Christmas! It is nearly here, 4 days away in fact. Therefore because I am simply being completely lazy I have decided to chat about christmas in my family. My family has the great and awesome tradition of coming together for christmas. In fact we always get together for christmas. Past years have included adventures such as camping during christmas and simple things such as just having christmas day together at a family members house… It is this that really highlights for me the magic of christmas.
Families are possibly the most perfectly imperfect units we have and yet they are a fundamental part of our growth as a human. If we can’t handle our family how are we ever going to handle to real world. As such christmas is important as it enables a family to do away with their differences and simply come together as one for the soul purpose of giving and being together.
In Australia our christmas ideas are vastly different to the rest of the world. White christmas… What is that? In Australia our christmas usually involves time spent out on the water or at the beach, You are unlikely to do that in much of mainland america. Further to this Santa and a sleigh is wildly impractical for Australia. Santa needs a trusty, rusty Holden (or Toyota) Ute along with a sheep dog to keep the livestock under control during the 40 degree celsius (not fahrenheit you fools) scorcher that is christmas day. Further to this in Australia snow angels are not going to happen. A bit of Backyard or Beach Cricket is called for. Even our Eskies (coolers) are designed with cricket in mind.
For me personally the best christmas I have experienced was last christmas where we were camping as it provided a time for us to connect over waterskiing and simply having fun. It is a rare thing for my entire family to decide to go and do something such as camping together and as such I love it when it does happen.
So I am going to ask the question. What are your families favourite christmas traditions? Let me know because our Australian ideas are likely different to the rest of the world.
Andrew Pratt Online Ministries 