I am so glad we are approaching the holiday season. \u00a0I know not everyone is. Many of my friends dread it because it brings up bad memories. \u00a0I have a lot of lousy memories from my past too but none of them cling to the revelry my family enjoyed around the holidays. \u00a0Perhaps we put aside our differences, our myriad reasons for arguing about every topic that normally triggered us, and just absorbed, for a few weeks, the magic that the holiday season promised.<\/p>\n
We didn’t have a lot of extra money as a family but we did have rituals that I treasured and they began with Thanksgiving. \u00a0For the first twenty years of my life we traveled to my grandmother’s in Logansport, IN for a feast that was beyond description. \u00a0The turkey was \u00a0gigantic, or so it seemed. \u00a0Actually it needed to be as big as her oven would hold since more than thirty of us gathered every year. \u00a0And then there was her special stuffing. \u00a0Most of us wandered into her kitchen, again and again, for a fork full while she perfected it.<\/p>\n
The scalloped corn, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy were all in some stage of preparation when we arrived at her house. \u00a0The jello molds had been prepared the day before. \u00a0It was too bad her kitchen wasn’t twice or three times its size. \u00a0It just couldn’t hold, at one time, all who wanted to hover over her every move. \u00a0And she never scolded us for getting under foot. \u00a0She was a special soul who continues to be one of my “hovering angels,” I’m sure.<\/p>\n
The 4 pies, the pumpkin and the raison and of course the cherry and apple too, had been baked before our arrival. \u00a0The one thing she did allow us to do was nibble on her very special “dolly vardens,” while we hovered. \u00a0They were made from the extra trimmings cut from the edges of the pie crusts. \u00a0She dusted them with a little butter, some sugar and cinnamon and rolled them up before baking them. \u00a0Yum. \u00a0I could have made a meal of them. \u00a0I used to secretly wish she’s skip making the raison pie, (not my favorite) and fill in with the sugar and cinnamon treats.<\/p>\n
As we gathered at the table, a large table for sure with more than one extension, my Uncle George was called on to say grace. \u00a0And then the talk quieted to a murmur as we all savored each and every bite. \u00a0As continues to be true in homes all over America, following the meal, the men searched for places to stretch out for a nap and the women gathered in the kitchen to clean up.<\/p>\n
I hated to see the day end but I also knew it was a short month until we gathered again at my grandparent’s house. \u00a0The holiday was in full swing and I began my personal ritual of dreaming the same dream I had treasured since childhood: the one where I was sure I could hear the footsteps of the reindeer hooves on my roof.<\/p>\n
My “dream” may seem silly. \u00a0But life deserves moments of lightness. \u00a0Don’t you agree?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am so glad we are approaching the holiday season. \u00a0I know not everyone is. Many of my friends dread it because it brings up bad memories. \u00a0I have a lot of lousy memories from my past too but none of them cling to the revelry my family enjoyed around the holidays. \u00a0Perhaps we put […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,8,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-circle-of-family-and-friends-you-and-your-personal-community","category-karens-musings","category-what-i-believe-you-and-your-higher-power"],"yoast_head":"\n