Christmas Past

We set up our Christmas tree yesterday, now the smell of evergreen pine is permeating our house causing a flood of memories from my childhood to creep back into my remembrance and cause me to smile.

One of my favorite memories of Christmases was a Christmas Eve morning when my mom was going to school. She woke me up early in the morning to help her prepare for all the company that would shortly be arriving to enjoy the merriment of the season. Together my mom and I listened to Christmas music as we made banana and strawberry slush. I squished cheese ball through my figures and rolled ham ball in nuts. I'm sure this morning to my mom was full of stress and anxious, but because I dwelt in total childhood oblivion to all the stresses Christmas brings, to me it was glorious.

I remember one Christmas Eve morning my dad sat us down in front of a gigantic bowl of Cream of Wheat and refused to let us get up from the table until every last drop was gone.

I remember my grandpa Blumel aways wearing a nylon sock on his head while he made the stuffing and prepared the turkey.

I remember laying in bed with my sisters giggling all Christmas Eve night and peeking out the window every 5 minutes to see if grandma and grandpa Blumel have arrived yet so we could open our present.

I remember running and leaping on my parents bed yelling, "they're here, they're here"; then my dad finding every excuse to delay the present opening.

I remember running out to the living room and quickly flicking on the light switch to see if Santa had come, trying to capture a glimpse of the treasure Santa had left us.

I remember the year my parents were wise to our light flicking ways and covered all the presents and stocking with blankets. Rachel and I stood there in stunned silence until we heard the to familiar "GET BACK INTO BED".

I remember Christmas light tours and clam chowder and live nativity pageants. I remember It's a Wonderful Life and Christmas Eve pajamas and happiness.

All this from the smell of a Christmas tree.

I hope some day when my boys are grown and away from me, the smell of Christmas grabs a hold of them and they experience a flood of Christmas happy memories.