{"id":4593,"date":"2019-12-19T13:31:38","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T21:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.caitlinhicks.com\/wordpress\/?p=4593"},"modified":"2020-09-23T20:40:08","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T03:40:08","slug":"how-to-light-the-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/caitlinhicks.com\/wordpress\/how-to-light-the-room\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel is Born"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to light the room<\/h2>\n

What are we yearning for, in our hearts only to land in our stomachs after Christmas dinner like a piece of poorly digested meat? When I hear the music, sometimes I feel like Charlie Brown: tricked into kicking the football, only to have it taken away at the last moment.<\/p>\n

I still say \u2018Christmas\u2019. I still expect to see a child in a manger, I look for the decorated tree. I love the wrapped gifts, the fattening shortbread cookies, the turkey coupons, the worn sweaters in red and green. I look forward to whatever is going on anywhere \u2013 the carols, the choirs and especially the lights.<\/p>\n

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I remember a long-ago Christmas (before the Sunshine Coast was \u2018discovered\u2019) \u2013 when I made all my Christmas gifts. Out of necessity. People in my life have been pretty good sports: what did my ten-year-old niece think of the paper mache box full of scented potpourri? Did my brother-in-law like the photograph of his children laughing with my own, in a hand-glued, home-made wood picture frame? I do notice that in keeping with the kind of gift I give, that the gifts given back to me are less ambitious: I\u2019m relieved; it\u2019s difficult to compete with money when you don\u2019t have much. But what I\u2019ve found when making the gift is: I spend more time thinking about the person I\u2019m giving it to.<\/p>\n

Christmas\u00a0is the tradition I was raised in; it’s a cultural and family ritual, one of the few I have left in my life. I came from a family whose everyday was laced with repetitive, religious rituals. The rosary every night to save the world from communism, mass every Sunday to be reminded of our obligations, extracurricular ceremonies every time there was another excuse to insert reminder doctrine into our lives. But the time before Christmas, (Advent) was somehow glowing. Mother would light a wreath, accented with one pink and three purple candles. And then, \u00a0as we recited the rosary, (which was unbearably boring), our gaze kept coming back to those flickering flames brightening the darkness. Now I\u2019m critical of the underlying intentions: especially mental conformity. Still, I light candles almost every day at this time of year.<\/p>\n

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For me, Christmas is a celebration of birth. We can all participate because we\u2019ve all been born. Christmas celebrates me as a woman who has given birth and all women who have given birth. It celebrates my son as someone who has been born.\u00a0 It celebrates my husband, a caring and supportive parent who helped me bring that child into the world.<\/p>\n

Here is a story of birth to celebrate mothers especially those who are unsupported, who are displaced, who are immigrants, who are looking for a safe place to spend the night and be with loved ones.<\/p>\n

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