Three Symbols Of My Christmas Heritage

                           My Christmas Story of Faith grew out of my Christmas Story of Heritage

Christmas Sense

  Sappy, sticky, evergreen boughs,

A soapy smell, mingled with earth.

  Cinnamon, ginger, better somehow

When vanilla allows them birth.

  Smoky, sizzling heat from candles

Tucked into pockets of green pine,

   While Messiah music from Handel’s

Genius, lights spirit stars, as a sign,

  He is coming. I smell it, hear it,

Touch it, as I knead the dough,

  All the planing helps me commit

To receiving Him, quiet and slow.

My mother introduced three symbols of Christmas to me which still resonant for me today. The Christmas story from the Holy Bible,  the advent celebrations and wreath, and the making of Pefferkuchen, along with other baked treats.

The old German script in my mother's bible was almost impossible to read because I didn't have much training in the style. But, I loved hearing my brother read the opening lines of Luke 2.

Es begab sich aber zu der Zeit, daß ein Gebot von dem Kaiser Augustus ausging, daß alle Welt geschätzt würde.

Each Sunday before Christmas we would read from the New Testament and sometimes from the prophet Isaiah. These scriptural passages brought the anticipation for the Coming of Jesus and became a spiritual foundation for my Christmas celebration.

The advent wreath was a creative craft for my mother. Each year she gathered boughs, pinecones, and ribbons to intertwine through a wire base. Then she would wire on four new candles, one for every Sunday. 

And lastly, she gathered the long list of ingredients to make Pefferkuchen, sometimes called Lebkuchen. 

The fragrance of anise, cardamon, cinnamon, and allspice filled the kitchen. Sometimes my father would carve figures and animals out of the dough. They were prized by me when it came time to eat them. My mother stored them in the cool basement so they were made at the end of November. 

These are the ingredients of my Christmas heritage story. I improvise with these basics and make new activities each year. I like to change things now and then but my heart calls for these three symbols.

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