Christmas Day 2009

We had a beautiful Christmas day. Great weather, great food, great time with family.

Keet opened presents for the first time. He'd open one, then play with it (or the box it came in) and we'd have to try to convince him to open something new. We opened presents at home, then headed to the Grumpas for more! Yikes. Overload for sure.


Such a lucky boy. So much to be grateful for. So many blessings.


I feel the need to create new traditions for our family. Celebrating Christmas devoid of a religious context feels superficial and commercial at best. Although the time together with family is valuable, the meaning of Christmas is lost to a child without a spiritual context. It's just about Santa, presents, and sweets otherwise. I guess that's where the value of making gifts comes into play, along with service in general. It is an adventure to untangle the social norms and dysfunctions in an effort to rejuvenate the culture with meaning and aligned actions and ethics. That feels to me to be as much as a mother's responsibility as anything. We either repeat the traditions we know due to a deep love and respect of them, or fear of the repercussions for abandoning them. I am not much one to uphold the status quo for convenience, nor do I believe in reprisals. I do fear being embedded in a system I don't believe in. I'd rather renew or revamp a tradition than bow to one that has lost its meaning...

So, here's my idea for Winter Holiday 2010. As the phenomenon of Christmas is unavoidable in America (we do live only miles away from North Pole after all!) we will expand our idea of the holiday for a bit of balance. We can celebrate the Winter Solstice with a day of simplicity. Honoring the darkness. Fasting. Taking a moment to reflect. By comparison, Christmas will be a celebration of the light!

VIDEO OF KEET DANCING TO ABC'S



P.S. Speaking of light, notice the nice crisp photos! No more iphone photos, Dada got Mama a nice new digital camera! YEAH!!!!