December 1st, my son opens his first Christmas present. Is he spoiled??? You bet. Am I? Ditto. While our family doesn’t make the entire holiday about gifts and “stuff,” we also don’t make it about a single day. It’s a season, including Thanksgiving, about family and being thankful and seeing the world for what it is–a place we share and celebrate together, no matter what else is going on. It’s about home. And December 1st is a great day to kick off that kind of awareness in our world.
What do happy holidays mean to you? How do you make sure those true meanings of things stay first in your mind, as the stress and craziness of what is always a crazy month try to take over?For us, it’s sticking closer to home than going away and working on things as a family and having those few special mementoes around that we’ve shared in the past, like anchors in our memories to what’s been most important and will be again. A lot of these turn out to be my son’s December 1st gifts. I pick each one with that in mind and hope they make a lifelong impression.
Anchoring memories like this don’t have to cost much. In my Christmas on Mimosa Lane, little Polly remembers her mother by playing with her mother’s favorite vintage pins, many of which were purchased at tag sales and flea markets. They were special to Polly’s mother, because they were special to her grandmother before her. They were about time spent collecting and enjoying them, not what each pin was worth.
I have a similar tie to my grandmother, and now to my son, who’s kept each of his December 1st gifts in special places, and even as a teenager keeps most of them out year around even though they’re Christmas themed. It’s a little more work to be looking for something Christmas and memorable in November before anyone’s really stocking the “good” stuff yet. But it’s worth it. It’s so worth it.
Think about it this year. Make your first special holiday memory long before the wrapping is ripped off Christmas morning. Make it a tradition that lasts and lasts. Make it a forever, anchor thing you’ll always have with you, twelve months out of the year.
Related Holiday Posts:
- Hope for the Holidays
- The BEST Holiday Memories Are Made From the Darnedest Things
- Holiday Traditions, Symbols and Themes
Tags: Anna DeStefano, anna’s world, best-selling romance, Christmas on Mimosa Lane, Contemporary Romance, creativity & inspiration, drama, dreaming, Emily Dickinson, holiday memories, holiday romance, hope, poetry, Women’s Fiction
