Christmas

Each family spends Christmas a little differently, although there are certainly common points connecting our national Polish traditions and dishes. Personally, I value Christmas normality very much. I put down the phone, the computer - I don't work, don't call anyone, don't reply to text messages with wishes. I do it only on December the 25th, if they are not people I met once in my life, but those that I consider close. I perceive Christmas Eve as a time with family and for family.

The last days of  December until the New Year are a time when I have arrears at work. I look with concern at piles of cards, notes, documents prepared already long time ago, unopened files on the computer. I like to be always prepared and not postpone my duties to another moment. But at Christmas, I demand from myself a different kind of discipline. I want to be physically and mentally present at home, bustle, clean, cook, talk, joke, sing. I want it to really be a period of warmth and closeness in the family. I want to make good use of this time of celebration and not be selfish.

As I said, I like ordinariness very much. Sometimes it's difficult to get used to it or accept that Christmas in my home is not like American movies, television commercials or posters in shopping centers. But, on the other hand, it's consoling that my holidays are not ideal and commercial, but normal and true ones.