch—a recipe from a cookbook that's been around so long and loved so well that the print is faded and stained with butter fingerprints. We sing along to favorite Christmas tapes as we laugh and make a complete mess of the kitchen. While waiting for the dough to rise, we go out for breakfast and then come back home and open a few gifts in front of the Christmas tree. Our rolls are the best and quite famous among our extended family and friends. But truly the best part is sharing this beloved tradition with my Mom and sisters.
Christy
Songs of the Season
I started my own holiday tradition a number of years ago. I buy myself a new Christmas CD each year, usually when they go on sale after the holidays or sometime during the year at rummage sales. I have a special holiday box I keep my Christmas music in; it's decorated with the word "joy" in huge letters. I add my new CD to my growing collection and save it for the following year. Opening that box each Christmas season is special to me, and I always look forward to a new little surprise as I've often forgotten by then what I bought.
I combine this tradition with a family rule my aunt started when I was a child: "No Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving!" My brother and I still tease each other and keep one another accountable to the rule as the holiday season approaches. This makes for great fun and anticipation even though we're both almost 40!
Rachael
O Christmas Tree
I enjoy participating in church Christmas programs. I've been doing a Living Christmas Tree for a few years, and I always invite family, coworkers, and friends to come see it. This past year I've participated in a large singles ministry, and a large contingent of them are coming to the tree as well. It's a great testimony and ministry to those in my "orbit" who need to hear the Good News about God's saving grace, and it's fun and uplifting to those who just need to be encouraged during this sometimes-stressful season!
Gina
Celebrating Down Under
I've been invited to spend Christmas day on the beach eating and making merry memories with a large group of South African families who have no other relatives here in Australia with whom to celebrate with. Though it may be a far cry from chestnuts roasting on that age-old open fire, I can think of nothing I'd rather do than celebrate the birth of my Savior roasting under the Aussie sun, splashing about in the salty waves, and enjoying the company of total-strangers-turned-sudden-family.
Kate
A Mission of Friendship
I'm a missionary in Latvia, a former-Soviet country, and five years ago three of my Latvian friends and I started a tradition of celebrating the first of December together. Every December 1, we have a nice dinner together either at one of our homes or at a fun restaurant to celebrate our friendship and the start of the Christmas season. This year we checked out a cool new Medieval restaurant. Being far from my family can be especially difficult this time of the year, and I'm so thankful to God for the deep Latvian connections he's given me.
Becky
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