How shall we spend this day? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
I have many Christmas memories. When I was born, I grew up in a mobile home and since that was one story, my sister and I had to wait outside the living room until my parents said it was time to go into the room and each side of the couch had gifts for us. It was there one Christmas I got the original Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Brothers 2, the latter of which my parents worked extensively to find a copy of asking all their friends to be on the lookout.
Eventually, we had our own house built which had two major stories and a garage. Now, my sister and I would wait upstairs until we could come downstairs. That was until 1994 when my sister got married. Most notable there was being given the gift of a car one year, which served me well and I used all through high school.
My first Christmas with Allie was actually where I had proposed to her on Christmas Eve. It was where I picked her up at the airport. If you know me on Facebook, you can read the story there. Now, I have spent a number of Christmases away from my own family.
The first one was an odd one. We spent it with Allie’s family and I just wasn’t in to it. Mike came to me and I hadn’t said anything, but he told me the first Christmas he spent with his in-laws, he was miserable. It was a switch being away, but I got used to it.
Before that, for Christmas Eve regularly in my family, we had two houses we would go to. The first was some friends and this was the first place in person I publicly ever announced my engagement to Allie. The second was my aunt Ruth’s. We would normally spend most of the night up until around midnight going around and opening gifts.
On Christmas Day, we would go over to my grandmother’s for some gifts there as well. Those two traditions have changed. My grandmother died in 2010 and my aunt died just this year. Traditions come and traditions go.
This Christmas? We’re going to the Orthodox Church first and then coming home. Allie is fixing some pumpkin spice bread to take over to her parents. Her hope this year is for a Nintendo Switch Lite from both of our parents. A couple years ago, someone gifted us with a regular Switch and we hope with the new one to be able to play the new Pokemon games together someone else gifted us with.
What has also changed for me is the focus of the holiday. I suppose I was like many other kids growing up. The real joy of the holiday was getting to get the gifts and I was thinking of my Christmas list. Nowadays, I have a hard time thinking of things I want for Christmas. Sometimes, just regular Amazon cards can work. Gifts are still nice, but it’s time with my family, especially my wife, that make the holiday.
I also much more understand the religious significance of the day. I understand more what makes Christianity special and why we celebrate today and what a difference Christ makes in one’s life. Naturally, my favorite memory now from this year is not a gift I got per se, but one that I gave, when I proposed to Allie.
Every year I know I write something on Christmas, but let’s face it. I’m not going to come up with some brand new insight on Christmas no one has ever had for all these centuries of Christianity. The best I can do is tell you a bit about my life with Christianity and what it means and hope it makes you think about what it means to you.
Merry Christmas!
In Christ,
Nick Peters