Good Things Christmas thread

[Blueberry]

I'm starting a Christmas thread for anybody who is able to write something good, heart-warming, positive, joyful, lovely etc about this season.
 
It is however for GOOD things only. Writing about good or joyful events in your present day Christmas OR about even tiny good memories from your childhood OR good things your Inner Children react to now does NOT mean the bad things didn't happen (or don't happen in the present day). This thread gives everybody a space to focus on the good even if just for two minutes. I learned in inpatient therapy that finding something positive despite all the undeniably bad stuff in our pasts and often present is a form of resilience and helps give our minds and bodies a brief break.

If you're from a culture/country that doesn't celebrate Christmas, feel free to write about your memories or reactions to a similar celebration from your culture or just about winter joys.

Anybody is free to write daily, along the lines of Three Good Things a day (could just be one thing though).

________________________________

I'll start:

When I opened my Advent calendar door last week, I felt the wonder and suspense of an Inner Child. The wonder of the golden glitter on the snow in the picture and the wonder of the tiny picture behind the door. I also remembered back to my very first Advent calender which was a big paper Santa Claus.

[NarcKiddo]

I adore traditional Christmas sweet treats. I've started on the mince pies. I have stollen waiting, and Christmas cake. I love Christmas pudding. I'm not going totally mad but I am making sure that I have, and enjoy, the treats we get this time of year.

[woodsgnome]

I love the variety and full scope of this season. I never understood much of this as a kid, but when I was older
looked for the stories behind the stories, as it were, I discovered an incredibly rich and varied assortment of
folklore and history that lies deep below
the modern emphasis on onlythree aspects -- the
religious saga (open to all sorts of interpretation and symbolism), the emphasis on one day only, and the cultural emphasis on commercial activity (which I call "all marketing, all the time"). All of these can then negatively affect
families, where societal pressure can overwhelm any sensitive person's well-being.

Okay -- but I always suspected there was more to the whole picture, and as a kid I came to regard it as the season where hypocrisy was the big story. Once I got older, and actually fell into a career involving folklore (myth, history, and culture) I found an incredibly rich and diverse tapestry of music, art, agricultural activities (now mostly out of sight and mind), good intentions (sticky); but also fun stuff impossible to fully hide behind the commercial frenzies.

For one thing the season is long, as it ties together events all the way from Samhain (ancient Celtic new year), All Saints/Halloween (end of October and end of harvest season), followed by numerous "saint's days" such as St. Nicholas (Dec. 6) and my personal favourite, Santa Lucia (Dec 13), then on to a slew of days around solstice time and the adopted date of Christmas, followed by such observances as the Feast of Fools (another fave), New Year's, and not concluding 'til Twelfth Night (Jan 6). It's also about that time when preps for the next planting/harvest cycle get underway. Lots of details in the meantime.

There's literally so much to the whole season as to be impossible to summarize adequately here. But that's number one for me -- just the sheer magnitude of the full season, not just the one big day emphasized now.

Along the way, there's great music (especially in the folk/classical genres), artistic expession (plays, art pieces), etc. There's groups that revive and note all of these activities (such as Christmas Revels in Boston, USA)  which have survived and seek to revive much of what has been obscured.

My own favorite observance involves the Santa Lucia observances, especially as they survive in Italy but which are more prominent in Sweden with its emphasis heavy on light's return to the darkening world. It's import to me is deeply personal  and involves a significant part of my therapy experience just a few years ago, a time of incredible darkness for me. This isn't the place for details, but it is one way the 'season' became even more relevant for me.

With that, I'll leave off with the revived expression I like -- Happy Yule! And add -- keep looking for the stories behind the stories. They may be buried in mystery and claimed by many, but they're lots of fun, add needed whimsy and relevance when one looks for it.

[Bermuda]

The only gift I remember was from an adult brother of mine. I was 15 I think, and we didn't know each other well or anything, we didn't see each other outside of events... He picked me up, and took me to a skate shop and let me pick out any board, trucks, and wheels I wanted. I got a completely custom skateboard. I can only imagine how much that had cost. I don't know how he got that idea, or if his new wife had prompted him. Others would have laughed, insulted me, but as silly as it sounds, it was a huge thing just to be remembered and thought of. It was my favourite gift I've ever received.

I was remembered.

[woodsgnome]

Sorry, I find this topic irresistible and realize my previous writing here wasn't exactly very personal, except for the Saint Lucia incident which I've also wrote about in a separate post a few weeks back.

Anyway, I also recall an incident that occurred around 20 years ago that had the most impact towards changing my outlook per the Christmas hoopla. Following a childhood where I dreaded it as just another relic of people I couldn't relate to, at all.

The incident I speak of was set in motion when a friend and I decided to take in a performance by a group called the Christmas Revels. A bit skeptical that this might reorient our rather jaded view of the holiday season, my friend and I thought we might at least find some diversion, we headed out, not really expecting much.

Famous last words, those. Lots of the usual Christmas trappings seemed present, but the most prominent visual element was an enormous wreath depicting the image of what some people in ancient times called the Green Man, a symbol of the promised return of spring.

There was lots more elements (music, drama, symbolism) that set the evening apart from the usual. I was usually reticent to fall in place with overt joyful forms of expression, especially in public (you know, the introverted, scared kid routine). Until the invitation from the evening's 'jester' host to join in a ritual dance out of the seats and out of the building to a rather raucous rendition of "Lord of the Dance". I mean, I'd never been a dancer, but there we went ... and with each step (or stomp LOL), the dour view I'd arrived with melted away.

And so we danced the night away under the celebratory gaze of the Green Man himself. From that point on I started devouring all things per the season, across the ages and from various cultures. Once I'd dropped the sad old story, I I'd discovered the stories, music, dance, and a sense of [joie de vivre] .

Okay, I'm done

       

[Lakelynn]

The best thing was a card I got from my online friend. This might be love, but I'm not telling! He gave me two cards in one. The first was a friendship card entitled, "Good Friends Know"

That familiar songs are for singing
Desserts for sharing
Old stories for reliving
Hugs are for when words won't do
Laughter is for healing
That holidays are for celebrating.
That friendship is forever.
Merry Christmas to my very good friend.

Then he hand sewed a home made Christmas card inside with images from his computer. Included was a gift card to a bookstore.

This changes the course of my holidays significantly! 

[Hope67]

I saw the prettiest robin, and it made me think of Christmas, but also of 'The Secret Garden' and so having both those thoughts in mind, it felt more special.  I enjoyed the feeling of that.   

[colicmel]

The light displays are always the best part to me, some people really go all out and it's fun to drive around seeing them, the reflections sparkle like glitter in the snow.

[Kizzie]

We are very excited because our son is coming home this year. He's in medical school right across to the other side of the country from us so between COVID and being a really busy student, it's been a few years since we spent Christmas together. We also have friends that just moved back from another province so we're all going to get to visit in person for the first time in a long while.

[Blueberry]

woodsgnome, I actually really enjoyed your first post on this thread! Just thought I'd let you know because you thought it was slightly off-topic or 'not enough' or something.