Christmas Memories
A couple of days ago, my grandson and I were building and decorating a gingerbread train and the next day we decorated sugar cookies. I did the same sort of things with his mother when she was little. I kept him home from pre-school and he was so excited about it. He is almost 4, so Christmas is a big deal for him this year. I was thinking about how we are making the memories that he might reflect on when he is grown. This is the way that traditions are born. I think at Christmas-time we all think about special moments from years gone by. It is a big part of the warm and fuzzy magic of the season.
When I was a kid, my father would chop a Cedar tree down each year and it would be decorated with those big glass colored bulbs and glass ornaments and icicles. We always had a bowl of oranges out during Christmas and the thing that stands out in my mind is the way the house smelled of Cedar and oranges. When I smell Cedar now, it triggers memories of Christmases long ago.
I graduated high school at an American DOD school in West Germany. While I was there, I was part of Rainbow Girls (a teenage girl branch of the Masonic order). One year we went to a castle to visit a school for disabled children and we took them gifts. In return, they performed a Christmas show for us, complete with a visit from St. Nicholas. Later that night, we went to a German nursing home and took goody bags to the residents. We had practiced singing several Christmas carols in German and we serenaded the residents. These are some of my fondest memories of the holidays. What are some of yours? What sort of things are traditional in your family?