Intentional Connections: Home for the Holidays

By: Kristen Neighbarger Published on: 06/12/2023

When I was growing up, the Christmas traditions ran rampant. The Christmas season wasn’t complete without the candlelight service, the Christmas Cantata, the obligatory Christmas Carols, and the little boxes of candy each of us would receive after said Christmas Cantata and singing of those obligatory Christmas Carols. Because it was standard practice in my house to attend church every time the doors were opened, we were all part of all of the festivities–my brother and I were forced to be in the kids’ Christmas program, my mom sang in the choir, and my dad ran sound because he sang in the choir one time and says they asked him to run sound after that…allegedly. I don’t remember having much choice in any of these commitments, and I would venture so far as to say my parents probably didn’t feel like they had much of a choice either. That was the world we lived in then–a world of unspoken rules and heavy expectations.