How life changes, eh??? Having a few days R&R has had me thinking…. not something I do a lot of đ
Usually I am rushing about and so busy I donât have much time for reflection… but over the past few days Iâve been thinking about how much my life has changed in recent years, especially when it comes to Christmas traditions.
Growing up in Canada I got used to snow at Christmas…. yes, all that picture postcard stuff that Irish people long for … we had snow every year! So it was picture perfect.
On Christmas Eve it was all about getting home to my parents house.  The whole extended family would gather at the house, sometimes there could be as many as 60 people gathered around the table, from all corners of the world. As we all know, Canada is very multiculural. Everyone brought their own unique dish to share at dinner on Christmas Eve, but there would always be turkey and ham….. and with such a crowd the chatter and laughter would be something else.
Once dinner was finished, it was time to open presents.
Christmas morning everyone got suited up and we played ice hockey – trying hard not to kill ourselves or each other!!!! It was a great way to work off all the excesses of the previous evening! Mind you all that exercise and burning of calories was followed by a few pints and left-overs, so it is questionable that it did us any good at all???? I just loved those turkey sandwiches! They always tasted wonderful after all that fresh air.
By Boxing Day (St. Stephenâs Day) everything would be kind of back to normal… but if you did have the day off from work, mostly it was all about shopping.
Since getting married to my beautiful Polish wife, Christmas tradition is quite different. We are both getting used to the fact that we live by the sea in Ireland where the chances of snow are very very slight!!!
Now we celebrate Christmas in the Polish tradition with my wife cooking dinner on Christmas Eve.  I love having others cook for me đ I like the lovely Polish tradition of sitting down to dinner on Christmas Eve as the first star appears – dare I say it, it adds a romantic feel to the evening đ
On Christmas morning, we exchange our gifts and take a walk down to the beach in Lahinch with the dogs, to watch the Christmas Day swim….. the key word here is âwatchâ. I donât know how those folks do it? Jumping into freezing cold water!! Maybe some year Iâll be brave enough to do it!!! It would make me feel all virtuous then as I sit be the fire for the rest of the afternoon with a glass of wine and watch lots of movies!
And then St. Stephenâs Day….. itâs back to work.
Do you have family Christmas traditions? How will you be spending Christmas?
However, you will be spending it, we wish you a very very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
See you soon
Randy