December 25
Roll The Bones: It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
By Chris Nelson
The holidays have always been a celebration of traditions, old and new. Of all the holidays, Christmas embraces tradition in the most beautiful, heartfelt, and wonderful ways.
As a child, my family enjoyed many typical Christmas rituals. Decorating a pine tree with keepsake ornaments passed down from generation to generation. Arranging a snowy village of porcelain cottages on the fireplace mantle where our stockings hung. Baking buttery, sugary cookies from the dog-eared pages of Grandma’s cookbook.
Every year at yuletide, we also came together to create something truly special for our small Midwestern town. Filling brown paper bags with sand and tea candles, then lining the streets with warm, glowing luminaria.
Our family tradition began in 1991. What started modestly snowballed into an annual event that drew dozens of neighbors on Christmas Eve morning for mugs of hot chocolate or hot buttered rum, Christmas cookies, and a full day of assembling and placing thousands of luminaria.
By sunset, the luminaria were waiting in long lines. As daylight faded, front doors opened all at once and neighbors spilled out with lighters in hand. Within minutes, cars crawled through our neighborhood with their headlights off, using the luminaria as their only light.
It remains one of the most beautiful memories of my childhood. Though we ended our tradition in 2014, another family took up the mantle and kept it alive and glowing.
This Christmas, we’ll make new traditions and revive one old tradition. Luminaria on Christmas Eve. We’ll start small, but we’ll keep going, year after year, until the whole neighborhood glows warm with kinship, community, and holiday joy.
Dec 25
The Confidence of the Modern Pioneer: Why My &SONS Capsule Wardrobe is My Secret Weapon
Dec 25
