Christmas traditions


		Friday, Dec. 24, 2004

What do you think of this story?

Click here to send a message to the editor.

Bad Links?
Other glitches?
Notify Webmaster

Christmas traditions

Father David Epps is Rector of Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church which meets at 8 and 10 a.m. Sundays at 4881 E. Hwy. 34. He may be contacted at 770-252-2428, or at frepps@ctkcec.org

By Father DAVID EPPS
Contributing Writer

We've been singing quite a few Christmas carols at our church over the last few weeks. I love Christmas carols. In fact, I love just about everything concerning this season, except the charge card bills that come in January.

I like Christmas to be cold. If it snowed Christmas Eve and we awoke to a white Christmas, that would be just fine with me, as long as the snow was off the roads by noon. I like the trees, the lights, the Salvation Army ringers, the anticipation in the eyes of nearly every child, the Christmas music that dominates many radio stations — and I like the traditions surrounding Christmas. Every family has different traditions, of course, and those traditions may change through the years.

When I was a kid, we gathered at my Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas Eve. As I recall, the adults brought food and everyone had gifts to exchange. My Mom had two sisters and, between them, there were six cousins on my Mom's side. Blanche, the eldest sister, married Ray and they had Danny, four years my senior. My Mom, Kathleen, married Bill and had me and, nine years later, brought Wayne into the world. Ruby, the youngest sister, married John and they had the biggest family with Johnny, Pashie, and Jeff. We were close enough in age to have a great time and even shoot off a few fireworks on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning, we opened presents at my parent's house and my Mom cooked a huge dinner, which is what we called "lunch" in east Tennessee. "Dinner" was known to us as "supper," and for supper we had what ever was left from dinner — or "lunch," if you prefer.

My Dad was the eldest of eight children, but they were scattered from Florida to California and didn't factor as much into our Christmas traditions except occasionally.

When I got married, my wife and I joined the others at Grandma's and went to my folks' house in the morning and her parents’ home in the afternoon. We switched the order of who to visit in alternate years. When the kids came along, we went to Grandma's on Christmas Eve, opened presents at our little home on Christmas Morning, then off to one set of parents and then, a few hours, off to the other set of parents. Christmas became quite busy and lots of food was consumed because both mom's were great cooks.

Then, we moved to Colorado and had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day all to ourselves. The church where I served had a Christmas Eve service, which we attended, and, after the boys were put to bed, the final gifts were wrapped. After three years, we moved to Georgia and continued the new traditions we began in Colorado.

Somewhere along the way, I fell prey to a certain kind of religious fundamentalism and threw out a great many Christmas traditions. My children didn't believe in Santa Claus, the North Pole or elves, and, for a time, we didn't even have a Christmas tree. I'm sorry about all that now. I thought that I was doing the right thing. I grew up believing in Santa and we always had a tree at my house, yet I always believed in God. Finding out that Santa wasn't exactly what I thought him to be did not hurt my faith. I don't know why I thought I had to protect my sons from fantasy and imagination, but I did.

When my three sons grew up, married, had children, and established homes of their own (where Santa and Christmas trees were warmly embraced), the traditions changed again. They all have wives who have families who have their own various traditions. We've settled into new traditions, at least for now. On Christmas Eve, my wife and I will attend Christmas Eve services at Christ the King and will sing the songs of the season, hear the Christmas story read, pray for peace on earth, and will kneel with scores of our friends at the altar to receive Holy Communion. She will probably attend the 6 p.m. service, while I will be at both the 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. services. Most Christmas Eve nights, some of our children and grandchildren will join with us at church. Then we will go home and enjoy the quiet.

On Christmas morning, I will get up well before dawn to pray and read the scriptures, as is my custom of late. Sometime later in the morning, my wife will begin to cook and, around 10 a.m. or so, my two eldest sons and their families will come to exchange presents and share a huge brunch. My youngest son and his new wife are in San Antonio for their first Christmas packing up for a January move to Albuquerque. We will miss them but recognize that they must find their own traditions. Around 1 or 2 p.m., the kids will leave to go visit the rest of their families and, again, we will be alone---and probably go see a movie.

Traditions are all about making sense of events and, for children, making memories. And now, if I may be personal, may God richly bless you and yours in this blessed season. May you come to know, in a deep, personal, and profound way, Jesus Christ as your Lord and King. And may you and those you love have a very, very Merry Christmas!