I hope today brings you lots of joy and happiness. It's a day that can be celebrated, or not, in many different ways, and for each individual, for many different reasons. Christmas to me has always meant the day Jesus was born. He was born and put on this earth for the sole purpose to die for us and save us from our sins. We developed the ability to sin when Adam reached for that apple in the Garden of Eden. Who thinks about eating apples and talking with snakes when you have a hot naked chick hanging with you? What an idiot. I guess it was meant to be and the rest is history.
One of my favorite things about Christmas are nativity sets. I must have over a dozen of them. Small, large, cheap, expensive, I have them all. What I don't have, but will one day, is the nice lawn set-up with like a real wooden manger, I will find or build one, just add that to my to-do list. But I absolutley love the story of the birth of Jesus and anything that reminds me of it, and a manger scene does it for me. If you like
the story of Christmas there is no better place to see it live on stage at Sight and Sound Theatre in Lancaster, PA. I'm telling you it rivals any Broadway production. Plus the tickets are reasonable, parking is free, and there's plenty of dining options near the place, and the production is breathtaking. Theresa and I have seen it several times. They didn't run it this year otherwise we would probably be there. Put it on your list for 2023 as it's coming back, and we'll see you there.
It's funny how the Christmas celebrations change as you grow older. I'm 54 now and my youngest is 17. Over the years the family make-up has changed, as many of yours have as well. It started with a married couple and two kids, then three, then I started adding on. It was four kids...then it became seven kids, and then we dropped down to six. There's nothing like having young kids on Christmas. Below is a picture of Ryan and Sean in 2005 with their first fly rods, made by Adirondack legend Fran Betters, or one of his elves.
The above pictures were from Chrsitmas 2007. I was a single Dad and the kids were over that year. Divorce and holidays, well suck, but that's for another post. But those early mornings when the kids are up way too early and there's presents under the tree make for great memories. The last time I had all of the kids together was in 2015. We were still living in Red Bank and Ryan was still with us.
While I don't have a picture of them all together they are all there, Patrick, Tara, Ryan, Juliet, Sean, Lauren and Erin, just spread over the two photos. The old man at the bottom was Al, if you're from Red Bank then you know him from Foodtown. We kind of adopted him and for a few years he could be found in all our of family holiday photos. But as they grow up they move up and out, which is what we pray for, those days of Christmas Eve mass and early morning Christmas's are memories.
As a teacher at Essex County College I have the honor of meeting and grooming a diverse and fantastic group of eager nursing students. Before the semester ended we spent time breaking bread and talking about culture, and our differences and similarities, including how Christmas is celebrated back home. A large percentage of these students were born in other countries and a lot are here five years or less. It was really cool to hear about they celebrate the holiday in Africa, the Phillipines, Thailand, Jamaica and South America. Regardless of where they are from and what the beliefs and traditions are, family is the common thread and what brings us all together on this day. So enjoy your day, or holiday or season, or not, but know today is a day filled with blessings and joy and good cheer across the world.
And to bring it back to fishing for a minute, this was December 24, 2021. I caught a fish on that day, the 31st, and made sure I had one in the books for January catching one on New Year's Day 2022. For many years that was the right of passage, a Christmas morning and New Year's Day fish. Why? I have no idea but I did it. Not this year, I'm good. I'm old, it's cold, and the drive and time spent just, well, I don't know. I am sure somewhere in New Jersey, at 620 am, someone is giving it a go. I hope they catch because they deserve it for the effort. Merry Christmas everyone!