By now we would have opened up all our Christmas presents and we will know from the presents we have received if we have been naughty or nice.
Of course we had been nice and I hope that we are happy with the presents we have received.
And by now we would have finished or are finishing the festive foods that were prepared for the Christmas season, foods like the stuffed turkey, honey baked ham, sausages, pudding and fruitcake.
And talking about the fruitcake, it can be used to describe the theme of the celebration for this weekend which is the feast of the Holy Family, and hence the reflection is on the family.
It is said that the fruitcake can be used to describe the family in that it is mostly sweet and fruity, but with some nuts, and some got more nuts that others.
Indeed, the family is like a fruitcake, there are some nuts in it, and some nuts are pretty hard. A bite on a hard nut and the pain gets to the brain.
But no matter how many nuts, or how many hard nuts, it is still a fruitcake and not a nut cake.
Today, as we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, the Gospel passage tells us that even for the Holy Family, life is not always sweet and fruity.
The gospel recalls that occasion when Mary and Joseph brought the 12 year-old Jesus to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover.
When they were on their way home after the feast, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents’ knowledge.
And when they failed to find Him, they went back to Jerusalem looking for Him everywhere. And after three long anxious days, they finally found Him in the Temple.
They were overcome when they saw Him, and we can imagine what this “overcome” means. And in this “overcome” state, we can imagine how emotional Mary was when she said, “My child, why have you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been looking for you.” (!!!)
The reply Jesus gave didn’t make any sense to Mary and Joseph, but it was like biting on a hard nut in a fruit cake. The exchange was tensed, and though nothing more was said, we could imagine how awkward the situation was.
So it was not all that sweet and fruity for the Holy Family. Mary was left wondering and pondering. Joseph might be thinking that it could be easier to build a house for God than to bring up the Son of God.
Yet, Mary and Joseph would have recalled and remembered the teachings from the 1st reading about the relationships between parents and children.
And the second reading also gives us practical advice on family life and relationship.
And with the feast of the Holy Family coming immediately after Christmas, we will realise that Jesus came to be among us so as to unite us to the family of God, with the Holy Family as the model.
But as we know, family life is challenging, whether as the family of God or in our own families.
And even though we want to be home for Christmas, things may not be always sweet and fruity.
There is this story over the recent holidays about a man who booked 6 flights just to spend Christmas with his flight attendant daughter.
The daughter had to work on the 24 and 25 December which means Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! So her father decided to spend Christmas with her in the sky. When it comes to love, the sky is the limit.
The story goes that when the flight attendant daughter found out that she had to work on Christmas, the family came out with a plan.
The mother stayed at home to take care of the pets while the father booked the 6 flights that his daughter would be working on.
So, at 30,000 feet up in the air, it was still Christmas with family. It was an amazing true Christmas story about a father and his daughter spending family time despite the obstacles and challenges.
Family life will always have its obstacles and challenges. No family is perfect just as there is not fruitcake without the nuts.
As much as when it comes to love, the sky is the limit, it was also out of love that Jesus came down to earth and was born into a family and to show us how to live as the family of God.
We turn to Jesus, Mary and Joseph as we ask for their prayers that our families will be blessed to live like the Holy Family.