Three years ago, we planted a live tree in our back yard, and this was my vision of how it would look each winter.Alas! It made it through one season and died the next summer.
Last year there was no Christmas tree for us, because we lost Momma, and I was too sad for a tree.
But Mom loved Christmas, and she was tickled with their little artificial tree, so in her honor, I ordered a similar one this year. It's shining in the corner of my living room, reminding me of all the past Christmases that Mom made so special for all of us. With Roena for a mother, how could we not believe in Santa Claus? I still marvel at how she did it all, year after year.
I remember how we always had to wait for everyone to be present and accounted for on Christmas mornings and how long it seemed to take for Don and Dad to get downstairs. I remember one Christmas Eve when Rita let Lois and I sleep in her big bed and read us the story of "The Littlest Angel" before we went to sleep.
And I remember one year on Morris Avenue when the gifts in the front hallway were knee-deep and how my friend Anne talked about it for years. Christmas was a big deal in the Simpkins house all right, and I would give anything to go back and experience one of those Christmases again.
When I began to make Christmas coffee cake like Mom did for years, I asked her how she managed to keep it warm for breakfast without the frosting melting away. Her answer was that she made it fresh, starting around 3:00 a.m. to give the dough time to rise several times. Wait! She made it in the middle of the night? Were we spoiled or what?
The house isn't clean, there are no lights outside, no candles or arrangements nor any sign of Christmas except right here where my little artificial tree is shining with memories of Christmas past. And that's good enough for me.
2 comments:
Oh, I was going to write about my artificial Christmas tree, but I'm glad you beat me to it because you've sure captured our Christmases. :) I was reading that nostalgia can make us feel less lonely -- or more lonely -- and I think that this little nostalgic trip has made me feel less lonely. It's OK to have a "then" and a "now." We were sooo lucky we had such warm and cozy Christmases. :) And right along with Mom was Rita Ann, our Christmas Angel sister who helped sooo much to make and keep it magical! :)
We do have wonderful memories of family Christmases, don't we? And, to realize there were 5 children to shop for! Mom loved to shop for all of us, and make everything perfect :) As I recall, Dad was always to let us get up by 6am; but no earlier!
I shall always remember how much fun we all had! I enjoyed being the "big sister" on those magical Christmas Eves. It was good to have small sisters to always remind us that: Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus, and we all believed!
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