Christmas Memories

This it the time of year that everyone is so busy running here and there shopping, doing holiday cards, attending parties and in general going crazy to be ready for Christmas morning. Whether you are staying home or traveling it is the same every year, it seems that things will never get done in time. Some how it always turns out ok.

When all is said and done, the most important thing is to be with people you care about. Family, friends and neighbors all contribute to making memories. We all have them. Some are good memories and others are not. I choose to embrace the goods ones.

In the days gone by when all of my family was still here, young and vibrant, there were many good memories made. My grandma raised 6 fine children, mainly on her own. My youngest uncle was 13 when grandpa died of stomach cancer leaving grandma to keep the family going. The family did not have a lot but they did have great love for each other.

These fine people produced my generation. There are 14 cousins of this generation who are now the old ones. The oldest is 77 down to the youngest who is 39. Now some of these cousins have children who are having children. Talk about feeling old.

The memories that come to me this time of hear are of the family Christmas dinners. Everyone would have their Christmas morning at home then in the afternoon gather at someones house, usually ours. There was always much food, drink, and merriment. Our house had a large rec room in the basement with room for everyone to spread out. There was a ping pong table with an extension that made it big enough for everyone to sit down to eat all at the same time. This was quite a sight. In my younger days we numbered 20 or more eating at once.

As the cousins grew older and got married the number grew to 30+. You can imagine the noise level. In our family ther is an interesting thing that would happen. There would be multiple conversations going on at the same time with various people bouncing between conversations. When things got going it would seem like the walls would viberate. This I learned many years later was very intimidating to new members of the family. Growing up with this it seemed perfectly normal to us.

When dinner was over and the table was cleared the evenings entertainment was a huge bingo game. We played for a nickle a card. Us kids would clean up. Oh, those were the days that made such good memories.

Now that my generation is grown each one has started their own family traditions so we do not get together for holidays any more. Life goes on and this is the way it is supposed to be. Families will always carryon to create their own memories. The are nice to look back on.

This year my family will be with my mother. This is the first year without my dad so it will be different but it will be a much better Christmas than last year. The kids will have fun waiting for the morning and the anticipated present opening. The amount of presents will be scaled back but I am confident that everyone will get pretty much what they want.

My wish for everyone is to have a wonderful Christmas. Go out and make all the memories you can and share the ones you have. That is what keeps them alive.