So this is Christmas

So this is Christmas...

This year my goal was to make jam cake. You might assume from this that jam cake is my favorite cake. It is not. It is not even second or third. On any given day if you asked me what my favorite cake is you would not even find this one listed amongst them. I like red velvet with thick, smooth cream cheese frosting or carrot cake with flecks of orange peeking out amongst the spicy brown layers. And cheesecake...if cheesecake counts, it definitely moves to the head of the pack. But it was jam cake that was on the corner of my grandmother's kitchen counter every single Christmas of my whole life until her last years when she was ill. I never ate it but it was always there and my mother loved it. The last Christmas before alzheimer's completely erased so many of the things she knew as well as the back of her hand my mother went her house to learn to make this cake she loved so much. It was too late. They tried and they giggled and had a good time but the result was not edible because she had forgotten the recipe. She had forgotten how to make it. So this Christmas I pulled out a tattered homemade cookbook, held together by a single silver ring. We were on a quest and at last we found the recipe, typed on a sheet of paper before I was even born and placed in this book. We made the cake, asking the men to stir the thick caramel frosting as it stiffened... and it turned out just as I remembered. The layers were a little less even but the caramel frosting looked just as I remembered. Having that cake just setting on my counter made me feel like it was Christmas and I had brought a little bit of the old into my new home for this holiday season. It made me feel happy to tie the old to the new... like I had grabbed the baton and carried it well. In Deuteronomy six, our heavenly Father reminds the children of Israel to remember and to carry the message to their children and their children's children. He says,

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you--a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant--then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord..."

So many of the things we do at Christmas are the things that were handed down to us from those in our family who did them before us. Whether it is filling stockings or making cookies or building gingerbread houses....or eating jam cake...it is filled up with the things that make us remember who we are. As you have celebrated Christmas this year, what have you passed to those who will come after you. What have you done that will cause another generation to say, "Remember when Mom or Grandma or Aunt so and so did this? I want to do that with my children" Or remember when Dad or Grandpa or my favorite uncle told me the Christmas story in this way? That is what I want to do with my family."

So this is Christmas. It has to do with remembering and celebrating. It is remembering the way you have learned to celebrate it and those who have taught you to do so. It is tastes and smells and sights that make your heart feel warm and happy because of the things and people you associate with them.

But in the end, it is about remembering the Baby we celebrate and how we learn to shift our attention to Him...maybe in a way that will refocus our vision for more than just one day. It is about remembering Whose we are and how our lives can be a reflection of that.

It is about carrying the baton well and passing it on before the days when we are no longer able to remember all the ways God has been at work in our lives. Ultimately the essence of Christmas is remembering. Tonight, as you tuck in children who have been running on the adrenaline of gifts and desserts and grandparent's love, tell them the stories and remember well.