Christmas is a religious holiday. As the Shepherd’s family, we tend to be very “into” the religious holidays. In 2005 I was really frustrated we weren’t adjusting service times at all for Christmas.
The Shepherd did not understand why I really disliked the idea of being at church on Christmas. What greater way could there be to celebrate Christmas than with the body of believers?
I explained that for me, church is not a family event. Rather it is a rather isolated time. I am alone for much of the Sunday service. Add in it being Christmas and and we lose all of the family tradition of Christmas.
The Shepherd thought about about it and came up with a great solution. One day before Christmas we would celebrate the traditional family Christmas in full — everyone home, lounge around and enjoy the day with family, play with the new video games, read new books, etc.
We used the idea and absolutely loved it. It was a great solution to most of the frustrations of Christmas. We had time as a family unit without aunts and cousins to see. We enjoyed our new toys with leisure. And most of all, we took time to appreciate the ideas of Christmas without sacrificing the family for the church.
That has been the best tradition we have ever come up with! I love that we celebrate Christmas off beat. I am looking forward to Friday with the family!