Christmas In Cottonwood

Christmas will forever be a magical time of year, even for the most cynical of those among us.  No matter what your religious affiliation may be,  the idea of gift giving and receiving will fill our every waking moment with finding the perfect gift and hoping to receive everything you've asked for.

We all experience Christmas in different ways, depending on our age and our circumstances in life.  We choose to remember the better parts of the holiday, rather than the years we might have struggled.  A child who has grown up wanting for nothing will remember a much different holiday than those who are pinching pennies and watching every dime. Those who do struggle seem to make the holiday as meaningful as they can, anyway.  A child remembers the happiness surrounding the day and the love they feel when the moment of seeing what is under the greets them on that long awaited morning.

I have been on both sides of the experience, as both a child and as an adult.  I was the oldest of six who wanted for nothing, even though our parents couldn't afford to pay the electric bill.  There were evenings where we sat by candlelight, my siblings and I, as my mother dished out dinner on our best dishes, explaining "the light will be on in the morning" as she our rationed off our share of roast beef and mashed potatoes.  Years later I would do the same for my children, explaining the heat was turned down low because "the gas man had not come yet" as I tried to make the newest  payment on the credit card so I could charge their Christmas gifts.   My childhood Christmases were wonderful, and so were my children's.  "That was the best Christmas, ever!" they would exclaim year after year, as I did when I would remember my own.

Christmas became a time of  renewal and reconnection as I grew older and my children moved away.  My life changed as well, divorcing and creating new experiences for myself, rearranging the traditions and trying to make them fit into our new lives.  Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't.  Sometimes it failed miserably.   But they were all memorable and worth saving, the good and the bad.  Religion sprinkled in with traditions and rituals created the Christmas's we cherished and held close to our hearts.

This is the first Christmas where I am not with any of my children; they are all adults with their own traditions and expectations.  My husband has gotten a job across the country, away from them and everything we have ever known.  Although is it the beginning of a new and exciting life for us, it is a different Christmas than we have ever known.

Packing up the small RV we had purchased to make the trek out west, our trip was cut short when we were stranded in the midwest due to snow storms.  We decided to wait it out in a small park, surrounded by trees and Christmas lights provided by the park owners. Together with the three dogs and the cat who made the trip with us, we walked quietly among the snow and the canopy of evergreens that surrounded us, muffling any sounds of neighbors who cars on the highway to the north.  We were alone is our own winter wonderland, and we spent Christmas eve amongst the quiet of the bible, with God and songs played on our laptops.

It was the best Christmas ever, and I hope that my children will someday get to experience the peace and joy of the Christmas season, the way it was truly meant to be experienced.