Celebrations Big and Small

   It is Christmas night and I am completely sated. We have eaten enough rich food to give us gout. We have surprised our loved ones with big gifts and small. We have gone to church several times in the last few days, sung the carols, prayed the prayers and heard the retelling of Christs' birth in several genres. It has all been glorious. We have been wrapped in the joy of celebration. It makes me a little sad to see it go.

   Celebrating Jesus' birth, of course, need not be a once a year occasion. Neither does celebrating the many other gifts God has given us need to be a rare and fleeting moment. We can and should often remember the gift of God incarnate come to earth, but it is against our nature to be in a constant state of celebration. A celebration, by its very definition, is a special time set apart from the regular run of the mill days. Yet we don't need to only celebrate the big holidays that our society has set apart, the days we are given off of work and school. Small celebrations scattered throughout the year are an acknowledgement of the blessing we receive daily from our loving Father.

   Families benefit from celebration of small accomplishments and occasions. Celebrating a good grade on the math test, a piano recital completed, the opening of the new Seven- Eleven are all small ways to draw families together for a few minutes of levity. It is a way to focus, if only for a few minutes, that we receive gifts, many of them intangible, much more often than we realize. Children blossom in the shared joy of a mini celebration, a few minutes with their parents all focusing, not on the work ahead but, on the happiness of the moment. The celebration don't need to be complex or fancy, a scoop of ice cream after dinner or a small Slurpee from that new Seven Eleven combined with a parent's declaration that we need to celebrate creates the celebration.

   As the biggest celebration of the year, the feast of Christmas, ebbs away consider finding some bite size celebrations to enjoy with your children. They may be the celebrations they remember and treasure the most.