My Memories of Christmas

(as posted on the Ad Club Blog)

My favorite memories of Christmas... Well, it would have to be the mysterious and wonderful adventures at Grandma's house before I was 10 years old.

We would get up at our house and open our presents, rush through breakfast and get on the road. After an hour drive over the berkshires, we would arrive at bedlam.

My grandmother must have been cooking for days preparing for the day. Walking into the kitchen, the senses were assaulted by smells of delicious food, cries of joy and welcome, and warmth from the stove that was putting out still more delectables.

Moving into the parlor, my younger brother and I would spy on the tree and see how many presents were stacked there. Because Grandma's was the central meeting point for 5 or 6 generations, plus various neighbors, it would seem to our eyes to be an ocean of wrapping paper and bows.

And then there would be the den. If the kitchen was the gossip point for the mothers, grandmothers, aunts and older neices, the dark, cave-like den was for the men. The tv constantly buzzing with bowling, wrestling and then football. The smell of smoke and whiskey, the feel of stubbly hugs and talk of arcane sporting terms and who was doing what at Sprague Electric.

It seemed to be two worlds, the den and the kitchen, with constant traffic in food and drink moving between, through the kids world: the Parlor.

It was a strange and magical time. The kids, my cousins, brother and I, would make forts, eat chicken and rice, steal cookies, ogle the presents, eat some more of whatever we could sneak, rest and spy on the adults, all the while, anticipating tearing into the huge pile of presents.

Looking back now, I can hardly remember the presents or the unwrapping. My memories center around the warm feeling of belonging, surrounded by famly, the friendly chaos, of being sated and happy with the promise of more good things to come.

As a father of two boys, I watch them each Christmas and wonder what they see now and will remember of our times together.

The snaps here are from last year's celebration. Hunter got a snowman kit and wasted no time in putting it to use at my parents' place in Maine.