{"id":3723,"date":"2015-12-22T15:25:18","date_gmt":"2015-12-22T23:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/?p=3723"},"modified":"2015-12-22T15:33:49","modified_gmt":"2015-12-22T23:33:49","slug":"december-22-2015-being-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/december-22-2015-being-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"December 22, 2015 – Being Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \n \"Fb-Button\"\n <\/a>\n <\/div>
<\/fb:like><\/div><\/div>
\"I'm<\/a>

I’m married to “Mr. Christmas.” He does an amazing job on the lights – just one of the ways he lights my life.<\/p><\/div>\n

Listen to this post:<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/20151222-Post.m4a<\/a><\/audio>\n

I wrote a story several years ago, as a contribution to a friend\u2019s site: tellourlifestories.com<\/a>. It was about a Christmas, that was unlike any of the others in my life so-far. It was 1996, I was newly divorced and had just come back from my six-months in Paris. I was in the very fortunate position, to have been able to buy myself a little two-bedroom house in San Anselmo. This was before the real estate market around here went into the stratosphere, and I was able to swing it on my own. Escrow closed on December 12th, and there was work to do. My brother and his crew and subs (including the love of my life-now my husband, Joe), were putting in a new kitchen and some recessed lighting – and I was doing what I could too. After work in the City (in San Francisco) and on weekends, I scraped and sanded woodwork and prepped and painted walls, soft colors. I was so, so<\/em> excited to have a little place of my own, I didn\u2019t care that everything except the new bed I\u2019d bought myself, was still in storage. I had a few clothes in a suitcase on the dusty floor and my toiletries. That was it.<\/p>\n

I spent Christmas Eve day in my grubbies – working. I decided not to join in on a family celebration that evening. I wanted to work as long as I could on my new little house. I got myself a Duraflame log, poured myself a glass of chardonnay (I don\u2019t remember where the wineglass came from!) and baked a Marie Callendar\u2019s chicken pie in the old oven, that was still in place. Wearing a big baggy sweatshirt with the sleeves pushed up to my elbows, old paint-stained jeans and tennies, my hair full of dust and a little paint, I sat myself in front of the fireplace on the rolled up piece of carpet, that was to become an area rug in the living room. I can still feel how incredibly peaceful and content I was \u2013 blissfully happy, even – all alone on Christmas Eve. I was home \u2013 in my very own place for the first time in my life, and it was perfect, just perfect<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure that my contentment was related to the fact, that I also had plans to get cleaned up and dressed up to go to my parents for Christmas the next day, but it was still an unusual way for me to happily spend a Christmas Eve. Christmases and Christmas Eves before and after, have been filled with people and presents and rich, yummy food \u2013 and furniture<\/em> to sit on! I\u2019m certain I also had no latex house paint in my hair!<\/p>\n

There is a lot that is said about the hassle and stress this time of the year, but this year I\u2019m really feeling the magic too. When I was little and still believed in Santa Claus, I remember waking up on Christmas morning overwhelmed<\/em> with anticipation and excitement. I almost shivered with the intensity of my wondering what Santa Claus had brought us. Decades past, really thinking that a big-bellied man in a red suit, with a white beard actually came down the chimney to bring presents – and I still feel it<\/em>. Christmas morning sparkles.<\/p>\n

Christmastime means such different things to us. For some, it\u2019s all about the tree and decorations, presents and Santa Claus and sweets and big feasts. There are those for whom it\u2019s a sacred celebration of the birth of Jesus \u2013 the Christ child \u2013 the Christ spirit. And for many of us who celebrate this holiday, it\u2019s some form of both. If you type \u201cChristmas\u201d into a search engine (yes, I Googled \u201cChristmas\u201d), the first thing that comes up, is a Wikipedia page<\/a> that is rich with history and background. Assuming it\u2019s all correct (which I mostly always do), what we know as Christmas now is an amazing mix of ancient traditions and relatively new influences – including earth-based winter solstice rites, that celebrate light in the darkness and the eternal life of evergreens, a Roman celebration of the Everlasting Sun , the ancient Germanic people\u2019s celebration of Yule, a 4th century Greek bishop (St. Nicholas) and Charles Dickens who with \u201cA Christmas Carol\u201d, sought to create a family-centered celebration, based on generosity. Much of this has been folded into the celebration of the birth of Jesus, as practiced in the Christian tradition. This year I\u2019m feeling the connection between it all.<\/p>\n

For me the magic of Christmas is all of this \u2013 it\u2019s light in the darkness \u2013 (I especially love colored<\/em> light), it\u2019s the generosity of life – feasting and making offerings to each other, it\u2019s feeling an open-hearted, joyful spirit and wishing each other goodwill. To me this is all part of celebrating the birth of the Christ spirit that lives in all of us \u2013 in all of life, really \u2013 whether we are \u201cChristian\u201d or not. And I love \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d \u2013 all of this is in these two words, in a way that I don\u2019t get with \u201cHappy Holidays.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many people, this is a very difficult time of year. There are loved ones who are gone or estranged, or life is not particularly abundant, the magic everyone else is feeling then, can be a reminder of their pain. But even that, it\u2019s a hard time of year for some people, which points to that it is<\/em> a special time. There are also lots of expectations that cause that hassle and stress. I\u2019ve been finding myself for several years now, wanting to pare down what I take on. To me \u201ctaking back\u201d Christmas, means listening to our own voices for what it means to celebrate \u2013 and deleting emails urging me to shop!<\/p>\n

In my late 20\u2019s, early 30\u2019s, I used to make a dozen, dozen of a dozen different kinds of cookies. I started in November, and put away tins and tins of cookies in the freezer. The day before Christmas, I put together cookie baskets, with jars of jam I made in the summer and little mini loaves of nut breads \u2013 all wrapped in green or red cellophane with a big ribbon. Baskets went to everyone in our families and many good friends. Of course I was younger then – and I wasn\u2019t painting<\/em> – but thinking about all this, makes me want to crawl back under the covers!<\/p>\n

\"Baba's<\/a>

Baba’s cookies<\/p><\/div>\n

For about 4 or 5 years, I\u2019ve been saying \u201cI\u2019m not going to bake this year.\u201d Then this week comes around, and I start thinking about the little pecan-pie like cookies that my Baba (our step grandma) used to make – and I buy a package of cream cheese for the pastry, and get out the flour and brown sugar and nuts. I\u2019ll also make some gingerbread \u2013 everyone in our families loves it \u2013 and a just few loaves of homemade panettone \u2013 not twelve<\/em> of them like I have in the past.<\/p>\n

Even as I pare down, I\u2019m plagued by the pull of feeling like I need to do more \u2013 especially since I used to do so much. Procrastination is actually my friend in this. It keeps me from going overboard, and hopefully only that which is strong enough to pull me into action, is all I need to be doing to celebrate. It\u2019s tricky. There\u2019s an enormous Christmas cyclone that can sweep us up into it. This year, my aim is to be<\/em> Christmas more than do<\/em> Christmas.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s your tradition, your holiday to celebrate or not, I hope that this week holds all you want and not much of what you don\u2019t. I wish light in the darkness, I wish you generosity, I wish you good will and a bright spirit.<\/p>\n

I wish you Merry Christmas.<\/p>\n

Love,<\/p>\n

Cara<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen to this post: I wrote a story several years ago, as a contribution to a friend\u2019s site: tellourlifestories.com. It was about a Christmas, that was unlike any of the others in my life so-far. It was 1996, I was newly divorced and had just come back from my six-months in Paris. I was in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDecember 22, 2015 - Being Christmas - Life in Full Color<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/december-22-2015-being-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"December 22, 2015 - Being Christmas - Life in Full Color\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Listen to this post: I wrote a story several years ago, as a contribution to a friend\u2019s site: tellourlifestories.com. 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