Last week, our Editor Sandi asked us if we would like to share with the Onya readers special moments in our own lives related to Christmas. It could be a memory, a tradition, our favourite recipe – anything, big or small – just something that represented Christmas to us.
I thought about what I might like to write. I could talk about childhood Christmases, where we hurriedly opened presents from Santa before rushing off to breakfast with Dad’s family, lunch with Mum’s family and falling asleep before we even had a chance to play with our new things.
Perhaps the Christmas I realised that Santa perhaps wasn’t as real as he had been made out to be, and remembering I had younger siblings who still believed in the magic of Christmas.
I remember the first ‘grown up’ presents I received, around the age of 12 or 13 – perfume and jewellery I was thrilled to receive because it recognised that the people buying me those gifts realised I was growing up.
Teenage Christmases where I was awkward, finding my place at the adult table but still wanting to engage with the kids. Wishing to be accepted by aunts and uncles, yet knowing I was missing out on the fun outside with my cousins.
Christmases now, where questions about when I might find a boyfriend and how my work is going actually making me dread the conversations I will have with relatives I haven’t seen in a year.
It’s funny how the thought of Christmas is idyllic, a seemingly special family time represented in ads for supermarket chains and magazines as a perfect day out, filled with good food, fabulous company and everyone in their Sunday best.
In the real world, I believe, most people find Christmas is a far cry from that. They struggle to get along with family they feel obligated to spend this one day a year with. The cost of presents, food and get togethers causing pain long after the New Year has come and gone. The stress and angst of the pressure of this one day being felt for a long time after the Christmas tree has been taken down.
My family has its own quirks, everyone’s does, but I think the main point of Christmas is to spend it with the people you love and who love you equally. People who make you feel fantastic, who add to your life and make you feel special. On this of all days, shouldn’t we appreciate the value of these relationships?
And in the same way you shouldn’t wait until Valentine’s Day to buy your partner chocolates and flowers, why should we wait until Christmas Day to share meals and gifts with the people who mean so much to us? Doesn’t it mean so much more on February 12? Or September 24?
Christmas is also seemingly a time to thank those in our lives who have supported us in the past twelve months – and that was where my first idea for what I was going to write about came from.
Last week my extended family got together for our annual catch up. We are now twenty adults – cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, grandparents – and our once simple Christmas Day breakfasts are now a feat of diary planning; organising individuals all over the greater Melbourne area with respect to jobs, social lives, partners and all manner of other incidences.
We gathered at my local restaurant/bar, where the generous owner/manager/all round nice guy Steve allowed us to use the function room space to facilitate our annual get together.
The night went beautifully, my token decorations and everyone’s ability to come together creating an atmosphere worthy of Christmas – a pleasant night out enjoying each other’s company and reuniting with those we hadn’t seen in some time.
It was just two days letter when a handwritten letter arrived in my mailbox.
Penned by my grandmother, the note was, to me, one of the true representations of Christmas:
To dear Sarah,
Many thanks to you for the wonderful evening I shared with our family last night – you certainly had everything looking beautiful – when did you find the time to do it all?
What a delightful place for a party.
I can remember now there was a state savings bank on that corner when I grew up in the area. It was great to see the old stomping ground.
Once again, many thanks – it was a wonderful party.
Lot’s of love, from Nan xxx
For my grandmother – mother of four, mother-in-law of three, grandmother of eleven, great-grandmother of one (and one on the way), the occasion of us all getting together for Christmas is truly worthy.
For me, her thoughtful note of appreciation and sharing with me her memories of the place that I now live are truly special. Taking the time to sit down and write to me is even more meaningful and it is tokens like this that I cherish.
And so this Christmas, I will be sure to make note of the special moments; to thank my hosts and ensure that Christmas for them is a memory they will hold close and treasure in the coming years. I will pay respect to the effort that has gone into the day, the hours of planning, cooking and preparing so that we all might have a wonderful day, shared with special people.
I hope that each and every one of you have a brilliant Christmas, a day filled with joy that is as close as possible to the advertising ideal. May you laugh and love with all your heart, share memories with those you are close to and stay safe over the festive season.
All my thanks to you for your support over the past year – I wish I could write you all handwritten thank you notes – without your readership of Onya Magazine I wouldn’t have the opportunity to share my thoughts.
Merry Christmas!
Sarah, Fashion Editor.
