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A festive however and whatever
If you know me (and let’s be honest, you don’t), you may think this column is going to be about The Holidays. So, if that’s what you thought, you might be right. I’ll give you that much. In some way, shape or form, my crazy family celebrates “The Holidays”. Some among us are Christian. Some among us are agnostic. Some among us are atheist. One of us is Jewish. We’ve got vegans, vegetarians, meat-a-tarians, plant-strong eaters, lactose intolerants and perpetual dieters. Somehow, all of us celebrate, together, in our own crazy way. Yep, we have a Christmas tree. It isn’t a real tree, because we’ve got one among us who is allergic to tree mould and another who once thought it was unethical to chop a tree down “for no good reason”. We’ve had a menorah in the past. We’ve put our shoes out for Sinterklaas and our stockings up for Santa Claus. These days LOML and I don’t shop as much, as we make gifts for each other. Someone, or a team of someones, cooks a lot of food. Someone, or a team of someones, bakes a lot of cookies. We’ve all made fudge, candy canes, marshmallows and cakepops. Someone, or another, tunes all of the guitars and ukuleles. Someone brings a brand new board game. Someone buys a lot of liquor and a lot of beer. All of us get together and to celebrate the beginning of winter. The fact that our holiday celebration falls around the same time as Christmas is a bit of a bonus because we all enjoy the music, the gifting and togetherness of that holiday.
Every year we celebrate, together, as a family. And every year we seem to add one more person to the mix. Every year we add at least one new song, or one new version of an oldie, to the playlist. Every year one more musician rises up and joins the fun—this year our youngest granddaughter will accompany us on the keyboard. Newest addition leans toward ringing bells and smacking the cajón. Every year we tastedrive one or two new recipes. And every year, someone buys at least one bottle of booze or beer, the selection of which is based solely on how bizarre the label art is. This year, a toddler had been added to the mix. Our newest holiday celebrant has already spent about at least an hour trying to charm the tinsel off the tree. Additionally, and much to the amusement of his much older cousins, he has rearranged most of the lower branch decorations to suit his discerning Holiday Taste. At this point, he hasn’t decided if he’s Christian, agnostic, atheist, Jewish or vegetarian. So we’re treating the toddler to the whole smorgasbord of festive trimmings, trappings, treats, music, payables and receivables.
This year is as different and as the same as it ever was. However, this year all of our children are living and working in Ontario. It’s the first time in decades our entire immediate family is within driving distance of one another and to the home base of the parental units. This year, because of work commitments and other concerns, we’ll spread the celebrating over several days to accommodate everyone. But there will be three days when we can all be in the same room at the same time and, as luck would have it, that date isn’t on the 25th of December. Holiday loving, giving and celebrating will happen when we are all together.
I wish you, all, peace and love and happiness while you celebrate—however you celebrate and whatever you celebrate.
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