Happy Holidays! How did we get here?

[November 21, 2023]  Happy Holidays! What a wonderful pairing of words. It makes us smile to think of the holiday season that is now officially in full swing.

There will be days of baking Christmas cookies, planning holiday get togethers, shopping, lots of shopping, gift wrapping, again a lot of that too. These are the things that lead us to that ultimate Christmas morning when the kids come running into the family room, putting on the brakes before crashing head on into the Christmas tree. They drop to their knees and start tearing open gift wrapping, paper and bows flying in every direction as they reveal the treasures that are hidden beneath those pretty foil bows. They toss aside the new underwear and socks, groan at the crazy Christmas sweater that was a gift from grandma, and dive for the Red Rider BB gun that grandpa insisted they were too old to live without even one more day. The dolls, the play tea sets, the games, the videos and electronics, their treasures, all laying before them.

And as they try to divide their time between each of the wonderful gifts, they hear those dreaded words from you, “It’s time to get ready to go to grandma’s house, and don’t forget to wear that precious new sweater grandma gave you!” And then you gasp, when did you turn into your mother? You remember all too well the words she would say and that feeling of disappointment and dread that came immediately after.

“But why? Why do we have to go to grandmas?”

“You know you want to! You get to see all your cousins! You can play with them and have fun, and you know grandma has been baking your favorite cookies all week long!”

“But we don’t want to see the cousins. We don’t like cousin Snort (the name your kids gave little Tommy because he is constantly needing to blow his nose). We don’t want to wear that sweater! Come on mom, don’t make us do that!”

Yep, you’ve turned into your mother, and for just a moment you weaken. But then you think about your mom and what it means to her. You think about that warm feeling you’ll find when you get there. The savory smells of turkey and ham in the oven, the buttery aroma of home-made bread, delicately blending with the sweet smell of pecan and pumpkin pies. You think about the feeling of unity, the family that you haven’t seen for quite some time, the photos that will be taken, the memories that will be made, and you’re right back to repeating your order to the children. “Now go get ready, I promise you’ll have a good time, and YES, you have to wear that sweater!”

So why did you do that? How did you get to this point? You did it because in your mind you’re looking twenty years down the road, and you’re seeing yourself as the grandma and your children as the parents. You will want them to come home for the holidays, just as you today are going home for the holidays. It’s called tradition. And you don’t want to lose that because it is what ties you to your loved ones, and indeed what gives the holiday season its deeper, more poignant meaning.

But, let’s look at the bigger picture. Who started all this? Really, who started any of it? Why do we observe Christmas with trees in our house and Santa in our Chimney? Why do we celebrate any of the observances that are part of this time of year? Who decided we should observe Hanukkah, and why? What about Kwanzaa? Why is that important and when did it start being so?

For the 2023 Home for the Holidays online magazine, our team of writers dug into those questions, and came up with some very good answers. And, also to a certain extent some challenges. Whatever we observe as our “primary” each of the three observances have value for us regardless of our personal faith, personal heritage, or our ethnic or cultural background.

As you leaf through the pages of this year’s magazine you’ll find fun articles about why we do what we do each and every year. Who decided to decorate a tree? Is there really a Santa Claus? What is the secret meaning of the Dreidel game? And what are the seven principals of Kwanzaa? You may be surprised by what you learn.

And, regardless of what your personal beliefs and practices are, we hope you will find something interesting, like how to keep that poinsettia alive through Christmas and maybe even all year long. How to create a themed Christmas tree, why we have Father Time and a New Year Baby, and how can we celebrate the new year without getting tipsy.

And, on a more serious note, we have one article that we hope you will all read early in the season. Whether you have lost a loved one this year, or know someone who has, this article will hopefully help you as you enter the holiday season.

And, as always, we at Lincoln Daily News are taking this opportunity to say thank you to all of our readers and our advertisers. Your support over the past year has been so appreciated by all of us. We long to bring you the important and best parts of our community and share with you the good that we see when we are out in the county. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for allowing us to serve you in this manner.

Happy Holidays!
The Staff and Stringers of Lincoln Daily News

 

Read all the articles in our new
2023 Home for the Holiday magazine

Title CLICK ON TITLES TO GO TO PAGES	Page
Happy Holidays!  How did we get here?	4
Christmas 2023 Trivia	6
Coping with grief and loss during the holidays	10
Keep your poinsettia happy and healthy	14
The history and miracle of Hanukkah	18
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree:  how evergreens ended up decking our halls for the holidays	28
How to choose a Christmas tree theme	32
Santa?  I know him!	36
The universally significant principals of Kwanzaa	40
The history of Father Time and Baby New Year	44
Ring in the New Year alocohol free	48