Remembering Christmas past, life is fleeting.

The holidays are approaching. If that thought causes fear and anxiety over getting it all done, why not try a reset this year? I wrote this almost a year ago at Christmas. It's some childhood Christmas memories. What I do not remember of my childhood was constant running and racing to do it all. I'm sure mama and daddy were busy, they worked hard but I can't remember any overscheduling. I don't remember being exhausted as a child until I was in athletics and band. 

Mama and daddy always had time for us. They didn't overload their schedules, they said "no" to extra things often, they chose what was important. In doing that, they taught us what was truly important.
Yes, to Sundays at Mamaws or Uncle Lattie's house or Aunt Lura's for big family dinners and all the cousins. Yes to "window shopping" trips during the holidays and driving downtown to see the Christmas lights at night. They said yes to card & board games, time together walking in the woods, playing outside, fishing from the creek bank, reading together, family visits to Pensacola beach. They said yes to church gatherings, singing in the choir, special services, revival, camps and Bible studies. Down time just doing nothing because sometime your brain needs to do nothing. How long has it been since your family did nothing? 
I wish we could all step back in time for a while. 

Writing from December 2022~~ It's the morning of Christmas Eve, I can't help but think of Christmas' past. I'm sipping coffee at 6 today but my mama would have been up for hours by now. 
My room was directly across from where our Christmas tree stood all my life. It wasn't a big house and there was only one spot for one of those monster trees daddy would cut down in the woods. He would trim it perfectly on the bottom, he and the boys get it into the house into a bucket. (we sometime laughed because he misjudged the size. Out it went again to trim a little more) They wedged bricks and rocks until it was straight, then mama filled the bucket with warm water. Next, it would be expertly decorated. She allowed us kids to hang ornaments but then we left it to her to finish with tinsel. The good stuff- heavy and delicate. I can still see her hand with tinsel separated and draped over it where she spent several evenings in a row getting the tree covered. She would painstakingly lay single pieces over each branch, only about 6 or 7 per branch, (we don't want it to look gaudy) until the entire tree glimmered in the light.
If you stood back and threw tinsel at your tree in wads and left it, she could hardly look at it. (at least I know where my OCD came from) The smell of that tree would fill the house. Each night I would beg for the lights to be left on, despite mama's certainty the house would burn down. I went to sleep with that smell and the tree illuminating the living room. Christmas morning I was the first to see what Santa left. I loved that. 

I think I've always been a little OCD. Even as a little girl of 7 or 8 years old, Christmas morning I made a quick visual survey of the gifts that arrived during the night and promptly turned the two living room chairs around for mama and daddy. I tidied up around the chairs for pictures mama would not be embarrassed by. It made perfect sense to me to get them comfortable before we began opening gifts. I would run to the bedroom, wake daddy and beg him to come quickly. Mama, up for hours already cooking in the kitchen, something delicious. Daddy would get up and build a fire in the fireplace.. it seemed to take them forever. Crant and Steve would join us and then the opening began. 
We received one large gift from Santa or two smaller gifts. That was the rule. It was all we were allowed to ask for and we were always thrilled with the outcome. There was usually a surprise gift from Santa that we didn't ask for, like new clothes. Then on to our stockings, filled with fruit, hershey kisses and little snack size candy bars- Mr Goodbar, Nestle Crunch and Dark Chocolates. We always gave our dark chocolate to mama, how convenient. She was smarter than I gave her credit at the time. Santa usually left a bowl full of tangerines on the kitchen table. Once I even remember mama being so tired Christmas Eve she didn't clear the table of dishes. Those tangerines were tossed in the bowl the northern beans were in the night before. Santa is so efficient I thought. 

There was the year my brother Crant thought he would be cute. He cut the bottom out of his stocking and put a box under it. Santa frowned on teenagers trying to be cute apparently because it didn't work. Crant had the same goodies dropped thru the stocking (now bottomless) into the box. 
When I was younger I would go to my stocking where I had 3 tangerines or oranges. Strange, how come I have three and hardly any candy when my brothers have no fruit and lots of candy?  I think they both got a scolding that year and my candy miraculously appeared back in my stocking. 

Every year leading up the the holiday a huge box or two would arrive from Pensacola. My Aunt Lora had packed gifts up and sent them. Always sent ahead of schedule to assure we had them on Christmas morning. How long has it been since I thought of something far in advance to provide joy for someone else? (Humbling, isn't it?)
I still remember opening those packing boxes each year to find our individually wrapped Christmas inside to place under the tree. One year she gave me pink fuzzy slippers and a Barbie wallet. I was over the moon. I carried that little wallet until it finally fell apart. I was so very proud of it. She likewise sent things to the boys they loved and always sent mama something fabulous. I still have my mothers Fostoria candle sticks and cake plate from her sister. 

My brother Crant was always creative and gave mama something he carved or whittled at Christmas. He made some very detailed things over the years, many of which he still has. Steve was always practical and knew what mama liked. He usually gave her some act of service he could do that required no money, as none of us had any. He would clean out her car and her side of the garage or something similar. I remember him wiring mama's radio in the kitchen to speakers throughout the house when he was a teenager. She loved having her music on. He did well. There were no wires visible and if memory serves, I believe he wired it into a wall switch too. Steve was always about convenience. He had run wires under the house, in the crawl space or in the walls, it was impressive for a teenager. 

I remember making mama a "soap bar reindeer" one year. (Hey, don't laugh it was a thing back then.) We would make little animals or Santa out of a bar of soap. I added antlers, Crant retrieved little sticks from tree branches and whittle the ends where I wouldn't hurt myself. He gave me a piece of deer hide he had tanned.. I applied it to the reindeer as a skirt I believe. I decorated it and she had that moldy old bar of soap for the remainder of her life in her box of important papers. God love her, she kept everything. 

While we were all playing with our Christmas and mama was cooking, daddy was packing for their hunting trip. Mama wanted us all to enjoy the day, daddy was waiting until he could throw his gear in the truck and head out, without mama being mad at him. They didn't talk about it much. Just the bags packed and hunting gear ready to go. Waiting.. The men in the house got absolutely giddy by mealtime. Mama cooking, daddy and the boys waiting, Christmas music playing, fire in the fireplace, toys . . . does it get any better than that?

While we ate Christmas dinner there was lively conversation around the table, it was a wonderful time. There was laughter and gratitude. Then finally mama would say "Oh go on." That's all it took for the my brothers and daddy to grab their gear and go. They could hardly wait to get in the woods. I remember kisses on mama's cheek and thank yous before they ran out the door. 
Mama would stoke the fire in the fireplace, we would wash dishes together and she would settle in with her latest book from the library. I played with my Christmas treasures snuggled up to her on the couch or in the floor.  We took naps and watched Christmas shows.

There were no cell phones beckoning, no outside world flooding in questioning our time, our beliefs or values. Nothing interfering with this time together. I wonder if children get the same undivided attention from their parents these days? Are they ever unscheduled? 

By New Years mama and I were craving something fabulous to eat. Sometime it might mean a quick hamburger and fries at Mrs Dot Vance cafe, only a few miles from home. Other times it might mean a trip to Birmingham for lunch at Britlings cafeteria and some "after Christmas sale" shopping. One year, I remember heading off to Catfish King to have fried chicken, (I had shrimp) and they served up these amazing apple fritters. They weren't what you see now if you google fritters. They were a delicate hush puppy w/a slight sweet taste, not savory with tiny bits of cooked apple all through, a sprinkle of powdered sugar on top. We talked and ate, laughed and planned gardens, spring dresses and new shoes. Most of all, we shared time together. I loved those days. 

Catfish King (formerly a Theater) Ensley, Al 1961

Soon enough everyone was back home, school would start back right on time before she wanted to strangle us. Mama and daddy would be back off to work and normal life resumed. 

My children are grown, I wish I had done more "slowing down"
Have you thought of turning the cell phone off? Scripture urges us not to be self-important. For people to see Christ in us, there must be less of "us" more of Him. 
You are not going to have those precious babies for long, make memories now. Those memories have to last a lifetime. They aren't going to remember your excessive "guilty parent" buying, or how many expensive pairs of shoes you bought them. They will instead remember who had time for them, showed up for them, read to them, sat with them and listened, laughed and loved on them. 

Savor your days, make each one special. Life is short.