“After the children, stuffed and sleepy, finally went to bed, Gertrude and Arnold sat together in the love seat and watched the tree lights blink.”
The morning is lovely with sun, finally, and a deep blue sky. It is warmish at 39° with no wind. The temperature will even hit the low 40’s. I’m staying home today as my errands can wait for another day. My to-do list has only one chore, vacuuming. I’m still working on my jigsaw puzzle. In the middle of the puzzle is a giant reddish door with a wreath. That is slowing me down, but I’m determined to finish it.
When I was a kid, I remember sitting by the tree looking through my presents again. Opening them on Christmas morning had been a bit frenzied so I took the time to check everything out. That’s when I’d find the surprise. My mother would remember hidden gifts she had forgotten. She would slip them under the tree behind our opened gifts. We’d find them and think we had missed them. Once I found a really old pair of ice skates with leather straps. One strap went over your toes while the other went across your ankles, no keys, nothing to tighten. The skates were from the 30’s. I wish I knew what happened to them.
Christmas dinner was turkey, a repeat of Thanksgiving. We’d eat around one o’clock as did just about everyone else I knew. After dinner, we’d go to my grandparents’ house. The house was filled will relatives, aunts, uncles and cousins, hundreds of cousins. My grandparents always had a present for each of us and a chocolate Santa. My father and the uncles were together watching TV. My mother and the aunts were in the kitchen. It was always that way. I remember it was dark when we left for home. I’d sometimes fall asleep and be surprised when the car stopped, and were home.
Christmas vacation was for a week. We’d play outside as often as we could. If you got a new sled, you wanted snow. New figure skates demanded ice. Dry streets were perfect to ride new bikes. On days when we were stuck inside we’d play the new games we got for Christmas. A new game was always front and center under the tree every Christmas. My all time favorite is still Sorry.
Last night I sat in the living room just looking at my tree. I thought how beautiful. How lovely with so many ornaments filled with memories.
I found a cross-stitch of Santa Claus my mother had sewn and given to me not quite finished. It was in a basket under the table. It needed to be stuffed and stitched close. I did that then put it on my tree. Every time I see it I think of my mother who gave us all Christmas.
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
December 27, 2024 at 3:52 pm
Last evening, I finished off my puzzle, an intricately detailed fantasy scene, in one zombie-like trance of activity, finishing at 9:30. Then I found that there was a bonus section if you carefully rearranged two of the lower sections, which opened a window for more pieces tucked in another envelope. I saved that for this afternoon.