"It's only seasonal"
Just a momentary whinge...
What with a newborn in the house, I didn't have time to make pannetone this year. Fortunately, Terra Breads makes very good pannetone, a reasonable alternative to homemade. (For their record, their hot cross buns are the best I've ever tasted, so I don't even bother making them myself now.) But, again with an infant, it was difficult to get out to the bakery to buy a pannetone before now.
And when I got there, there were no pannetones to be found. Hoping they were just sold out for the day, I asked, and was told, "They're only seasonal."
Huh? Whatever happened to the twelve days of Christmas??
I've been stewing over the nature of Christmas versus X-mas, as in the Christian festival versus the consumeristic excuse for time off work and school. This partly rises from the different cultures in which Werner and I hatched (I grew up with Santa, Werner didn't) and partly a sense that Christmas has strayed so far from it's origins. I'm undecided about whether I want Jakob to have Santa in his life (although I know I don't want him to be the know-it-all kid at school who spoils it for all the others; you know, telling them that "Santa isn't real!"). I didn't take him for a photo with a shopping mall Santa. I don't want to deny him childhood fun, but Santa just doesn't seem right to me now.
I've also come to resent the rush to Christmas. Christmas carols playing as soon as Hallowe'en has passed, trees up in November, Advent calendars that count down the days in December rather than the days of Advent. (Heck, this year I was in The Bay in August and they were putting out their Christmas trees! That's just wrong.) In our church, there has been an effort to reclaim the Christian seasons. Because of this, I take the time to enjoy Advent (some of my favourite "Christmas" carols are actually meant for Advent, including Oh come, Oh come, Emanuel and Lo How a Rose E'r Blooming) and look forward to the start of Christmas on December 25. We Christians have twelve whole days to celebrate, not just one! Advent has become my favourite season in the church year, a time of anticipation. Waiting makes Christmas sweeter.
We both come from families that leave the tree up until Epiphany. We do not rush to put it up, either. (Granted, December 23, the date on which we put up the tree this year, was a bit too late, perhaps.) If I had my way, the coloured lights would be hung on November 1 and stay up through March, but that's to chase away the Vancouver drear.
Should we shower Jakob with countless gifts each December 25? It will be hard to avoid, I know. Maybe we should give him one gift a day from December 25 through January 5?
I don't know.
This year we didn't have to make any decisions (except maybe the decision to not get a shopping mall Santa photo), although I did sew a stocking for Jakob (that's one childhood tradition that I want to share with him - but maybe on St. Nicholas Day instead of Christmas Day?). Next year we'll be in Germany, where Santa is "Weihnnachtsman" (Christmas Man) or, more disparagingly, "Coca-Cola Man". It will be my first European Christmas, and that might either introduce me to wonderful new traditions (I already enjoy wandering through a Weihnnachtsmarkt with a mug of Glühwein!) or send me scrambling back to the traditions of my childhood. I really don't know.
I just know that I'm increasingly uncomfortable with the commercialisation and secularisation of what, to Christians, should be a high holiday.
What with a newborn in the house, I didn't have time to make pannetone this year. Fortunately, Terra Breads makes very good pannetone, a reasonable alternative to homemade. (For their record, their hot cross buns are the best I've ever tasted, so I don't even bother making them myself now.) But, again with an infant, it was difficult to get out to the bakery to buy a pannetone before now.
And when I got there, there were no pannetones to be found. Hoping they were just sold out for the day, I asked, and was told, "They're only seasonal."
Huh? Whatever happened to the twelve days of Christmas??
I've been stewing over the nature of Christmas versus X-mas, as in the Christian festival versus the consumeristic excuse for time off work and school. This partly rises from the different cultures in which Werner and I hatched (I grew up with Santa, Werner didn't) and partly a sense that Christmas has strayed so far from it's origins. I'm undecided about whether I want Jakob to have Santa in his life (although I know I don't want him to be the know-it-all kid at school who spoils it for all the others; you know, telling them that "Santa isn't real!"). I didn't take him for a photo with a shopping mall Santa. I don't want to deny him childhood fun, but Santa just doesn't seem right to me now.
I've also come to resent the rush to Christmas. Christmas carols playing as soon as Hallowe'en has passed, trees up in November, Advent calendars that count down the days in December rather than the days of Advent. (Heck, this year I was in The Bay in August and they were putting out their Christmas trees! That's just wrong.) In our church, there has been an effort to reclaim the Christian seasons. Because of this, I take the time to enjoy Advent (some of my favourite "Christmas" carols are actually meant for Advent, including Oh come, Oh come, Emanuel and Lo How a Rose E'r Blooming) and look forward to the start of Christmas on December 25. We Christians have twelve whole days to celebrate, not just one! Advent has become my favourite season in the church year, a time of anticipation. Waiting makes Christmas sweeter.
We both come from families that leave the tree up until Epiphany. We do not rush to put it up, either. (Granted, December 23, the date on which we put up the tree this year, was a bit too late, perhaps.) If I had my way, the coloured lights would be hung on November 1 and stay up through March, but that's to chase away the Vancouver drear.
Should we shower Jakob with countless gifts each December 25? It will be hard to avoid, I know. Maybe we should give him one gift a day from December 25 through January 5?
I don't know.
This year we didn't have to make any decisions (except maybe the decision to not get a shopping mall Santa photo), although I did sew a stocking for Jakob (that's one childhood tradition that I want to share with him - but maybe on St. Nicholas Day instead of Christmas Day?). Next year we'll be in Germany, where Santa is "Weihnnachtsman" (Christmas Man) or, more disparagingly, "Coca-Cola Man". It will be my first European Christmas, and that might either introduce me to wonderful new traditions (I already enjoy wandering through a Weihnnachtsmarkt with a mug of Glühwein!) or send me scrambling back to the traditions of my childhood. I really don't know.
I just know that I'm increasingly uncomfortable with the commercialisation and secularisation of what, to Christians, should be a high holiday.
posted by Melanie A at 8:41 p.m.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home