INTRO
I
live mostly in the past now and remember some things that I would not forget .
. . – Great-aunt
Ida Dickson Patchen, 1922
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| The stockings at Mother's after Santa's visit |
For the first 40 years of my life, I happily celebrated Christmas at Mother’s with the extended family. It was so much fun helping Santa fill the stockings when the children were sound asleep. But when all that went away, I was not able to reproduce it for my family. I was heartbroken, but Grandma Ina came to the rescue.
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| We had many holiday reunions at this house. |
In the eight years that our lives corresponded, I wasn’t close to Ina, my dad’s mother. She was too old, and I was too young. She disapproved of me for reasons that had nothing to do with me, but when I discovered her letters to my dad, written mostly between 1932 and 1939, she and I made peace. I came to love her and her simple, skimpy, understated Christmas. It was just what I needed.
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| Grandma Ina's family home at Gilbert, Idaho |
“I stood it all just fine,” Ina wrote more than once, and I knew that she, too, had overcome holiday meltdowns.
So, tomorrow I begin my traditional online advent journal, celebrating the present holiday in light of a past that isn’t my own. KW
3 comments:
I have great memories of Christmas Eve at Grandma's! A house full of people, wonderful food, wrapping paper piled everywhere. Awe the memories!!
Thanks, Becky. She loved doing it. She wouldn't have had it any other way. She, too, loved the house full of people, wonderful food, wrapping paper piled everywhere.
I agree that a big crowd added to the magic. Coordinating to celebrate with that many people--many of whom have their own in-laws to consider, seems miraculous in it's own right.
Our Christmases have evolved over the years, but each version is special with its own memories.
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