Tradition of Christmas....

Day 2-- Being the Christmas season, I look forward to the traditional Christmas fanfare every year.  Particularly the sounds and smells of the holiday.  My earliest memory of Christmas was when I was about 3.  We had gone to visit my Grandparents (Leavitt) in Bunkerville, I'm sure we visited the Frehner Grandparents first in Mesquite, NV just over the river.  But this Christmas we were to spend the night with my Grandpa and Grandma Leavitt.  I don't think it was Christmas Eve but it was close.  There was a tradition back then that on the Sunday before Christmas, after all of the Christmas church meetings were complete, each house in Bunkerville would be visited by Santa Claus.

The warm fire had been built and we had all been given our hot baths, I mean HOT for some reason Grandma Leavitt loved to run the water extra warm.  I think it was the only way she thought we could get all that dirt from the day off of us. The water had to be hot, the soap had to be rubbed into the wash rag and scrubbed onto our skin. Never the less, they still are very fond memories to me.  I would jump out of the had bathtub and know that I had the quick trip across the freezing cold hallway, through the door and across the living room to the warmth of the fire.  There grandma had my Christmas handmade ppajama's ready for me to put on.  She would make each of the grandchildren a pair of pajamas every year.  Mine of course were the prettiest ones ever made. I would twirl around and around in my beautiful pink flowered flannel and lace nightgown.  I looked forward to my Christmas pajamas all year long.

That was just the beginning of the holiday for me that year.  Grandpa Leavitt was the king of roasting pinenuts and parched corn with raisins.  The smell would linger for hours and what a treat it was for me.  I would sit on his lap and watch him crack open the pinenuts to expose the tender fat nut inside and he would always let me pick out the meat for myself.

There is not one Christmas season that I can remember as a youth that I don't think of the sounds and smells of that holiday. Santa came and went, I was even a little afraid.  I don't remember what he said to me or what I asked for from Santa that year.  But I do remember the smells, the feeling and of course the singing of Christmas hymns that always came from my grandmother 's beautiful voice as she went about her daily duties. Her hymns were always about the birth of Christ and the traditional Christmas carols.  I don't remember ever hearing her sing of Santa or anything other than that of  rejoicing in the birth of Christ.

Today, I'm a grandmother.  I definitely don't sew handmade pajamas.  I went to "Old Navy" and purchased the $8 jingle jammies for each of my grandkids.  I didn't even wrapped them.  I rolled them up, placed a ribbon around them stuck them into their own little cubbie I have by the front door.  One for each grandchild.  There they will be so when each child comes to visit they can find a new pair of "jingle jammies" picked out just for them.  I don't have pinenuts  or parched corn to roast.  I paid for the makings for Chex mix deluxe to throw together when the time is needed.  This grandma wishes to be so much like her grandmothers of old but I just can't compare.  I can however, create my own traditions, which will always include the smells and sounds of the holiday that I create.  But more importantly I can leave with my grandchildren the knowledge that I know that the spirit of Christmas is in the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  That through Him and because of Him we live!  He is the reason we celebrate! All of the smells, all of the sights and all of the sounds will be about Jesus Christ in my home!  I will sing songs of rejoicing in His birth just as my grandmother sang in her home.  This is what I am Thankful for this day!  The gift of song!