Christmas Traditions

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. Long before kids, I began collecting Department 56 Dicken’s Village and it’s become one of my favorite traditions. When my twins were little, I’d let them set up the village anyway they wanted, rather than insist on the way it should be arranged. Their creativity came to life and pretty soon my 1800’s village had Matchbox cars driving through the streets! Now that my boys are teenagers, they’ve lost interest in both the village and Matchbox, but I took the cars and hung them as ornaments on my son’s Christmas tree.

Growing up, we celebrated Jesus’ birthday on Christmas Eve. My mom baked a red velvet cake and wrote “Happy Birthday Jesus” in frosting. Afterward, we’d open one gift, always an ornament. Now, those ornaments tell the story of my childhood. Don’t tell my teens, but I caught them checking out the ornaments this year when they thought I wasn’t looking!

Each tradition has a memory attached. “I remember when…” for an ornament, or “I remember how…” as I unpack the stone walkway of the Dicken’s Village. Each memory a reminder to treasure these special moments.

Luke 2 is an account of what is commonly known as the Christmas Story. I’m fascinated with Mary’s response. After the shepherds found Jesus, they spread the word about his birth and the Bible tells us that all who heard their story were amazed. All except Mary that is.

“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19, NIV, emphasis mine)

I think Mary already knew what the others were just discovering. She’d been approached by an angel long before Jesus’ birth. She knew Jesus was a miracle. So, she treasured the moment everyone else realized what she’d known all along—that Jesus was the savior of the world.

I imagine every December, Mary thought back to those moments and smiled. She held tight to the memory in much the same way I cherish play cars in my Victorian village. What about you? What traditions do you hold close to your heart?