Christmas

John and I are home for Christmas this year and no one is visiting and no one is sick. We planned to go to Florida to be with our son and his family but they were having some difficulty with the girls so we together decided we would go there in February instead. Of course our daughters invited us to go to them and several other friends invited us when the word got out. However, we decided to just enjoy the time together and we have.

I have lots of memories of Christmases past. When a child I went with my parents and siblings to Grandma's where there were cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends. Usually twenty-five people were seated at the table for dinner. We had turkey, ham and goose, potatoes, sweet potatoes, red cabbage that cooked for hours (it was a German recepe) a Christmas pudding, mince, pumpkin and apple pies, cookies, etc. etc. There were candles on the table; the adults drank wine. There was lots of laughter, and happiness. When WWII came, an uncle, a cousin and an aunt went away to war. During that time Grandpa would start the dinner with a toast "to the absent ones". Happily, they all came home at the end of the war. The last was Roland, my cousin. We were all happy that my Aunt Winnie had come back from Burma where she was an Army nurse, and My uncle George had come back from the Navy in the Pacific but were sorry and sad that Roland wasn't there. On Christmas eve we young people were playing a game in the front parlor as usual when we heard someone come in. Then the sliding doors to the front entrance flew open and there he was, still in uniform, back from the war. Christmas was very happy and I don't remember what anyone got for gifts. Our greatest gift was having everyone home and safe and together again.