Member-only story
Crow’s Feet Writing Prompt #73
Taking A Pass on Christmas
My priorities this year are rest, reflection, and recovery.
I’ve been a world-class champion of Christmas hoopla for as long as I can remember. As a kid, glitter was indispensable to my effort to make my holiday world sparkle. As an adult, my aspirations grew. The famed Macy’s windows had nothing on our house decor or festivities.
When my children were little, the tree that filled the eleven-foot ceiling was a backdrop. We hosted family parties where “Santa” and an (oversized) elf appeared, distributing wrapped, gender-appropriate gifts: girls’ gifts in red tissue and boys’ in green. It was the ‘80s.
The only kid who didn’t love it was my older son, who, at six, was terrified. That guy in the weird red suit and creepy beard had an all-too-familiar voice. It is still a regrettable parenting moment for me.
The kids grew, and Santa moved on. Even with the over-the-top holiday vibe, we were careful to integrate the sacred with the secular, to understand the significance of Christmas as integral to the Christian tradition and not lose sight of that point in our family’s tradition.
That element of quiet peace has come around again this year.
