Keep the Coffee Comimg

First up, I apologize for yesterday. The time got way from me. I woke up late and had to leave shortly thereafter for my concert. By the time I got home, I was tired enough to need a nap.

Today I have another concert, but this time I am up early. The concert is at the Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans. From where we play, everything I can see is chocolate. It is a scene from a dream!

Today is a beautiful day. The sun is shining in a blue sky without a single cloud. The air is calm. It is in the 40’s, another warm winter’s day.

When I was a kid, we used to get small decorated cardboard boxes with hard Christmas candy inside. The boxes had different scenes. I remember one box with wise men, ladened down with gifts, riding camels. The strap was white. The candy inside always stuck together. I remember I used to bite it apart. My favorites were green, the spearmint, and red, the peppermint. Ribbon candy was also a favorite. It is a pretty candy with stripes of different colors, but it too was usually stuck together in the box. I liked the thin ribbon candy best.

My brother and I used to walk to church together on Christmas morning. My parents always went to midnight mass. We went to the earliest mass we could to get it over with. We hated leaving all our new toys. The earliest mass was around six. We were the only ones walking, and we saw no cars. Some houses had lights. We could see lit Christmas trees through the windows. The mass was quick, no sermon. It was worth the cold, dark walk.

On Christmas morning, my parents were tired. My father would have his coffee and newspaper. My mother would sit on the couch and watch us. I remember showing her what Santa had brought, and she seemed surprised. We never had a formal breakfast. We were too busy to eat, but not too busy to eat some of the chocolate from our stockings.

Every Christmas Day, in the afternoon, we went to East Boston to my grandparent’s house. The house was filled with relatives. My mother was one of eight kids and all but two had kids of their own. My grandparents had gifts for every one of us. They also gave each of us one of those boxes of hard candies.

I have so many memories of Christmas.