Special Holiday Feature: The Importance of Family Traditions by J.M. Hochstetler

SPECIAL HOLIDAY FEATURE

"The Importance of Family Traditions" by J.M. Hochstetler, author of One Holy Night

When my daughters were tiny, with the holidays fast approaching, I impulsively decided that on the night of Christmas Eve, when they were fast asleep, I would hang candy canes all over our tree as a sign that Santa had come. Well, that idea turned out to be a huge success. When my little girls ran downstairs that Christmas morning, they were so excited to find the treats on the tree that I knew I’d come up with a very special tradition.


Over the years, as holidays came and went, I continued my secret Christmas Eve ritual. As they grew older, however, the children appeared to take less and less notice of the candy canes. They would eat only a few, and then after we took the tree down I ended up throwing most of them away. It seemed a waste. So one Christmas I thoughtlessly came very close to letting that tradition die.

That year I was so busy with holiday preparations and the day-to-day routine that I kept forgetting to pick up a package of candy canes at the store. It seemed like such a simple, unimportant thing. The girls were too old to care about my little tradition anymore, I told myself and I shrugged off the quiet voice that nagged at me to get those candy canes!

One evening just a couple of days before Christmas, I was rushing around the house, as usual, burdened with too many holiday preparations. In spite of my preoccupation, I happened to notice my oldest daughter, Jennifer, who sat on the stairs with my youngest, Katie. Both were snuggled in their nightgowns, slippers, and robes, happily taking in our cozy living room before heading off to bed.

Below them, fire blazed on the hearth and colored lights twinkled on the tree. Holiday decorations were arranged everywhere, and pine garlands and tiny white lights draped the mantel as well as the banister on either side where they sat. The scene was so perfect that I stopped for just a moment to breathe in the heady scents of pine and spices and to bask in the room’s glow. And as I lingered, I overheard what the girls were whispering about.

“Now, you know,” Jennifer told her little sister, “on Christmas morning when Santa comes, he always hangs candy canes all over the tree.”

Katie’s eyes grew round. “Always?” she breathed, in sweet expectancy.

“Oh, yes, always,” Jennifer assured her with the easy confidence of a big sister. “There will be candy canes all over the tree on Christmas morning. You’ll see.”

My heart almost stopped. One look at my daughters’ faces told me that I’d better plan on a special trip to the store the very next day. And suddenly gratitude flooded over me at the realization that the Lord had pulled me up short from my preoccupation with all the things that seemed so urgent to remind me of something I had come way too close to missing—a tradition that was genuinely meaningful to my children.

On that Christmas morning and every Christmas morning since then to this very day, candy canes have adorned my Christmas tree. My grown children expect to see them there when they arrive Christmas morning every bit as much as my grandchildren now do. It’s a tradition I wouldn’t think of ending. Because of that simple, long-ago impulse and the Lord’s reminder to be faithful in its observance, my family is making memories that in one form or another will be passed down to coming generations. It’s a simple thing as many of our traditions are, but oh, how meaningful!


J. M. Hochstetler writes stories that always involve some element of the past and of finding home. Born in central Indiana, the daughter of Mennonite farmers, she graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Germanic languages. She was an editor with Abingdon Press for twelve years and has published four novels. Daughter of Liberty (2004), Native Son (2005), and Wind of the Spirit (March 2009), the first three books of the critically acclaimed American Patriot Series, are set during the American Revolution. One Holy Night, a retelling of the Christmas story set in modern times, is the 2009 Christian Small Publishers Fiction Book of the Year and a finalist for the 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Long Contemporary Book of the Year.

Hochstetler is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Christian Authors Network, Middle Tennessee Christian Writers, Nashville Christian Writers Association, and Historical Novels Society. She and her husband live near Nashville, Tennessee.

You can find Joan online at www.jmhochstetler.com or at this book’s blog http://oneholynight.blogspot.com

Guest Blogger: Joan Hochstetler, Author of One Holy Night

We are thrilled to have with us today, Joan Hochstetler, a multi-published author who is also the Publisher and Editorial Director of Sheaf House.
An unforgettable story of forgiveness and reconciliation, One Holy Night retells the Christmas story in a strikingly original way—through the discovery of a baby abandoned in the manger of a church’s nativity scene. Destined to become a classic for all seasons, One Holy Night deals compassionately with the gritty issues of life—war and violence, devastating illness, intergenerational conflict, addictions, and broken relationships. This moving, inspirational story will warm readers’ hearts with hope and joy long after they finish reading.

Finding God in a Troubled World By J. M. Hochstetler

The old saying goes that the only sure things in life are death and taxes, and sometimes that feels all too true. It’s hard to hold onto faith when all around us we see wars, natural and man-made disasters, hardships, broken families, major illnesses, substance addictions, abuse of all kinds—and the list goes on. We all know families or individuals going through difficult times, and we’ve encountered our own personal times of brokenness as well. I certainly have. The truth is it’s hard not to become disillusioned and cynical when faced with these things.

Over the years I’ve questioned how we can find purpose, strength, and healing when it feels like our world is out of control. One of the main ways I try to make sense of life is to write stories about it. That’s what led me to write my contemporary novel One Holy Night, which grew out of my wrestling with the kinds of gritty issues that impact our lives every day. At one point my character Julie asks: “Why don’t we have a God who always answers our prayers, especially if it concerns the welfare of someone we love, especially someone who also happens to be a believer?” That’s truly one of the hardest questions we have to deal with. If there is a God and He is good, why does He allow suffering?

We tend to blame God for evil things that happen when, except for natural disasters that are a part of our world, these things are all caused by human beings, whether intentionally or not. Obviously God didn’t cause the suffering in these cases. People do things that hurt others and themselves. But time and again we see God repairing what people have destroyed. We pollute the earth and divert natural resources in ways that harm the environment, but God set in place natural processes that cleanse the earth and restore it to its natural state once pollution ceases. People do things that violate others and break relationships, but reconciliation and healing take place in situations where pride and anger and willfulness stand in the way. Against all odds, hearts change.

That still leaves the question of why God allows suffering, however. Why did God give humans free will, which allows us to do evil things, when He could have made us to be good? The hard truth remains that we don’t know the answer because God doesn’t choose to reveal it to us—and our human minds couldn’t encompass it even if He did. So at the end of the day, the will and ways of the Creator remain inscrutable. We’re left with the choice to have faith, to trust the Giver of Life and His ability to use every circumstance for our good—or not.

In Mark 4:35-41 Jesus’ disciples are out on the sea with Him. That alone should have given them supreme confidence when a raging storm threatened to swamp their small boat. After all, they had watched Jesus heal the lame, sick, blind, and deaf and even raise the dead. They had all the evidence they needed to be confident that Jesus was in control! But when the winds suddenly beat down on their boat, they did exactly what most of us do when a crisis threatens our well-ordered lives. They panicked! “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” they demanded. So he raised his hand and said to the storm: “Peace, be still.” Instantly the gale dissipated and the waves became smooth as glass. An unearthly calm possessed the once troubled sea.

When we’re overcome by trouble and distress, we can find peace in the assurance that in the midst of our stormy seas we also have Jesus in the boat with us. Although we do not know the way ahead and where unseen dangers lie, God does. And our heavenly Father, more than any other, cares deeply that we are perishing and reaches out to save us. In John 16:33, Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

When we face devastating situations, the cross is our assurance that Jesus has been where we are and that God sees our circumstances and is working on our behalf. The only one who can overcome the tribulation we experience is the One who set the universe in place and still holds it in His hand.

J. M. Hochstetler writes stories that always involve some element of the past and of finding home. Born in central Indiana, the daughter of Mennonite farmers, she graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Germanic languages. She was an editor with Abingdon Press for twelve years and has published four novels. Daughter of Liberty (2004), Native Son (2005), and Wind of the Spirit (March 2009), the first three books of the critically acclaimed American Patriot Series, are set during the American Revolution. One Holy Night, a retelling of the Christmas story set in modern times, is the 2009 Christian Small Publishers Fiction Book of the Year and a finalist for the 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Long Contemporary Book of the Year.

Hochstetler is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Christian Authors Network, Middle Tennessee Christian Writers, Nashville Christian Writers Association, and Historical Novels Society. She and her husband live near Nashville, Tennessee.

You can find Joan online at http://www.jmhochstetler.com/ or at this book’s blog http://oneholynight.blogspot.com/.

One Holy Night is available at Amazon.com as a trade paperback or in a Kindle edition. You can also purchase it directly from Sheaf House or at Christianbook.com.