Christmas Traditions

Christmas seems to be such a time for traditions. As a child I never thought too much about the traditions in my own family. Reflecting back on my childhood Christmases and what traditions we keep going in our family now has been a lot of fun this year.

The anticipation of opening our presents was tough and Dad made it tougher. We had to wake up everyone first and Dad insisted we eat breakfast before going over to the tree. Sometimes we were worried whether Santa made it to our house or not since Dad would make a big show of stoking up the fire in the fireplace and tell us that there was no way Santa was getting into our house.

Stockings were opened first and always had an apple or orange, peanuts, and candy (Whitman's sampler and Lifesavers storybook box). Then there would be small toys, jewelry, makeup, socks, and other trinkets. For many years we got a Toblerone candy bar. My poor mom always seemed to have cooking utensils in her stocking and Dad had us kids convinced that all Mom ever wanted was cooking stuff.

After we opened presents, we got ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house. That involved a two-hour drive but it was worth it. We loved playing with our cousins and Grandma not only made a great dinner but wonderful pies and cookies for all. My sister, Kathy, and I would play Christmas songs by Alvin and the Chipmunks, singing and dancing along, taking over the living room. All of the kids would slide down the stairs and play games that modern kids couldn't imagine (no electronics involved).

Getting married led to some new traditions. The biggest one was attending midnight mass. My husband was raised Catholic and that was a big part of his family's Christmas traditions. It was wonderful to spend the first moments of Christmas Day celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. As the years went by it was our way of feeling like we could still be with our family even though we were far away. All of us were at mass at the same time, no matter where we were.

Some traditions changed since we rarely had a chance to travel the long distances to be with family and because we were merging two different backgrounds.  I love knowing the stories behind our ornaments and insist on being the only one to put certain precious ornaments on the tree. I was used to significant presents being under the tree but I married someone who likes to put some of the best presents in or next to the stockings. We also took on his family's tradition of seeing a movie on Christmas Day. As we get closer to Christmas we get excited about picking out what movie we will save for that day. We used to light candles on the Advent wreath but lately we haven't managed to get our Christmas stuff out of storage in time to do it.

I hadn't thought much about what our own children would enjoy in our traditions. They started bringing girlfriends along to midnight mass. Our oldest mentioned last week how much he looked forward to packs of cards in his stocking. From Pokemon to Yu-Gi-Oh to Magic cards. "It's like the Christmas lottery!" It's so different having our kids out of the house now and waiting for them to come over so we can open presents. Some day we will be watching them develop their own Christmas traditions.

What are the Christmas traditions you look forward to?

The Power of Connections

In my work for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society we have come to focus on CONNECTIONS. Multiple sclerosis (MS) destroys connections in the nervous system and we believe that we can make connections that will kill MS. People connect to others to raise funds for new research or to educate or even to create friendships that help them cope with the disease.

It didn't take long before I started to see how connections were playing a part in so many areas of my life. When I was first plunged into searching for a new job in early 2012 I worked with a job coach who emphasized how important it was to network (use connections) to discover job opportunities. Most employers I've worked for are more likely to hire someone who is recommended by a current employee and sometimes the employee can give you a "heads up" on positions that are opening up soon.

The last couple of months have provided our family with some challenges and emergencies. In nearly every instance the power of connections came to the rescue. My daily commute of 50 miles each way was taking a toll on my car and the motor on the heater fan went out. I was facing a large repair bill that we couldn't absorb. Fortunately, I had reconnected at our Bike MS event with a great guy who used to work for our favorite mechanic. I asked him for recommendations on a reliable and affordable mechanic and he connected me to someone who fixed the car at a price we could handle.

The freezing cold temperatures did a number on our backyard faucet. The pipe cracked and water was spraying all over. Every plumber we called was overbooked already and they estimated the job would be at least $300. There goes Christmas! We are blessed to have a guy in our neighborhood who can fix pretty much anything. Our sons came over to help us out and called our neighborhood hero as well.  By the end of the night we were able to get the pipe replaced and have running water (without leaks) again.

My latest set of connections ended in the most fun I've ever had at a job interview. It all started with a dental emergency. I have an unhappy history with dentists and generally find them terrifying, but with a broken tooth developing an abscess there was no way to avoid seeing one. My hubby got a recommendation from a coworker for the dentist that has sponsored the football team he coaches. That connection helped me to get in for an appointment right away. The dentist turned out to be really great but I was also facing a lot of work to fix my dental problems. I found myself overwhelmed by everything that needed to be done and the cost of it all and started falling apart. That's when the dentist offered us some different options and slowed everything down so I could calm down. He was like no other dentist I had ever met. When I got home I checked out his website and Facebook page and saw that he had a great relationship with his patients. Reading through the posts and seeing how he and his office interacted with all these families showed me that he was definitely the dentist for me. How does this end up in a job interview? Today I had a job interview with a company that helps dental practices get their social media started. During the interview I mentioned my great new dentist and how impressed I was with his Facebook page. That's when I found out that my dentist was one of their clients! I felt so comfortable in that interview and my experience with my dentist let me see what a wonderful job this was.

These are just a few of the examples. Just connecting with friends on Facebook led to me getting tickets to a sold-out show my brother was performing in. Connecting on Twitter led to an offer from a "Finding Bigfoot" scientist to speak to my hubby's biology students and getting to meet comedian Gabriel Iglesias after his show (where he wished us a happy 25th anniversary). May you all find your own connections that make your world a much better place!