THE HOLIDAY, BURDEN OR JOY

The holiday season if you are blessed is a time of joy. It is a time when families and friends gather. If you had a childhood where someone made the holidays special than you remember Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year with a sentimental longing.

Every holiday was special for me especially Thanksgiving and Christmas because my parents made it special. My mother cooked, cleaned, and decorated; she made the holidays magical. And my dad played his part, he helped my mother and made countless trips to the supermarket to get a forgotten item. Now, that I have become my mother and my husband has become my father. I cook, clean, and decorate the house in an attempt to replicate my childhood experiences. My husband helps me and makes countless trips to the supermarket.

At some point in a woman’s life the baton is passed to her to continue the holiday traditions. If you are lucky enough to be the one assigned to keep the traditions, consider it an honor and not a burden. Yes, it is a lot of work cleaning your house, and preparing food days in advance for a one-day event. But it is so worth it.

Before I moved to the Victorville area, I hosted Easter every year. I cannot tell how touched I was when my teenage niece told me she always loved my themed tablescape. That’s when I knew how important it is to give the kids in the family something beautiful to remember.

By continuing family traditions, we create wonderful memories. When we are no longer able to cook, clean, and create a beautiful theme décor hopefully we would have inspired someone in the family to pick up the torch and continue the tradition.

I’m getting older and it takes more out of me to clean, decorate, and cook the holiday dinners, but it’s so worth it.

The holidays may be the one time of year that families are able to get together and enjoy hanging out with each other. Our holidays may not be Hallmark moments, sometimes they are more like a reality reunion show. They are however memorable, and in the end that is what makes life enjoyable.

It is important to create memories, because when our loved ones are no longer with us, memories of them comforts and sustains us, especially during this season of family togetherness.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I AM THE TRUTH

My son and I call each other the truth. We started calling ourselves the truth jokingly one day because of the texture of our hair.

My hair is unapologetically nappy, coiled so tight that it couldn’t be anything else but the truth. The truth of my hair is basically the truth of who I am.

My hair proclaims to the world that I am of African descent, I am strong, resilient, and soft. I grew up in a time when Black women were beginning to live in the truth that their hair testified of. Prior to the civil rights era Black women straighten their hair, worn wigs, and relaxed their hair in order to fit into a society that said our truth was ugly. As we evolved in the 1960s, and were told that Black is beautiful, we began to wear our hair in cornrows, afros, braids, and twists. Our hair through all the evolutions of ourselves always stood in its truth. If you straighten it within days, it began to curl back to its natural state. If you relaxed it the edges would not go alone with the lie and would roll back up to show the world who it was. Our hair has always been the truth and we can learn a lot from it by walking in the truth of who we are.

The truth is black hair is unique and it is beautiful. It can be worn in a myriad of styles. It evokes our strength as depicted in cornrows. It exudes femininity with wisp of baby hair surrounding the face. Our hair is loud and bold, but it can be subtle. Our hair shows us how we can be a mixture of strength and softness.

We Black women are delicately complex and no matter what obstacles we face, we must walk in our truth and celebrate the tight coils, black skin, thick lips, and the widest of our bodies. We are the truth, and the truth will set you free.

HOPE

Hope is an optimistic state of mind based on an expectation of a positive outcome.

In the last few months, the devastating news of friends or family members succumbing to cancer or covid has made it harder to be hopeful. These past months have been brutal, heartbreaking, and tedious, but I refuse to lose hope.

I have an expectation that we will come through this historic time on the other side stronger for having lived through it. I wake up every morning with the expectation that we are moving closer to the end of this pandemic. When we get back to normal (whatever that is), it is my hope that we do not forget how strong we are.

Life is a precious gift from God that we need to appreciate every day. Appreciate the small moments, not just the big ones. So, hang in there, try to get a little exercise every day, be creative, and stop feeling guilty about having a cocktail as needed 😊