PICTURES OF CHRISTMAS

12-9-09PICTURES OF CHRISTMAS

I love Christmas. Not gifts, lights, or pumpkin pie necessarily but the thoughts, sounds and smells that are so familiar at this time of year. There are traditions of my childhood that I have never let go of. I can still see in my mind all those special things just like I stored the pictures in my mind for future use.

By Thanksgiving all the summer things had been stored away. I'm not referring to clothing either. I'm thinking of the fruit closet full of all the things Mamma had gathered and preserved for the coming cold. The garden that Daddy had laid by and left ready for the spring planting when things would turn green and grow. The hog was butchered and the meat made ready to keep through the winter. New chickens that had hatched in the early fall and raised in a big box with a light in it for warmth. were now ready to be in the pen with the others. They began to lay their eggs in time for Christmas if the hatching had been at the right time.

Christmas wasn't even thought of until after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving had its own special things for my remembrance.

We didn't usually ask for anything because we liked the expectation of the surprises that we would have on Christmas Eve night after Church. Sometimes not much but treasures to us. We took good care of our treasures because we didn't get new toys every time we got in to town. Our gifts were always special whether they be a set of jacks for me or a sack of marbles for Norman or something more substantial or more costly. We appreciated what we got.

Christmas was a magic time of Santa, oranges apples and nuts. A cedar tree with very few decorations, family around, cooking and baking and just enjoying.

Christmas today is a long drawn out affair that starts about Halloween. (which is not a holiday to me. I don't recognize it at all)

Thanksgiving is passed by and Christmas lasts two months or more. I'm not a scrooge but I can't get that magical feeling until about three days before Christmas day. It is just not the same for me. I just quietly Celebrate Christs Birth. No frills, no lights, no big dinner any more. I enjoy staying home with my memories and look again at all those pictures I have stored in my head.

And that's the way it is for me!!!!