Thinking of Christmas Past

When the boys were little Crystal used to cook Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day. This was such a mistake. One day one of her sisters said “you should cook dinner on Christmas Eve and have leftovers for Christmas Day.” That was a life changing event. It made Christmas Day so much more enjoyable. You could allow the kids to get up and enjoy their things with no worries about what there is to eat. We could just enjoy the day and the kids could play with their presents as we watched without any worries about what needed to go on and what needed to be cleaned up.

Christmas dinner is not just the cooking. There is the preparation, the cooking, the timing so everything remains hot, and afterward there is the major clean up. I think about us and the cleanup that we do but we have a dish washer. Then I think of mom. She had no electronic dish washer and no paper platers. Mom said that she did Christmas dinner in days. She made the pumpkin pies and fudge 2 days before. She cooked the shuck beans, sweet potatoes, and made the banana pudding the day before. Then she cooked the ham, cornbread, dressing, candied the sweet potatoes, and mashed Irish potatoes the day of the feast. Then everyone would eat and she was left with the cleanup. We boys helped some but she had 3 boys so there was just so much help coming.

This year it is increasingly harder to get everyone together for a Christmas Diner. Back when mom was making Christmas Dinner her sons were the ones employed. Now both members of our kids couples work. It makes it very hard to work around 8 peoples schedules. I think we have it worked out. If we have Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve at 1pm then only one person will not be here but she will be maybe 30 minutes late and another will have to leave for work directly after the meal. That is as good as it could be made this year. I’ll take it. At least everyone will be under our roof come Christmas Eve for 30 minutes. This modern life is tough in so many different ways.

Sometimes I think about it being tough for Christmas and Crystal and I had some really tough ones when the kids were growing up. But I think about my Grandparents who were children of the 1910’s Appalachia. Maw said that a big part of their Christmas was making gingerbread. She said that her mom, AKA Granny Creech, used to make a big dishpan of gingerbread and everyone got a piece to fashion it into whatever shape they wanted for baking. One of 14 children the older kids had to take care of the younger kids. Maw said the other big treat was an orange. Her dad worked in the log woods for a living and farmed. The local coal mine would often give a fruit basket to their men for Christmas or a ham, but he didn't work at mining so they didn’t get that. She said they all got an orange which was a big treat and they cracked walnuts and roasted chestnuts and beech nuts while her mom made a nice dinner. Cured Ham, taters, and shuck beans, sweet potato pie, and cornbread was their common Christmas meal. Sometimes they got a homemade doll or toy but most of the time it was that gingerbread and orange. I wonder what Granny Creech had as a child. Her dad was a subsistence farmer too with 9 children in the late 1800's Appalachia. I never got to ask. I was too young to understand the importance of such things before she was gone. She died at 93 when I was 10 yrs old.

You just don’t know how important those family lessons will be when you are less than 30 yrs old. After 30 there comes a point that you know those things are very important. It gives you insight as to where you came from and who you are. Even if you move away those ancestors come along with you in your action and attitudes. I look in the mirror every morning and see Dad and Paw. The little things I catch myself doing. The way I walk. I wouldn’t notice this so much if I didn’t have it on camera every week. But, it is so obvious that I walk exactly like Paw did. He couldn’t bend over in the field either. He spent much of his time on his hands and knees in the garden. I get it now. Genetics plays a much larger role in who we are and who we will become than one would think.

At the time of this writing it is Tuesday December 20th, 2022. Just 5 days till Christmas. Tomorrow starts the annual Yule Celebration. We will burn our Yule Log tomorrow night and set up till it goes out alone with no children here. We will celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and then the kids will be gone again by Sunday afternoon and the house will be empty again. This getting older stuff is hard sometimes. Celebrate those kids when they are 8-12 years old. When you look back at the overall times of your life, this will be the best time of your life. I know it is hard sometimes. It is those struggles that will mold you into the people you will become, as at least far as your genetics will let it. Remember those little folks also have your genetics. They will act like you did at that age, to a point, because their experiences were not your experiences. Try to remember and understand.

I pray for you to have the peace that Crystal and I have enjoyed. We struggled when the kids were young. But, that is the way it is with working people. You have your kids when your salary is at its lowest and that forces you to struggle. Luckily I never once missed a paycheck in nearly 40 years. I had side hustles for extra stuff and sometimes necessities. It was not easy sometimes, but if you and your spouse can work as a team it makes all the difference in the world. In a world where the average marriage lasts only 8 yrs it is tough to establish that team and hold it together. Love and be good to one another.

I hope this finds you well and I wish the peace and love of Christmas to you all.

 

Merry Christmas from College Hill Farm!