As with many things in our lives, time and circumstance bring about change in what we do and how we do it. It brings about change in living habits, the clothes we wear, our diet and eating habits, our spending habits, almost everything we continue to do. Due to longevity and ability at our more advanced age, though, it’s inevitable that changes could, should, and will be brought about in our lives. This goes for holidays as well.

As kids growing up, holiday celebrations were etched in stone, or so we thought. We celebrated Easter with the same traditions, food, and habits. We got dressed up for church, the smells of Easter Dinner wafted through the house, Dad had his favorite knife he used to slice the ham, and dessert always included homemade, fresh baked cookies, and Pupa Cu Love (Eggs in a Basket).

Halloween traditions didn’t include transforming homes into the Nightmare on Elm St. setting-like amusement park side shows, often seen today, but we donned homemade costumes (often a hobo), carved pumpkins, dried out the seeds, salted them, then noshed on them when they were ready to eat.

Thanksgiving, growing up, included Mom getting up around 1:00 a.m. to get the turkey stuffed and ready, and slid into the oven to begin the hunger torture of having to smell the delicious, mouth-watering aroma for the next six hours or so. The Macy’s Parade was always playing in the background as we pitched in to do whatever we were told, and the excitement built to a fever pitch as we set the table, knowing it wouldn’t be long before we were stuffing our faces more than Mom stuffed the Butterball. Again, Dad had his favorite knife to carve the bird, and dessert always included pumpkin pie, a bowlful of fruit, assorted nuts in a shell, and Castange (Roasted Chestnuts).

Christmas included many traditions leading up to the day, then Christmas Eve gatherings at Great Aunt Mary and Great Uncle Joe’s home, then going to Midnight Mass, many times with Brother Lou and me serving in our red cassocks and white surplices.

Later on, after we were married with our own kids, traditions changed as we started customs with our own children, establishing our own family doings. Late Christmas mornings, we’d load up the car and head to either Sally’s or my folks’ house for dinner and gift giving, then about 4:00 we’d pack up and head to the other parents’ house. But those were visits from Ghosts of Christmas pasts, and other holidays past. We now experience life in the visits of Holidays, specifically Christmases, Present.

Since our kids now have lives with their own families, and even though we’re invited to join them, we feel that our children should be home, in their homes, celebrating their Christmases and creating their own traditions/customs with their children. Sometimes, we travel to their homes, but stay in hotels, so they can experience the specialness of Christmas mornings with their family. We try and keep one tradition of our days with our family Christmases alive as Sally makes a pan of her cinnamon rolls, which were a tradition of Christmases from her past, and one she included in our traditions when the kids were growing up. The amazing aroma of those rolls baking can never be forgotten, as, if you close your eyes when they’re baking, many memories of many bygone Christmases return to mind.

One wonderful part of past Christmas travels, though, if we’re visiting one of our kids’ families at Christmas, is that we’ve been able to visit a number of different churches for Christmas Mass, one highlighted in last week’s Bullpen narrative.

As much as we’d still love all of us to get together, if schedules sync, we try to celebrate Christmas at Thanksgiving when most of our kids and grandkids can come to our home to celebrate both holidays in one weekend. This year only half of the gang were able to visit, not for Thanksgiving, but, we did get to celebrate last weekend.

Christmas Day, this year, will be a quiet celebration for Sally and me. We’ll visit some homes on Christmas Eve day, to share greetings with family and/or friends, and though we’ve received kind, invitations from some to join them on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, this year, we choose to spend Christmas Eve/Day ’22 alone together, with Mass, a nice dinner each day, and a celebration of the two of us, with wonderful memories of Christmases Past and our life together. We’ll talk to the kids sometime during the day, they’ll send pictures, and we may Zoom with them too. Not the same, but very gratifying seeing what they’ve become, and what they’ve built for themselves and their families.

What won’t happen in our Christmas Present is memories of Christmas Past being forgotten, as we’re always able to remember many wonderful Christmases from different times in our lives. Our Christmas wish for everyone is that the Ghost of Christmas Present brings your personal memories back to your minds, hopefully bringing those people (or their spirit), and events imaginatively back to your living/dining rooms, as if it were still the days of your childhood, early adulthood, or to the celebration of each other as Sally and I will enjoy.