Old Fashioned Christmas

Call me old fashioned. That’s fine with me. You won’t find me standing in line on Black Friday, I’ll be working Small Business Saturday, but I’ll probably be offline all of Cyber Monday. It’s just not the kind of holiday spirit that suits me.

I remember one of my favorite children’s Christmas albums, back when all our records were on “tape,” and you had to flip them over to hear the other side. We probably played that tape until it frayed or demagnetized because I haven’t a clue where it’s gotten to…but the tune has stayed with me. In this song, a Christmas tree from the forest is in search of a family.

So she put on her coat,
Pulled her hat down low
And looked for a house where
She could go and
Be a part of Christmas.

And as she traveled, this was the family she was dreaming of:

I want a house that smells like cookies
(ahhhh)
A house where people sing,
(la-la!)
A house where people make their presents
(Merry Christmas!)
Instead of Christmas shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping.
(and in the background, everyone was clapping their hands on their laps, like busy feet rushing around.)

Eventually, the little tree finds a family who is stranded in their home because it’s too cold to start the car. How will they ever get to have Christmas without the usual shopping binge? They welcome in the little tree, and together they make their own Christmas merriment, including (I believe) hot cocoa.

In a house that smells like cookies
A house where people sing,
A house where people make their presents
Instead of Christmas shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping.

There’s something magical to me about making gifts during the holiday season, whether it’s listening to Kara baking a zillion family recipe cookies in the kitchen to the songs of her favorite musicians or taking the time to crochet something special with my own hands and yarns from our sheep.

This week, as Kara and I were locked in the Creamery as the skies blew -33 degree wind-chills outside, we broke out the polymer clay (squirreled away from our younger days) and cookie cutters. Swirling colors together in our warm hands, we cut and layered the pliable pieces, studded them with beads, marbles, and trinkets, and baked them in the oven to make unique ornaments.

Snowflakes of all colors, a crescent moon with a cat, a sheep with holly on a star, swirls and roses… The options were endless, and the time slipped by quickly. Sure, they might not be as sparkly or as intricate as something from a store, but they are completely individual, made using our own hands and small, simple tools.

The olden stories of Santa Clause tell of him making toys for children who otherwise would have none, working hand tools with wood. In today’s franchised retellings, droves of elves are put to the task. But I still like the idea of Santa’s hands at work himself, rather than him being the benevolent overseer of his minions.

One of our holiday gift projects was to take some family photos (the first we had specifically tried doing that in who knows how long). Grandma’s been pining for a family picture for her bookshelf, so we squeezed onto the staircase and propped up a Selfie Stick for the undertaking. It mostly ended in giggles and silly faces, but we did get a good take at last. I’m sure Grandma will be ecstatic when she opens her box to find these framed pieces, ready for her shelf.

It’s simple things like this—or the boxes of yummy and hand-made farm goodies we send off to relatives this time of year who can’t make it to the farm for the holidays—that share the love, time, and attention that brings Christmas alive in our hearts on the farm. Nothing fancy, nothing expensive. Sometimes the most exciting package to open is the one you know has a new pair of insulated work pants in it for chore-time! Or, well, maybe you didn’t even bother wrapping it and started using it as soon as it arrived…but you still know it’s a special gift from the farm to you.

I guess it shows that agrarians can be rather practical with their gift-giving. Can you eat it? Can you wear it? Can you use it? But then, there are the just-for-fun things too, like making ornaments. There’s something to be said about having a home that feels pretty and festive, especially when outside is a black-and-white photograph for the next several months.

This holiday season, I hope you’ve mixed in a bit of the old fashioned sort of Christmas, so that you can also have the joy of:
A house that smells like cookies
A house where people sing,
A house where people make their presents
Instead of Christmas shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping, shopping.

A very happy holidays to you! See you down on the farm sometime.