Christmas past and present - childhood dreams...

Christmas Traditions are different in different parts of the world, and sometimes even in the same country there may be variations…

When I was a child, Portugal had already started celebrating Christmas Eve not only by going to the Midnight Mass, but also by distributing Christmas presents at around midnight… Previously, before the "midnight gifts tradition" was adopted, people would go to Mass and then to sleep, and Children would be excited to wake up next day and find what Little Jesus had left in their shoes, by the chimney…

But when I was a child, my Family already commemorated the 24^th. Including the gifts being unwrapped just after midnight… The excitement was enormous, all the Family would gather at my Parent’s, and the supper would prolong itself so that “Santa” had time to drop his presents by the Tree in the living room without us, kids, seeing him! Of course, it was only later that I understood that someone invariably managed to leave the Dinning room and ring the door bell without us kids noticing it, and then in the confusion, as we tried to get quickly to the tree which shone in the half lit room, with the gifts shining under it, we never noticed that!…

On the 25^th, the day was also dedicated to the Family and Friends that would come over for lunch and dinner, the table always full and the dishes regularly piling up and being washed and brought back to use…

Invariably, some of the gifts I most enjoyed were books! Yes, I loved to “loose myself” inside a good story, and in my time Enid Blyton’s books were among the most coveted by boys and girls who loved adventure. Later I found out that some critics considered her books had “bad stereotypes” for kids – but, as I read her adventurous tales of boys and girls depending on themselves to discover the truth and solve whatever problems they were faced with, all this accompanied by delicious food and wonderful pets, nothing like that ever crossed my mind. In fact, I think that trying to solve all those mysteries developed my mind with a “detective” flavor and contributed to make me more attentive to details and a great “observer”…

Today, with such crisis all over the world, these are happy memories to treasure! Even though for so many this not possible now, may the spirit of Christmas still rise from our Hearts and allow us to be Generous with LOVE and LIGHT and GOOD WISHES FOR ALL!

Maria Carmo

Lisbon, 24^th December 2011.