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I love Christmas. For me, keeping certain traditions are important and Thanksgiving and Christmas are the two most important.
It begins with the viewing of "La Vendedora de Rosas" and "It's a Wonderful Life" on Dec 23, along with a lot of spiked Eggnog. Those two films show us that Christmas can be filled with despair and hope. We also remember all those who have passed in the past year.
Every Dec. 24, my extended family (about 40 people) gather together for a dinner of "the seven fishes" (an Italian-American tradition) and then we open the presents at midnight. From dinnertime (about 6pm) until midnight, we talk about the last year, recount stories about family members who are no longer with us, and generally laugh and cry until the youngest family member rings the Christmas bells at midnight, signaling that it's time to open the gifts.
We eat too much, cry too much, laugh a lot and I wouldn't miss it for the world. It's nice to have some tradition in a life that's ever-changing and uncertain.
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