Reflections on the holiday season

The day before Thanksgiving holds the full anticipation of the holiday season. Before the hustle and bustle, the stress of traffic and travel, the search for the perfect gift, and the scramble to make it to Christmas Eve Mass only to find no available seats — before all the distractions that pull us away from the true meaning of the holidays — there is a quiet moment. The season stretches before us like freshly fallen snow, filled with the hope and joy of what is to come. In fact, the day before Thanksgiving has become one of my favorite days of the entire holiday season, and this year was no different.

Christine Smith

However, this year, the good feelings began even earlier. A week before Thanksgiving, the voters of Canton, in a sign of unity that has been missing from our community in recent years, nearly unanimously approved funding for a new middle school at a packed Special Town Meeting. With little debate and putting aside other differences, the community came together to prioritize the future of our children, choosing to invest in the next generation.

The day before Thanksgiving was a beautiful, sunny, crisp fall day in Canton. Having bought the vegetables for our Thanksgiving meal at Brookwood Community Farm the previous weekend, I set off that Wednesday to the Main Course Market, my go-to source for turkey. I had ordered a local turkey and had it seasoned by the staff at the Main Course. The fixings for a locally sourced holiday meal were now ready for cooking.

The market was bustling, as it always is the day before a holiday, and this year was no exception. There was a slight wait to pick up my order, but the staff remained friendly and accommodating, and my fellow shoppers were patient and polite. While I waited, I was offered a few samples, which made the time pass quickly. I tasted a delicious goat cheese feta with olive oil spread on crackers, a small sip of red wine, and a bite of chocolate toffee candy. It was all simply delightful — and of course, I ended up buying some of each to add to our holiday feast. After checking out, a kind worker carried my order to my car.

Driving back home on that beautiful, sunny day, I noticed how courteous the drivers were, yielding to one another in traffic. I arrived home in good spirits, feeling the joyful anticipation of the holiday season that would officially begin the next day.

Since then, I have tried to hold onto that feeling of peace and joy as we move through the holiday season. It is a time of love, hope and togetherness — qualities we all long for, especially in challenging times. This year, our family holiday cards carry a message of Peace, Harmony and Unity, hoping to bring the spirit of the season into the year ahead, which is sure to be fraught with division and discord, both at home and across the country.

My holiday wish for our readers is that you discover the hope and joy of the season, and that it carries you through the new year. As Linus reminds us in his retelling of the Christmas story, “Behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”

Christine Smith is a mother of three, an attorney, and a longtime Canton resident. She currently serves as a member of the Canton Democratic Town Committee. The views expressed in her column are solely her own.

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Posted by Christine Smith on Dec 20 2024. Filed under Featured Content, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.