Christmas Is Cancelled This Year

That's what one of the partners said to me today. I was wondering what he meant. Thankfully, I didn't have to wonder for long. He went on to explain that his family were not going on their usual Christmas vacation for the first time in fifteen years. They were also not decorating the roof or the driveway of their home. Most importantly, they were only buying one gift per person - a combined effort from all other family members. He talked about what a change this would be and what a shame it was to cancel Christmas. A lot of people agreed and it seems most are scaling back in some way.

Then he came over and asked me what I was doing differently celebrate this year. My answer was nothing. I am having the standard Christmas - counting my blessings and spending time with family. You see, my family and I don't celebrate Christmas in the popular way. My mother always said "Christmas is Jesus' birthday, not yours" and that's how I view it.

Sure, we have Christmas dinner but even that isn't conventional. We aren't big fans of turkey (too dry we think), we never have cranberry sauce and we just don't like Christmas pudding. We go to church in the morning, cook in the afternoon and open our doors to anyone who comes by in the evening. Judging from the looks of sympathy and everyone's behaviour, Christmas has been cancelled for a long time in my household.