My bother, my aunt and me posing in font of my grandma’s silver tree circa 1966
When I was little, my dad would take me, and then my siblings as they came along, out to buy a Christmas tree one evening each year. My mom never joined us. I don’t know if that was because she hated the cold (she still does), or if it was to get a break from us for an hour or so. That was our tradition, a real tree.
When I’d visit my friends and they had a fake tree up, I felt sorry for them. They missed out on the adventure of going and picking one out. They didn’t have the smell of fresh pine filling the house. They had to be jealous of those of us who did Christmas the right way.
My grandma, on the other hand, had a silver tree with the tri-colored rotating light shining on it. This was the 1960s and that tree was mod as hell. If you had to have a fake tree, that was the way to go.
My husband doesn’t like having a real tree. He hates everything about it from setting it in the stand, to worrying about watering it every day, to having to get it out the door again in January, to finding pine needles on the floor until April. We compromise. One year a real tree, the next year the fake one. They look lifelike now and I can buy spruce-scented room spray.
What holiday traditions do you have? Do you bake cookies? Celebrate Advent? Go to see A Christmas Carol each year? Do you hand mistletoe and kiss both the willing and the unsuspecting? Make gingerbread houses?
Which of those traditions make you feel full of holiday spirit? Which of them leave you saying, “Bah, humbug!”? Which still serve you? Which need to get the boot?
When we take the time to examine our rituals, we’re able to let go of what no longer matters to us. Letting go allows us to feel lighter. Living intentionally empowers us.
Will someone be upset if you don’t serve a festive-looking, but time-consuming yule log cake? Maybe. But standing your ground and honoring your decisions will give you more sparkle and glow.
I was recently reminded by Sara Walka, the founder of The Sisters Enchanted, that being powerful, standing one’s ground and honoring one’s own decisions is what got women burned at the stake in the 1600s in what is now the United States. They weren’t turning people into newts, they were being outspoken.
This season, change the holiday into what you’d like it to be. Get rid of what doesn’t serve your highest good. Dare to transform into who you want to be. Allow yourself to sparkle and glow from a powerful place deep within yourself.