So I’m here, in the Great White North preparing to celebrate Christmas surrounded by family. I can’t say I was overly excited about it. It has been a few years since I’ve been home for Christmas......and it kind of feels like I should be working so nurses with kids and grand kids and stuff can be home with them. But as I am not working I decided to take a look back at my last few Christmases and the whole idea around the holiday.
2006 – I spent Christmas in Harrisburg Pennsylvania, having been very nicely adopted by my friend Tara Trapnell’s (previously Kohn) large family before making my way to work. I was at about the halfway mark of my second Travel Nursing contract and this was my first Christmas away from home. I was surrounded by a whole lot of family however and I got a very nice care package from Mom and Dad. Remember my awesome little tree?
My first real tree ever. I still remember the excitement of going to pick it out and trying to get it up the stairs to my apartment and then making sure I had enough lights and decorations for it. Still think it turned out great.
2007 – Christmas in Harrisburg again. This time I was in between work contracts and had nowhere to go but once again Tara took me in. This time I made the full family rounds with a meal at her Mom and Step dad’s place, drinks and snacks at her Dad’s place, more food and drinks at her boyfriend’s (now husband) parent’s place and then topped the night off with drinks at her cousin’s place. Pretty sure I threw-up……but I can’t be sure.
2008 – I was actually home that year…..having just arrived home from my tour of Europe. We moved to Vernon a few short weeks later so I don’t remember it being overly festive. I actually have no memory of it at all. What I do remember it taking about a week to get back on a Canadian sleeping pattern so I was probably tired.
2009 – We had an early Christmas celebration at the end of November which saw Debi, Scott, Steve, Heather and myself all make the trip out to Vernon for it. Lucky we had the full Xmas deal over those few days (turkey and presents and the tree) because come December 25th I was back in New York City at work. And while the city is beautiful at Christmas time nothing shows the commercialization of the holiday like Manhattan. I have memories of eating pizza Christmas Day…….it was good.
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. It was really pretty but far too many people around. It's amazing how many people come into the city this time of year to go shopping and experience the sights.......worse than the rest of the year. Yes I only lived in NYC for 9 months but I feel I became a local with means I can call anyone not from New York an "out-of-towner".
2010 – Well, I was sick as ever that day and the fact that it was over 30 C (86 F) when I woke up didn’t actually put me in much of a Christmas spirit. Scott, Debi and I tried very hard to make it as Christmassy was possible, but it was really hard to find nice Winter/Christmas related decorations and such in Darwin (I guess it’s understandable). It seems the hot weather melts people’s brains and they like tacky shiny and often purple Christmas trees (seriously). We were surrounded by many great friends however, and ignoring the fact that we ate things like lamb and crab legs (not a turkey in sight) it was a pretty good day….but it really didn’t feel like Christmas.
Our Christmas plant. We sure did get a lot of presents.
The group of us on the rooftop last year. The guy sitting next to me is Noel. He passed away in 2011. One of my most lasting memories of this day will be how happy and fun he was.
In 2011, I find myself having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit……although Dad and I had a fun time decorating the house. I managed to talk Dad into buying a snowman for the front yard and we unfortunately blew our light budget on a whole bunch of new LED lights but that’s ok. We can get a penguin family and 7 more reindeer next year.
The house. Mom thinks a little Griswoldy but she has no idea how many more lights I would put up if given the chance.
My biggest Christmas disappointment came last weekend when Mom and Dad took me to a Christmas Tree farm, only to tell me when we got there we weren’t getting a tree. Who does that? Christmas tree farms are for Christmas trees. My consolation prize however was a couple of super cute reindeer made from logs and branches with bells in their antlers. The little one makes me smile every time I look at him. I just want to pat him on the head and feed him a carrot.
See....how cute is he? In my head I have images of him tip-toeing around the yard after the rest of us go to sleep.
Another look at the lights. This reindeer likes to keep watch over the driveway.
So with just a week left until Christmas Eve I am trying to dig deep to find my inner-Christmas spirit. The house will be full of family, which will be nice but I have found that the holiday itself has lost a lot of meaning to me over the years. I guess with how little time we all spend in the same city or province or even country, Christmas comes whenever (and where ever) we happen to meet up with each other.
There is my snowman. I think we need a couple more though. He looks lonely.
Of course I am not forgetting the entire religious aspect of this time of year but as a strong practicing agnostic I tend to avoid that kind of thing. Not to mention I’m getting ready to move to a Muslim country and one of about a handful of countries in the world who don’t celebrate Christmas (although I have been told there is reference to the virgin birth of Jesus in the Qur’an and that Muslims respect Jesus as a righteous prophet of God). I've never really paid much attention to what historians say about the holiday and as I started reading you realize just how complicated the history really is (kind of like Halloween).
The date of Jesus' birth is not listed in the bible so there is no real indication as to what the exact date of his birth was. It was many years (200 or so) after his supposed birth that the event was celebrated. There are lots of reasons why people feel December 25th was chosen. A few of those: it was exactly 9 months after the celebration of the Christian celebrations of the conception of Jesus or it corresponded with the cosmic symbolism of the winter solstice or because it corresponded with pagan celebrations. Many feel that Church leaders aligned the birth of Christ with the winter solstice celebrations, which were already celebrated by many, to ensure that the celebration would be openly embraced. I have read that the actual birth of Jesus occurred sometime in April or January 6th or even September 11th. But to me, that's neither here nor there. What is really interesting is that a lot of the traditions that many of us observe during the holiday season have origins long before the birth of Christ. The Mesopotamians, ancient Romans and ancient Scandinavians all celebrated festivals at this time of year originating over 4,000 years ago. Traditions such as gift giving, carol singing, the lighting of candles, the yule log and even the 12 days of Christmas can all be traced back to these ancient civilizations.
The tradition of the Christmas tree (as we know it today) can be credited to 16th century Germany when devout Christians brought decorated trees into their homes. It is thought Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, first added candle lights to the trees. In American, even until the 1840's however, the idea of the Christmas tree was seen as a pagan ritual and puritans were taught to reject the idea. It is Queen Victoria (and her German husband Prince Albert) who are credited with popularizing the Christmas tree in the late 1840's. This is the 2011 Bodden version. It is fake but Mom figures we need to get about 10 more years out of it before we can go back to real ones every year. Just trying to minimize our carbon footprint.
I've totally neglected talking about Santa Claus (or Father Christmas or Saint Nicholas or Kris Kringle or Sinterklaas or Tomte) because his history is even more complicated depending on what name you're referring to and what country you're looking at. What I have decided is that no one gets to claim him because everyone seems to have a figure in their history that fits the description.
Come this Christmas Eve, I feel we will renew our traditions of eating appetizers and watching Christmas Vacation. Dad and I will certainly watch A Christmas Carol (we like the one with Alastair Sim). There will be snow and there will be lights and come Christmas Day I will be happy to see the family and eat some turkey. I can’t however promise that I’ll be more Merry Christmas and less Bah humbug.
Julie
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas; http://www.historyofchristmas.net/;
http://www.history.com/topics/christmas; http://www.thehistoryofchristmas.com/;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus; Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin: Forty Years of Funny Stuff - By Calvin Trillin
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