No matter how chintzy it was, the Country music show in Pigeon Forge earlier this week was on target with the nostalgic song, “Tender Tennessee Christmas.”  It didn’t all come together until late in the evening of Christmas Day, but the focus on family at Christmas fell into place.

Ms. Natalie and her sister had spent two days being silly little schoolgirls giggling at their own dreadful one-liners as they’ve done as long as I’ve known them.  It culminated with the two of them piled on a bed watching whatever might be on television at midnight as they had for the past how-ever-many years.  A few hours later as we settled in for what remained of the night, I jokingly chided Natalie about their sisterly antics.  She quietly pointed out that she had never spent a Christmas Eve without her sister.  I realized that their piling on a bed on Christmas Eve was a tradition.  Gone were the parents to be pestered, but the sisters were drawn to carry on the ritual anyway.

Christmas Day unfolded with the collection of available family members with the usual too much food and too many people carrying on too many conversations with too much overload for any of it to be savored.

As the day simmered down to a few family members, one last vehicle pulled down the driveway.  Our son, Andrew, had driven three hours to surprise his mother for Christmas.  He wrapped his mom up in a bear hug and the focus of Christmas was clear.  As imperfect as it may be for a celebration of Christ’s birth, it is a time that draws families together as little else can do.  And, there’s usually a lot of tradition involved.

What are some of your most tender Christmas moments that need to be elevated to cherished tradition status?

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 26th, 2009 at 6:57 am and is filed under Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.