Memories
Happy New Year everyone! For some us at the end of the year, celebrations start in November with Thanksgiving, which for me and my family was filled with lots of food, laughter and fun? All of us do not celebrate Christmas because of our religious beliefs, but those of us who do celebrate Christmas usually get together for dinner again and a day filled with conversation, laughter and fun. Even though I have learned to lean more toward the Christian aspect of Christmas, I want to embark on a celebration that brought back memories of when I was a little girl. I and some of my other family members were invited over to my oldest niece’s house for a seafood feast and a tree decorating party. We had a festive time with lots of food and fun.
After we ate we relaxed for a while, after a few minutes passed by one of my nephews started to decorate the tree, so a few of us joined him. At first I thought the tree was artificial until I smelled the pine. As I helped decorate the tree, smelling the pine brought back memories. I began to reminisce on the time when we were children and my father would go out every year and cut down a tree out of the woods. He would bring it home, put it in a bucket of dirt and put it in the living room in front of the window that is facing the main street. My mother would cover the bucket with a Christmas tree skirt and then she would decorate the tree with lights, ornaments, silver tinsel and colorful balls.
While my mother was decorating the tree my father would be outside putting lights around the house and on top of the shrubbery. It was a very exciting time for us, and we could hardly wait for Christmas Eve, the night that Santa will come. We didn’t get a lot for Christmas, maybe a toy or two, but we were happy and filled with joy for what we got. Part of our gift would be a brown bag filled with an apple, an orange and some nuts. It seemed that we were just as happy to get the bag of fruit as we were about our toy. To some of our other family and friends it was hard to believe that we were happy not getting more than what we got, but I know for me at least, that those years as a young child was the happiest time of my life, and I remember appreciating what I got.
I too, remember a childhood that was enriched from seeing a decorated Xmas tree brought from the woods by my father. The bags of fruit and nuts, Xmas candy with red and green stripes. Those were the poorest days of my life if we are making comparisons pertaining to money, however, my riches have little to do with dollars and cents, but the feeling of love that a child feels in knowing her parents did the best they could simply to put a smile on her face. If I remember nothing else from my childhood, I pray that I am blessed to remember how special my parents made Xmas for me and my brothers. Funny, my last vivid memories of Xmas are from when I lived across the street from you.
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