This has been an odd holiday season.
Yesterday, it was in the 80s. This morning, it's back in the low 40s.
The whole world is covered in the prettiest fog
this morning.
A few days ago, there was a 3.1 Earthquake
across some of Upstate South Carolina.
People felt the shake but no damages were reported.
Joey and I drove into the mountains last weekend
looking for inventory ideas for a new website
we are working on
and arrived in one town just as they were beginning
their Christmas Festival.
It was fun to see all the Christmas Decorations
and all the children dressed up for the holidays.
We had lunch in a restaurant
with the most amazing view of the mountains.
It felt like a date
with Joey and I sharing Christmas Memories
with each other
and laughing at each other's stories.
We held hands as we walked from shop to shop,
exchanging knowing glances and smiles
when we heard more than one child say,
"But Mom, don't you love me enough to buy me this?"
and the Moms had the same weary look
that I used to have when my kids said the same thing to us.
Here at home ...
we have loaded the deer feeders with corn and
all sorts of animals including deer have stopped by.
The deer are here in groups of three or four, even during the day.
There isn't as much food for them this year.
Between the corn in the feeders, the acorns and hickory nuts,
the salt blocks and the river, we almost have a smorgasbord for them.
I have had a chance to watch them move through the woods
several times.
They are much smaller than the deer in Minnesota.
Most of them are dark brown,
which blends so well with the woods,
it sometimes creates the illusion that they just disappear.
I usually hear them before I see them.
Friday night, Joey and I grilled salmon on the back porch
and three of them stood under the dogwood tree and
watched us grill out while they ate acorns.
Maybe, they are getting used to us?
We certainly are getting used to them!
Mama raccoon and her rowdy teenager have stopped coming around.
Two burlier raccoons came to the deck but
the runt of the family slapped them a few times
and when they heard us laughing, they ran off and never came back.
The littlest one still comes by every night at 8:00-8:30
and sometimes even seems to pause to peek in at the tv
... lol ...
I have two red tail hawks that have been hanging close to our yard.
Twice, while washing dishes and making coffee,
one of them has flown to a branch that overlooks our back deck
and looked right in my kitchen window.
It was almost like we were having a conversation
as he tilted his head and I tilted mine
... lol ...
We don't see many blue jays anymore but last week,
a blue jay landed on the railing and hopped up and down,
as if to scare away the cardinal.
The cardinal turned toward the blue jay, tilted his head to the side,
hopped up and down himself and the blue jay flew away
to a nearby tree, squawking and scolding the cardinal the whole time.
The cardinal turned his back on the jay and just kept eating.
Chickadees and goldfinches lined up around the cardinal
and there was harmony on the feeder that day.
I wish I could say the same for my family.
It's the holidays and the kids are fussing again.
I suppose they all have a lot to do and are feeling the holiday stress.
I try to stay out of their way, but it doesn't always work.
My oldest daughter gets bossy when she's under stress.
My second daughter doesn't take orders from anyone,
especially her older sister.
My third daughter lives too far away to get swept up in any of it and
my son could care less,
which ticks off the bossy one because it's hard to be bossy
when no one else is listening.
It's discouraging to me. More and more, I wonder why
I even bother doing all the cleaning, decorating, shopping,
baking, and cooking
only to spend most of the holiday in the kitchen cooking and then,
cleaning up the dishes while they fuss in the other room?
Every holiday, I hope things will be different ...
But most of the time, they eat, open the gifts we gave them and
leave without even saying thank you.
Holidays were different when I was growing up ...
We spent Christmas Eve with my Dad's family.
My Grandma, Mom and Aunts all brought something for the meal.
The men played cards downstairs, but of course, stopped to eat.
After dinner, we exchanged gifts.
The kids went off to play.
The men went back to their cards and
the women went to clean up the kitchen,
only to fill the table up one more time with all sorts of desserts.
Our family went home and set out cookies and milk for Santa and
went to bed.
One year, my brother and I hid behind the couch to wait for Santa,
but we fell asleep and missed him ... lol ...
One year, we all had measles and
us kids couldn't even look at the tree lights ...
Another year, there was a storm and the power went out.
We stood out on the porch and looked at the white snowdrifts
with no other lights but the moon.
There was no sound at all.
It was the first time I had ever listened to silence that way.
Soon enough, dawn came and Christmas Morning exploded
in a flurry of gifts and cinnamon rolls and cocoa and warm flannel jammies.
Too soon, it was time for us to get dressed and ready for church.
Some years, we went to the early morning service
at the country church where the service that was given all in Norwegian.
The church was heated with a great big pot bellied wood stove,
and Mom would let us wear our pajamas
under our coats, boots, mittens and scarves and
sometimes we all sat under quilts too.
The church was lit only by candles and
the choir handed out rolls and coffee or cocoa before the service started.
Us kids never understood much of the words but
my Grandparents and their friends cried
as they sang the old hymns in Norwegian.
The service ended just as the sun came up.
My dad and some of the other men went out a little early
to warm up the cars.
Mom would make sure each of us was wrapped up and
dad and mom would carry the younger ones out to the car,
but not before each of us kids were given a little brown bag of
hard candy, peanuts, chocolate drops and
an apple or an orange.
Us kids played most of the day.
Sometimes, Dad would take a nap in his chair.
Mom was in the kitchen getting food ready to take
to Christmas with Mom's family.
Mom was one of 11 kids so packing all of us
into my Grandparents house was managed chaos, at best.
We piled coats on my grandpa and grandma's bed and
laughed every year that the pile was going to touch the ceiling one day.
We exchanged gifts there too, but I don't remember a single gift.
What I do remember is the laughter.
There was tons of food but by then, us kids were really too excited to eat.
We played and talked and watched the grown-ups,
listening in on some of the conversations,
especially when someone whispered
... lol ...
and somewhere during the night,
Grandpa would walk around giving each of us a chocolate
from the biggest box of chocolates we had ever seen.
Too soon, it was time to pile in the car and go home.
Most of the time, I had found a corner to curl up in
and fell asleep way before my folks were ready to go,
or I fell asleep on the way home and
Dad carried me and some of my other brothers and sisters
to our rooms
where mom would take off our coats and hats and mittens and shoes and let us sleep in the rest of our clothes.
She and Dad covered us girls up with extra quilts and
said prayers with whoever was still awake and then,
they would go in the boys room and do the same.
The holidays were all about family.
They were a time to share laughter.
There was always a TON of food, no matter where we went.
I loved the Christmas Lights and candlelight and
the moonlight on the snow.
Today, remembering those Christmases
are a little like stepping into a Christmas card.
I wish my children had known those Christmases.
Even more,
I wish my children's children could know those Christmases ...
... because ...
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white ...
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