Tomorrow is the ritual we’ve been anticipating — sharing gifts and stockings with Susan and Carley, preparing a delicious banquet, and then hosting my parents and my sister for a Christmas celebration — ever since Thanksgiving. But today, Christmas Eve Day, is less grandiose and more intimate. More reflective.
These cinematographic snapshots, captured seven years, conjure the contemplative mood I feel as I relive memories of the years that Rosslyn has hosted us, has hosted our family and friends, has hosted our Christmas Eve Day and Christmas festivities.
[I’m remembering] our first Christmas at Rosslyn…. [back in 2008. I’m remembering] Christmas Eve sitting in our still incompletely furnished living room with our dog and our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. So long anticipated. So perfect on every level. So grateful to everyone who made this possible.
A decade and a half later, this first Rosslyn Christmas remains as poignant. Now nostalgia wrapped, the beneficiaries of a hand-me-down Christmas tree, a munificent crew who shared our dream to celebrate Christmas and year’s end with accomplishment and completion, and a sheltering home that has sheltered families for two centuries, we are well aware of our good fortune. (Source: Christmas Eve)
From sunup to sundown Christmas Eve Day solicits contextual contemplation of holidays past, poignant “postcards” from yesteryears with those we love, and, in some cases, those we’ve lost.
Wrapping gifts, tuning up the tree, hanging stockings, preparing savories and sweets for tomorrow’s banquet. As much a part of the ritual as Christmas itself, Christmas Eve Day catalyzes retrospection and introspection. Christmas Eve Day, ripe with preparation and anticipation, is nevertheless rooted in memories in shared experiences.
This evening as I prepare to celebrate with family tomorrow I allow my mind to meander. I contemplate future holidays once Rosslyn has become the home and Christmas sanctuary for another family. Sunup to sundown, Christmas Eve Day, laughter and cooking and gift wrapping, another family’s collective anticipation for their first Christmas at Rosslyn. And I’m overcome with joy. For them. For us. For Rosslyn.
What do you think?