Blogger: Rachel Kent
A family Christmas tradition that I love is one that I now believe was established by accident and out of necessity. Every Christmas, my parents would have the children wait in the hallway with the door closed before telling us to come out to see what “Santa” had brought us during the night. Now that I’m older, I know they were using this time to make a pot of coffee, light the fireplace logs, get the video camera charged and do any last minute wrapping–but for all of those years, it was a lesson in patience and built the anticipation of Christmas morning. Christmas was all the more special because of that wait.
The minute that we were allowed to open the hall door, we would all rush to the stairs. Seeing the tree and stockings downstairs was magical. It always looked like the entire living room had been transformed. Writing this makes me want to find those videos from each year to look at our facial expressions.
We would all find our spots around the tree, and then my dad would read the Christmas story from the Bible and we’d place baby Jesus in the manger scene before starting in on opening the stockings and gifts.
We still do Christmas this way with our children. Those of us who are in town gather on Christmas morning at my parents’ house, and we make the kids wait in the hallway. Those of us who aren’t getting things ready wait in the hall with them. We know the waiting made Christmas extra special for us, so we hope they feel the same way.
Do you think that the waiting you experience in your publishing journey (or in life in general) could be God’s way of making your blessings extra special when he sends them your way?
How has anticipating something in your life made it extra special when the event occurs?
When does your family open gifts? Christmas Eve? Christmas morning? Christmas night? Is there a tradition like mine in your family?
Karen Ingle
Over the years, we have built in several “pauses” into our Christmas traditions, and they have all stoked the fires of anticipation in us. One: we fully enjoy Thanksgiving without ever mentioning “the C word” until it is complete. Two: On Christmas Eve we immerse ourselves in our church’s worship service, then share supper, then gather all the candles we have given my husband (a new one each year) and light them. My husband reads the Christmas story from his Bible by that light alone, before we each open one gift—like God’s one Gift at Christmas. Three: on Christmas morning, the kids can open their stockings as early as they like. But any remaining gifts have to wait until Mom and Dad are up, the coffee’s made, and my cinnamon rolls are in the oven. (Our kids quickly learned to tend to coffee and the pre-made rolls!) My husband and I usually wake early and just lie in bed listening to their happy sounds downstairs, in anticipation of their latest innovative way to ”wake us up.” Even though our children have grown and some may be with distant in-laws for Christmas, we have preserved these pauses, allowing us to savor the season’s climax.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Through all travail, this doth remain,
the feeling of anticipation
in waiting for symbolic train
at a metaphor of station.
The days are now become extreme,
demanding of a heavy price,
but thus befit the living dream
of shared and high-flown sacrifice.
I went where others would not go
(they thought me foolish, never brave)
but it was I who came to know
the divine in every life I save.
And now, dear friends, please turn your backs,
for I am lashed unto the tracks.
If anyone’s interested, the genesis of this sonnet comes from the odd dichotomy of drastically worse cancer-symptoms matched against the ongoing work to provide a good home to stray dogs (we’re working at taming a little chap gone feral, this morning).
Technically, the first quatrain came quite quickly, with the natural rhyme of ‘anticipation’ and ‘station’, leading to the railway metaphor, and thus the last couplet (which is an image that is resonant for me in a fell manner).
The second and third couplets build the story, once the overture and coda are in place. They’re typically the hardest to write, for there are only eight lines, and perhaps forty-five words, available to build any kind of dynamism.
Shirlee Abbott
Thank you, Andrew, for this peek into your writing process. I’m a big fan of less-is-more, and you fit “less” into poetic boundaries. Your brain-power grows ever stronger even as your physical stamina declines. Bless your words!
Traci Kenworth
This sounds like a fabulous idea!
Shirlee Abbott
Alas, Rachel, there is no closed-off hallway to our open living room and its Christmas tree. We literally have no room to wait. We don’t open any gifts till after the Christmas Eve service; from a child’s point of view, I suppose, the anticipation builds in the car ride home.
In my childhood, Grandma insisted on a proper breakfast before gifts were opened–all in full view of the tree and gifts. Anticipation served up with bacon and eggs!
Morgan Tarpley Smith
Hi Rachel! Love your tradition! It reminds me of similar Christmas mornings as a kid too! It was totally the added anticipation that made it all more magical for sure.
I totally think the longer my journey publication has taken the more it’s allowed me to reflect on the whole process and my goals between wanting to pursue it in the first place. It’s kept me grounded and yes like you said more aware of blessings and those who have graciously invested me along the way.
And it’s not to say there haven’t been moments over the years when something in life put a halt to the journey continuing and it wasn’t hard, but you just have to press on especially since I know God has called me to this journey no matter what I think it should look like or what it does look like. I appreciate everyone who has cheered me on over the years and I’ve done my best to cheer others on to. I love our writing community!!
Shelli Littleton
Rachel, I loved reading about your Christmas. We have done much the same for our girls, even now that they are grown. I have all the same reasons for having them wait, but my main reason was because I wanted their hair to look pretty in pictures. 🙂 And just recently, we watched all of our videos from Christmas Days past, when they were little. We laughed and cried. What special moments. And the waiting in the publishing journey definitely makes me appreciate any progress. Each step forward is magical and surreal.
kathy
A great “picture” for an important lesson ! Thank you for sharing your story.