I've been thinking about the ‘Family Christmas Dinner' and wondering whose family I am wanting to sit at my table. And possibly even more importantly, whose family am I disregarding when I say the Family Dinner? Am I assuming that everybody who is connected in any way is my family? That’s right, and it is reality when we announce “‘how the family is growing with each baby and in-law”. But, whose family? Mine? . . . Ours? Either mine or my spouse’s parents? Where does the family begin? Always with the living? You might be asking, “Why on earth would I be questioning the age old tradition of the Christmas Family Dinner?”
After reading some blogs about the use of the word 'family' at Christmas time, I'm wondering if I call this, The MANN Family Christmas Dinner, or if I use the term 'having the family all home for Christmas'. By using this familiar term, am I missing the point that each one of my children has his or her own family? And, am I assuming that 'my family' can be their family with sons/daughters-in-laws/grandchildren & spouses/friends, or anybody who wants to come without definition? Am I trying to forget that there is a network of families within 'my' family that I'm not giving equal recognition with the use of the ownership 'my' word?
I have to admit I still like to have ‘my’ family around the table and draw the circle wide to include their families and anybody else who might want to come. That's nice, but is there another way of acknowledging that my kid's families may be different than what I'm really meaning. I gaze around the table with great pride, but with some caution, as I think 'my' family and everybody else’s is somehow a tribute to me? Something rings untrue about that.
Granted, our adult children may not know what it’s like to be 70 plus years old and want their family around their knees. But, the echo of this holds a hint that I may want to turn time back which doesn’t work well. All generations strive to find a balance in this for all ages. After all, we all claim a piece of ‘the family’, and so it should. Adult kids want to celebrate 'their' family; I know that to be true from sitting around their tables. And, I'm coming to realize, even though they like to get together with their siblings, in a busy world they probably want to do that in their own time. Is this the reason why the Christmas Breakaway 'Empty Nest' travel opportunities are huge?
We’re going to have ‘the family’ for Christmas very early in the season this year for whomever can come and then maybe we’ll do a fly-around without the sleigh and reindeers on Christmas Day and be a part of ‘the family’. . . at their house.
Donna Mann
Aggie's Storms (2007)
Aggie's Dream launched fall of 2010 http://www.donnamann.org/
Meadowlane MP3 Kid's Farm Stories http://meadowlane.homestead.com/
Looking for a place to feel inspired and challenged? Like to share a smile or a laugh? Interested in becoming more familiar with Canadian writers who have a Christian worldview? We are writers who live in different parts of Canada, see life from a variety of perspectives, and write in a number of genres. We share the goal of wanting to entertain and inspire you to be all you can be with God's help.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Write Canada is more than a professional networking conference. It’s a safe place where beginning and intermediate writers can learn ...
-
Inspiration hardly strikes on an empty stomach. For this, and other reasons, writers must eat. And if you like minced beef (and you...
-
On Thanksgiving Sunday, our daughter and son-in-law blessed us with our first grandchild. My heart sings as I gaze in ...
-
Prediction, retrodiction, and malediction ... It's not even six a.m. here in EST, and already 230 people have visited the Post-Darwinist...
-
by Rev Ed Hird One of the best loved Christmas Carols is the 146-year-old carol: Good King Wenceslas. In 1853, John Mason Neale chose Wences...
-
Adrenaline is not often associated with writing. Adrenaline kicks in simultaneously with fear, or starts pumping while engaged in a sport. I...
-
I'm writing this blog minutes before the clock strikes midnight. When you read it I will be collecting the final few memorie...
-
By Rev Ed Hird Worry, fear, and anger are the greatest disease-causers. They can literally eat us alive, from the inside out. The root of mo...
-
By Rev. Dr. Ed & Janice Hird By Rev. Dr Ed and Janice Hird What if most of the people in your family died from incurable illnes...
-
My present journey through the Bible has landed me in the book of Jonah, a good place to land in January. When Jonah opened his in-box he f...
2 comments:
My wife and I have had a similar reckoning and realization, Donna, regarding our sons and their families.
We most often get together on Boxing Day, weather and roads permitting. We've long acknowledged their need to develop their own traditions as family units and to be available to their in-laws and extended families, as well.
Also, that we'll be glad to have them whenever it suits them.
Donna, you are so right about family. Where does it begin or end? I love the family experience (that grows by leaps and bounds each year! )
Post a Comment