Merry Christmas from State Senator Mark Messmer...
Merry Christmas
By State Sen. Mark Messmer (R-Jasper)
This time of year is always special as friends and families gather together to celebrate the holidays. All of us have our own Christmas traditions like going to our favorite church service, making a special recipe that we only make this time of year, or heading to holiday parties. For me, Christmas is all about spending time with my family.
With our children grown and moved out, it’s always special for my wife and I to have our kids under our roof once again and sharing meals together. We spend our time making Christmas candy, fudge, ginger bread cookies, truffles and various other Christmas cookies. When our children were younger, they would help us with the baking and help pass out our sweets to friends and family as gifts.
Growing up, my mom had the idea for her and all of my siblings to play our musical instruments as we performed Christmas carols as a family. We’ve kept this tradition going with our family band of around 25 people visiting the nursing homes in the area.
Another tradition my family has is attending our church’s midnight mass. In high school, I started to play the trumpet along with the choir for the service, and my daughter and I still play with the brass quintet to this day.
It’s small moments like these that I cherish every year at Christmas. The time and traditions we have together as a family is what the Christmas season is about for me.
With all of the traveling, shopping and everything else happening, it’s easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. I hope you take a few moments this year to reflect on the blessings we have in our lives and the reason for the season.
I hope your holidays are filled with joy, peace and happiness. Merry Christmas, from my family to yours.
