COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS – WHERE PAST MEETS PRESENT

I love the December countdown to Christmas Day. From the time I was little until I graduated from college, I had a new advent calendar every Christmas. It was tradition. Nowadays, the tradition is a December countdown to Christmas on this blog. I love to do it. This year, the theme is “past meets present” – musings on the old-fashioned Christmas of yesteryear coupled with the happenings of the day, illustrated with my collection of family photos and scenes from Christmas cards.

“I live mostly in the past now,” wrote my Great-aunt Ida (Grandma Ina’s sister) in 1924 when she was 64. I can relate. Sometimes I feel that I live mostly in my imaginary past. It’s not that I think the past was better than the present. Okay, so yes, I DO think that some aspects of the past were better, but I also know that we live in the present. So, while I love to think on the Christmas of the past, the present is all we have, and we must make good memories for those we love in the here and now.

Feeling rather guilty for enjoying my imaginary world, I roused myself to make Grandson Silas a pair of Santa slippers last week. They worked up fairly quickly, even though I had to start over three times. I couldn’t find a pattern sized for a toddler, so I enlarged a pattern for baby booties. I hope Silas can wear them, and I hope he likes them. KW