THINGS I MISS ABOUT CHRISTMAS
TAB'S TOP THINGS ABOUT CHRISTMAS
So I stopped celebrating Christmas, actually ALL holidays, about ten years ago.
Before that? I was a Baptist Christian, knee deep in celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
I aint never believed in no Santa, but I wasn’t a Grinch about it.
Till I got too woke and was a Grinch about it.
I’ve chilled out since then.
And this year in particular I’ve been enjoying the nostalgia of Christmas.
Cuz you gotta feel it as much as you believe in it.
I’m just gonna list my listy list of things I miss about Christmas, (even though I know what I know about the holiday):
TAB’S TOP THINGS ABOUT CHRISTMAS
The exclusive variety of fabulous tea sets.
As a tea lover, this is the perfect time I can stock up on unique blends, try new ones, or get bulk amounts in dope containers. I know it’s risky, but I’m waiting a few more days to do a haul at multiple Winners and Marshalls. You know a baddie butterfly gotta stay ready with tea.
Nuts. I love them all. Candied, roasted, toasted, blended; SPLENDED! I want em all. I remember growing up hand cracking hazlenuts, walnuts, pecans…YOU NAME IT during Christmas time. We had a special set up for the nuts; with a wooden well that you’d fill up with assorted nuts, the nut cracker dangling from its etched groove at the top.
It came with accessories too; a pick to help the nuts come out, and this other contraption I never used. All silver. I was the predominant Nut Cracker in our family. I never minded it tho, cuz I always took my nut tax.
The smell of real trees in your house.
My housemate is a diehard Christmas gal. She buys a real fresh tree every year. When I walked in the house the other day, My face was caressed with enchanting aroma of pine. It was clean, sweet, and earthy in the best way. I wafted her pheromones and it brought me back to early years when my parents would get real trees. Soooo many hilarious stories about birds being in the tree when it came inside, the rabid birds trying to fight through the window netting to get at our tree inside, I think a squirrel might have been involved one time BUT….It was that beautiful smell of the pine that does something to me. It’s how I knew essential oils were the most potent in an apothecary. It’s them TURPINES mannnnnn. Also dressing up a Christmas tree is fun cuz who doesn’t love to decorate and be creative with a look?
The Christmas Hymns. There was a section in all churches for the Christmas hymnals. Classics like: Go Tell It on the mountain, O come all ye faithful, Silent Night, O Holy Night, O come o come Emmanuel, It came upon a midnight clear.
But also…. now that I really don’t give a fuck, I like singing different versions of Santa related songs too. Especially now that more vocalists have made Christmas albums. I laugh when I hear the old school hymns though. And then I sing along with more soul. Shit be fun. But also: the classic Christmas records from Boney Em and The Smurfs still ring through my head automatically when the season blows in.
Black cake. Bun n cheese. Spiced bun (without those fruit things lol).
Jamaican breakfast on Christmas morn: ackee and saltfish, fried dumpling, plaintain, green banana, bammy, breadfruit, my father’s perfect porridge…
…SORREL! My auntie’s sorrel to be specific. It was strong as a muddascunt but I loved how the flavours danced on my tongue and sizzled down my throat. We never got to have Jamaican Christmas dinner (it’s ok, I’ve healed from that trauma), but all the other Jamaican delicacies that came at Christmas time was something I still treasure.
Fashion show at church. We’d usually get some new clothes, hair accessories, makeup, or shoes and I would PUT THAT SHIT ON to go show off at church. Nails done, hair done, everything DID.
It almost made sitting through the propaganda worth it. Especially when families would bring fresh meat — I mean, new potential mates my age — to the special service.
Christmas apps and deserts. My mother’s spinach dip in the hollowed out pumpernickel being my favourite.
I wasn’t a fan of her holiday dinners but that spinach dip was a happy substitute for me. Also the spread of cheese and crackers, French onion dip with chips, that Christmas tin of multi-flavoured popcorn, and of course the nuts. Mother also made some great desserts I looked forward to when the season came upon us: double chocolate chip banana cake, jam in the middle cookies in Christmas shapes, no bake cherry cheesecake, butter tarts, pecan pie, Nanaimo bars, chocolate crumbles….YUM. Honorable mention to Daddy’s best friend, who’d bring us a white pastry box or two filled with Turtles every Christmas.
My favorite is Christmas Eve candlelight service when you raise up your candles to Silent Night and all the light are out. They don’t use real candles anymore. It’s not the same with l.e.d light. 🔥
So many similarities between my childhood Christmas memories from Finland. Real trees, amazing chocolates (pallets of chocolates in every store! We ate them all!), family gatherings with enormous amounts of food and desserts and the nice porcelain was out! And hymns. Real hymns sung by villagers and drew tears from all in the church. Candle light and Lucia. Thank you for taking us on your memory journey! And Merry Christmas!