25/12/2025
I didn’t grow up with Christmas the way many people did. Where I come from, celebrations were quiet, private, held gently behind closed doors. Families honored their own traditions in their own way, and it was understood that we all came from different backgrounds. Nothing loud, nothing public — just a quiet knowing that everyone celebrated what mattered to them.
Maybe that’s why, for me, Christmas has never been only about religion. It feels more like a moment of gratitude… a day to pause, to honour where we’ve been, and to hold close the people we love. A nod to tradition, to family, to light during the darkest time of the year — like a soft turning of the corner toward hope again.
I love the simple parts:
Christmas Eve dinners, traditional dishes on the table (yes, condiments count 😄), opening a little something from someone you love, the feeling of warmth in a room. Some years there’s a tree, some years there isn’t. Some traditions stay, some fall away. And that’s alright — it’s still Christmas to me.
And then there’s the number 12.
Traditionally, 12 dishes on Christmas Eve can symbolize many things: 12 months of the year, 12 apostles, 12 chapters of our own journey. I like to think of it as a reminder to look back at the past 12 months and find 12 things I’m grateful for. One for each chapter I’ve lived. One for each lesson that shaped me. One for each moment of growth I didn’t even realize was happening at the time.
It’s become a little ritual I love — a mindset practice that shifts me from “what was hard” to “what helped me rise.”
If you’d like to try it too, here’s a gentle invitation:
✨ Write down 12 things you are grateful for this year — big or small, loud or quiet, expected or surprising. Let it remind your mind what’s possible. Let it remind your heart what’s true.
So today, I’m giving thanks.
For the past year.
For the people who stayed.
For the ones who arrived.
For every moment of growth, softness, and becoming.
Merry Christmas — in whatever way you celebrate.
May your home be warm, your heart feel held, and may light find you wherever you are. ❤️✨