It's Coming On Christmas

As I write this I am listening to a podcast given by Commander Hadfield, one of the few Canadians, indeed, one of the few humans, who have passed Christmas in space. He explains that Christmas is well kept on the ISS. They hang a wee tree on the ceiling, and stockings above Pod 3. Each astronaut celebrates in their own manner, as they pass over their respective home time zones. They all open cards and gifts and hope that they don't wake up in the morning to find a suffocated Father Christmas floating outside the main bay doors. 

I think that's quite a lovely thought. Not the suffocated Father Christmas, that's just wrong. Obviously, he'd be a frozen, suffocated Father Christmas, but I do think it lovely that the traditions of Christmas have made their way out into the stars.

On a much more modest scale, Husband and I have brought traditions with us as we travel across Canada. When we started out, as fresh-faced marrieds, we tried to do all of the things that our two families had done for all of the reasons that things are done, because that is the way they have always been done. As we've moved from place to place, we've packed with us the more portable bits and left behind the bits that, for one reason or another, either weren't the meaningful  bits to us, or were impractical given the regional geography, or just tasted weird.

What's left is a sort of Christmas concentrate and I think it has become a wonderful expression of who we are, as respective representatives of our families. Husband must have a stocking filled individually wrapped surprises. He likes eating an assortment of homemade cookies, although not necessarily baking them. He likes going to Mass with his mom, if the occasion allows, and really glows with joy when he watches me open all of my individually wrapped stocking things. 

I am a creature of the senses, in that I trust the things I can touch and see and understand to be true. So...I enjoy the smells of Christmas, of pine and sweet treats...berry scented candles. I like the special quality of light you get when there is snow on one side of the window and twinkle lights on the other. I like the feel of being warm on the inside and cold on the outside, whether it's in my big puffy coat or my snug little house. I only like the taste of candy canes during the month of December. Of course, I also like the way my heart feels, when I see Husband skip like a startled puppy down all the stairs on Christmas day, to stare in wonder at a tree under which we both placed gifts less than 7 hours earlier. 

We haven't just taken things off the Christmas list, we've added things too. We like spending a lot of time outdoors on Christmas day, to ski in the crisp air, or snowshoe with our dogs. We like to have a house full of friends at some point over the season, because Spoons and Flip Cup are hard to play with only two. We send earnest and glittery cards across the globe to family, and friends who have become family, and then wait by the mailbox for the reciprocals.  We like toboggan races. We like Bailey's on Cheerios. We like Buddy the Elf, Snoopy, and John McLean.

We like Christmas, our way. Light on materials, heavy on cheer.

Merry Christmas, to our families and friends.We weren't kidding about the cards.