Christmastide

This year, like last year, I will not be home for the holidays. Even if I followed that old adage of, "Home is where the heart is," I would be torn between several places, for my heart is with all my loved ones this holiday season as well as year round. I googled Christmas History and found an interesting sight that talks about all the different holiday celebrations and how those traditions have adapted and changed over the years. Traditions are important to have. My boyfriend grew up in a family that never really celebrated the holiday. He gives people presents this time of year out of obligation and doesn't really know the joys that come from Christmas morning surrounded by friends and family ripping open the brightly colored packages that were so painstakingly wrapped just for this occasion. I distinctly remember celebrating Christmas at home with Mom and all of us there, and then going to Poppy and Granny's with the whole clan, and then going to my paternal Grandparent's. I cannot think of one very memorable Christmas, because my memory is like swiss cheese sometimes, but I do remember my Charlie Brown Christmas. I think I was about thirteen or fourteen and Mom and Steve couldn't afford a big Christmas and had decided to not even decorate our house in Kilgore, Texas. Paul and I kept asking why we couldn't have Christmas, which I'm sure just added to their frustration. Paul and I decided to take matters into our own hands, and we went outside and ripped a small branch from a pine tree in our yard. We brought the poor thing inside--it was more of a twig really--and we stuck it in a vase of water, which kept falling over when the cats got near it. We decorated it with ornaments we made ourselves and put the presents that we had made or gathered under the tree. We had made the best of it, and even though I don't remember what I got for Christmas that year or why we were short on funds I will always remember my Charlie Brown tree and Paul and I working together to create the holiday spirit in our home.