Christmas
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Every year, for as long as I can remember, I watched Meet Me in St. Louis with my mom. Every Christmas. That was our tradition. She loved that movie. I didn’t realize it at the time, but she was teaching me something. About music. About warmth. About how certain stories quietly become part of who…
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You will often hear that Christmas should not be celebrated because it was “originally pagan,” tied to the Roman sun god Sol. Like most things involving history, the truth is more layered than a meme allows. Jesus was almost certainly not born in December. Most scholars agree that date was chosen later for symbolic reasons,…
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I often think of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol when I think about ghosts this time of year. December has always felt like the most haunted month to me. Not because it is frightening, but because it brings the past closer. Dickens understood that. He tapped into something deeply human when he wrapped a ghost story…
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I had a dream last night that stayed with me long after I opened my eyes. It felt real in that quiet way some dreams do. In the dream I was walking with my dad at Christmastime. We were at Northwest Plaza in St. Louis, going to see Santa, and I was maybe four years…
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Santa was never just a man in a red suit. Long before that look ever existed people were already telling stories about a winter visitor moving through the dark months. Odin riding the night sky. Father Winter. Grandfather Frost. Old spirits meant to guide people through the cold and the fear that came with it.…
Steven LaChance Blog 