4 Reasons To Eat Your Way Through Christmas
As we continue into this Christmas season, I offer an oldie but goodie—a food piece I posted in 2010.Advent stuffs the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas with parties, food, family, and friends, and the feasting doesn't end until the New Year has been ushered in with more eating.You might say that Thanksgiving is the American introduction to the Advent season of feasting.
Food as a thread
Food is one of the threads that ties our life to the past and knits it securely to the present. Most of my fondest memories come cushioned in food.A whiff of cinnamon and nutmeg floods my senses and recollections of baking cookies with Grandma Bessie flash through my mind.The smell of turkey connects with my emotions as I remember Dad teaching me how to baste a bird. "Baste every half hour. Remove the cheesecloth the last hour, so it can brown, and don't let the bird get dry."Always with that memory, comes the feel of a house full of relatives and hours of playing with my cousins. Laughter and warmth are bookmarks of such memories.
Food as a celebration
“One of the very nicest things about life,” said Luciano Pavarotti, “is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.”Eating is a celebration of life and the blessings of God. Feasting is the highest form of such celebration.
Food as a reminder
Advent means “coming"—a month of remembering the coming of Christ on that long ago Christmas, a time of waiting as Christ comes and forms his image in us, and a time of waiting for his coming again to take us to the wedding feast (see Revelation 19:7-9).Eating brings this all together and reminds us that because Jesus came, there is a great feast coming—the wedding supper of the Lamb.I have a great fondness for eating, and I’m pleased that God does too. “Feasting is a divine imperative,” says Joan Chittister. “It says, ‘Thou shalt not ignore the joys of life.’”
Food quiz:
Yes, a quiz... because accountability for soul care is the final reason to eat your way through Christmas.
- What part does eating play in your celebration of the Advent season?
- How does food thread its way through your generations?
I’d love to hear your answers.