Christmas memories

The gravel road to my grandfather’s house always seemed longer on Christmas Eve, probably because of my excitement. I couldn’t wait to get there. The huge, old house would be filled with relatives, good food and presents. My cousins and I were seated at the children’s table in the kitchen, while the adults ate in the dining room. I remember looking into the dining room and wishing I was old enough to sit there and share their secrets. I suppose every little girl is in a hurry to grow up and cross the divide from childhood into the mysterious land of the grown ups, and I was no different.

One of our family traditions evolved around bird hunting. The men would begin hunting quail around Thanksgiving and then we would have enough by Christmas for my aunt to fry a huge platter for our meal. Besides the fact that we had quail for dinner the only other thing I remember about the food was that it took way too long for the adults to eat. We were finished in five to ten minutes.

The tree was in the living room and when everyone was finally finished eating and we all crowded in there the room seemed much smaller. One year Santa made a surprise visit. My cousin Martha and I had our pictures made with him and for years I based my belief in Santa on those pictures. It wasn’t until I was in about 4th or 5th grade that I realized the Santa in the picture was wearing glasses just like my grandfathers!

Several of the people who sat at the adult table during my childhood are no longer with us. My grandfather died in 1980, just weeks before Bill and I married. My mother died in 1990 and my father in 1995. My Uncle Johnny died within the last two years. My cousins are grown with families of their own and we no longer gather at my grandfather’s house (even though my aunt and uncle still live there). Nothing stays the same forever and while I can’t go back in time, I can and do hold cherish those memories.

This week I met and made an online friend from Canada who also loves Christmas and has her own blog about it. I asked her to tell my readers about her blog and her post follows mine. Today is Gratituesday and before I go I want to give a special thanks to my Aunt Mary Alice and Uncle Lee for their part in making my childhood Christmas’s so magical. And I would like to ask my readers to post a comment and share one of their favorite holiday memories. Blessings to each of you and load those cameras! Fill your photo albums full of special moments!

“Oh No! I Thought I Had Another Week!”

I live in a small cottage in the middle of a forest, in northern Ontario. It’s a lovely place, very quiet and serene. In winter, blue jays come to raid the suet block I put out for them and fight the inevitable squirrel for sunflower seeds. In the summer, I am entertained by Roger Moore, son of Dennis Moore The Lupin Bandit; a groundhog (similar to a woodchuck) who lives in the bank that shelters my cottage from the country highway. Unlike his father, Roger leaves my lupins alone, for which I am grateful.

It might sound like a lonely life to some, but it’s very rich, enlivened by frequent visits from my grandchildren. It’s true, I don’t get out much – I’m wheelchair-disabled. I created my own job online to support myself. I love my work passionately, but especially at this time of year, I really miss my mother, sister and brother-in-law, and mother-in-law and her wonderful husband, who live too far away to visit.  I usually compensate for it by being a workaholic, and not realizing it’s Christmas Eve until the day before. My most constant refrain, the last few years, has been: “Oh no! I thought I had another week!”

Not this year!  In October, I found myself missing quiet evenings doing crafts with my mom and sister so much, I decided to create a Christmas blog. I figured we could share our Christmas crafting experiences, recipes and memories virtually. I secretly plan to read every post on my Christmas blog come Christmas morning, so I’ll feel like I’m at a big Christmas party with everybody.

ChristmasNorth.com has become a very joyous and grounding experience, keeping me in the “now”, well aware of the minutes ticking away before Christmas, and how they relate to the “big day”. I’m still too busy to breathe with my sales copywriting business, but taking that forty minutes off to write a post, or upload a guest post, has become something I really look forward to, every day.  It’s time for me – and the people I care about. And one of the most wonderful parts has been the people I meet or have reconnected with, guest posting on the pages of my Christmas blog.

And it’s been great fun doing Christmas crafts with my grandchildren. We’re actually in good shape for Christmas, this year!

So if you have time to write a short guest post for ChristmasNorth.com, I would love to meet you – and share some Christmas memories, recipes or crafting tips.

“Marya Miller is a busy sales copywriter who nevertheless believes in stopping (however briefly) to smell the pine needles. You can catch her relaxing for a few precious moments at her blog, ChristmasNorth.com.”