Celebrating Life Every Day!

My advent wreath, Swedish candelabra, and a quilt made by my mom, grandma and aunt.

Traditions from Home

My Texas mama, who spent all her life in the West Texas desert city of El Paso, is far away from Izmir-on- the-Aegean.  Mom calls her house Casa Rosa. It’s a beautiful place filled with Southwest art treasures and has a glorious view of the stark, cactus-dotted Franklin Mountain.  Casa Rosa is a far cry from Özgür 2 Sitesi, our 9 story apartment dwelling across the street from a strip of kebap restaurants, but nevertheless, I carry Mom’s presence with me here.

I hold many things I learned from her inside me, and one is celebration.  Mom decorated the house for every holiday. I remember valentines and gifts at the breakfast table on February 14^th, and clover on St. Patrick’s Day.

Mom knows how to give a party in style, and for many years her December 24^th dinner parties were the highlight of our Christmas season.  She always has a beautifully decorated table. British crackers, kazoo playing and the white elephant game are party highlights. She’s a wonderful cook: tamales and enchiladas are some of her holiday specialties.

My Own Brand of Celebration

Our first years in Turkey, we were invited to friends’ houses for holidays.  Then when I turned 40, it was my turn, and people started coming to our house!  Talk about panic! I had no idea what I was doing, and my Texas mama was far away.  At my first Thanksgiving dinner, I served overcooked shreds of turkey breast and hockey puck dinner rolls.   

Although cooking for a crowd has gotten easier, I still can’t fill mom’s shoes as a perfect hostess. But I’ve learned to relax and enjoy my visitors.  If you have pretty table decorations and a festive glass of wine, no one notices much if the meat is a bit dry or if your gravy has a few lumps in it.  At least that’s what I like to tell myself.

Far away from Texas, I’ve created some of my own traditions. I enjoy opening my home at Christmas to share celebration with mslm friends and I hope to create traditions with Turkish believers who don’t have a heritage of celebrating Christ’s birth. I’m still not sure what Christmas should look like in Turkey.

Celebrate Life

Celebrating advent in December is a joy to me.  Every evening my family and I light a candle on our wreath and read scripture.  My teenagers’ faces shine as we sing a Christmas hymn together. It’s my favorite part of the holiday season, much more meaningful than opening gifts on Christmas morning.  It’s a way to stretch out the celebration of Jesus’ birth and make it last for a whole month.  It’s a reminder to me that every day life has a multitude of reasons to celebrate. 

I want to add more celebration to my life:  putting a gingerbread man on my children’s breakfast plates, buying fresh flowers for the dining room table, and lighting scented candles almost every day while I home school. Everyday life is a gift from God we can celebrate. That’s what I want to remember this month of December.

What celebration traditions do you bring from home to the country where you live? How do you add celebration to everyday life?