Thursday, December 12, 2013

Christmas Past & Present

As Bob Hope once said "When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things .. not the great occasions .. give off the greatest glow of happiness".  At this time of year, we recall those simple times fondly and wish that Christmas could be the way it was in our childhood.  When we think back, that happy glow reappears as we remember time spent with loved ones who are no longer with us and traditions that have been abandoned in favor of new traditions begun by each generation of family.
Each year, I promise that I will begin a history of Christmas traditions & memories to pass on to my grandchildren since, at some time in the future, they will sit down and read it and laugh at some of the silly things that their ancestors did at Christmas time.  Of course, I have never taken the time to follow through with this project but, as I get older, I see that there is truly a need to record our family history.  My parents are in their 80s and not in good health & we have lost almost all of my aunts & uncles.  My grandparents have been gone for 30+ years and, with them, went so much information regarding family members that are a foggy memory as well as those that I never met.  This will be the year of a Christmas journal that I will complete before next Christmas so that I can present them to my daughters as a gift of love & remembrance. 
I have 4 months before my oldest daughter's birthday so there is time to create a book of recipes that I have used often over the last 40 years of marriage.  Maybe now would be a good time to start a recipe history book that I can share with my daughters.  There are meals that my mother & my mother-in-law (she passed away 28 years ago) made often that I still use and that my daughters always loved ~ maybe this book will be a way for both grandmothers to be remembered for generations to come.
Well, only 12 days until Christmas ~ all of the shopping is done but the wrapping remains.  I hope to get started on that this weekend since, it appears that we will be trapped indoors for most of the day on Sunday (we are expecting 5 to 10 inches of snow).  It will be a good day to put on a Christmas movie favorite or play a Christmas cd, grab a cup of coffee & wrap all of the gifts that are littering our little upstairs extra bedroom.
In case I don't have time to come back to my blog before the big day, may you all have a wonderful Christmas making memories with family & friends.  Remember to write down the memorable things that happen & take a lot of pictures. 

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