Turning up the heat and turning down the energy

In Doral's comments to an earlier post, having Ceilidh wonder why her Dad is considering having a Thanksgiving turkey for Christmas dinner made me think about traditions again … not that the theme of “what is traditional in your family for the holidays season" is not an old topic, one followed in the schools and at church.

I was remembering one year when I decided that Christmas needed to be spread over the whole 25 days of December, so I tried to figure out something for each day: the day we decorate the tree, the day we decorated the rest of the house, the day a new Christmas cookie was served, the day we got our advent calendars, a day to open a game the whole family could play together.

That was the year that the Mormon musical theatre called “My Turn On Earth” had come and gone to Calgary. The whole family had watched it at the Jubilee Auditorium. Remember? Kelve, so young, bursting into tears, when he understood there would not only be a turn for him on earth, but a turn for him to die.

“I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die,” he sobbed. He was probably only about 7 years old. People around him saying outloud, “Shh, shhh ,” and “keep that kid quiet.” What was I to do? He thought he was going to die right away.

Still Mormon musical theatre was fun. I ordered the CD of the score. It came and we opened it for one of the 25 days of Christmas, so that year we hummed not only the tradition tunes but those off of the CD.

This year, I have been trying the theme of “Christmas every day for 25 days” on Kelvin and the guys who live here. Working around the food theme is the easiest way to pull off the tradition: a festive drink with cranberries floating in the liquid, Walker’s Shortbread for dessert one day, Christmas cake iced with marzipan on the counter the next day, everyone involved in the decorating somehow, yesterday.

Any ideas for me, for I have 21 days left to go and not much imagination left? I am turning up the heat on experiencing Christmas traditions and turning down the energy it takes to create the experiences. Look above. all of my Christmas baking all comes from Costco.

Arta