To celebrate .... or not to celebrate? My husband and I have been back and forth on this one.... On the one hand, everything seems so commercialized. For Easter, you have baskets and chocolate bunnies and peeps; for Valentine's Day, "every kiss begins with Kay" and flowers and chocolates are in order; for your anniversary, it can go from cards to romantic getaways.... and Christmas....well, Christmas can quickly get waaay out of hand...so much so, that folks are still paying for those "perfect" gifts six months later with interest. Birthdays tend to follow the same route as Christmas...only you're buying for one person instead of the 60 people you feel obligated to awe with a Christmas gift. "Obligated"...that's where the hitch comes in. That is one of the main reasons we (my husband and I) have this discussion....well, that and commercialism. As far as celebrations go, we've done it both ways ... we've celebrated big and we've pretty much passed "holidays" and "occasions" without so much as a second glance.
However, it has come to me in my contemplations lately that people really do need to celebrate. The desire is in us to capture moments of time and relive them and feel some of the joy or to simply feel as tho things in life are truly worth celebrating. When we pass by events such as birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine's day, Christmas, etc without celebrating, we forfeit an opportunity to step outside the trappings of our daily routine and celebrate life, love, and living with someone who means something to us. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not advocating stocking up on peeps (tho they are tasty...LOL) and running up the credit card at Christmas. I'm simply saying acknowledging these events boosts our spirits and gives us a moment to take another look at those things we take for granted. Simple gestures, such as a note, hand picked flowers, a walk, a sit by the river, something homemade for Christmas....something infused with time and love, can go a long way and remind others that we are grateful they are in our lives. And okay, an occasional store bought gift never hurt either....LOL
Having come to the end of this, it somehow seems less profound than when it was swirling in my head. I think maybe I had convinced myself that we don't need to celebrate....and then it occurred to me, that yes....our spirits do need it...we need times of rising above the mundane...times of festivity and cheer. We need to feel the joy that comes from making someone else feel loved and cherished, and we need to feel loved and cherished. And that's just how I feel about it. :)
michelle, i can tell you with all assurance; YES WE SHOULD CELEBRATE THOSE DAYS. how often do some of us just give our loved one gifts--as you know, thanksgiving, my wedding anniversay, Christmas, new years even valentines day went by like it wasn't even there. it was a horrible time i don't even want to think back on, and the reason there was no notice of any of those occasions was because the very trying circumstances in our lives; other wise there would have been the celebrations. now i feel lost, lonely, anxious, waiting and as my always right grandmother would say; *muttled*, and NO we never get TOO OLD to enjoy suprises [good ones] that is. we should work on making the gifts like the beautiful, very personal, little hand prints [on the plate] of my darling grand children you and the kids gave US. that will always be cherished and looked at often and when they are older we will look at it together and remember---WHEN---they was that small and how cute/handsome they were. i will always cherish and long for special occasions, like Christmas before last; i was 54years old, not too old to enjoy suprise; my husband gave me a hugh black trash bag on Christmas eve and inside was individually wrapped all kinds of gifts like a man would pick out LOL; but it was extremely exciting to me; with each one i saw him picking it out and his thoughts at the time, and his personality and feelings toward me and i still cherish each one. i am still waiting for all those celebrations to happen and since they are past it will not be the same if a gift is wrapped up and given me for each one. we won't change the flag to dots and stripes why change our American heritage of special occasion gifts. we truly do need to start MAKING the gifts as personl as possible; for us common sense folks, even the kids--i think would enjoy something we put together out of even their own stuff and make it a new thing, thats what my grandmother and i had to do so many occasions, because we just didn't run to the store and buy something. sometimes it was cookies, or i would make her something out of some cloth scraps she gave me. and she still had them when i married your dad and left home, some of the bought stuff she didn't remember or they was stuck in the back of a dresser drawer. when can we celebrate next???? EASTER this time i want to really work on the gifts from the heart. thanks for this blog, we need a reminder often of the pleasures of our freedom and heritage traditions.
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