Christmas Tanka

****

unwrapping the memories
along with the dreams
one by one
i thank Goodness
for the gifts of christmas

****

Christmas Past Mingles With Christmas Present

My mother-in-law loved Christmas.  She shopped all year for presents and if one looked, one could find wrapped gifts stashed in the corner of every closet in her house, even in July. 

 All during the month of December, she baked the best cookies I have ever tasted.  Her house was decorated with an entire winter wonderland village.  And she relished  fixing Christmas dinner for the whole family. 

 I think she enjoyed Christmas almost as much as her grandchildren did. She has been gone for fifteen years and I miss her most at Christmas.

She made this nativity for us in a ceramics class one year early in our marriage. It has been a part of our Christmas every year since. Some years we set it up on a table and some years it is nestled under the tree.

As soon as her first grandchild was born, Mom began making or buying ornaments . Our tree is covered with these handmade gems loaded with memories.

 Now that our girls are starting their own families and Christmas traditions, I plan to pass the ornaments on to them.  Perhaps a bit of 'Nana' and her child-like joy  of celebrating Christmas will get passed along to her great grandsons.

 One year, she gave us a table sized carousel as a Christmas gift.  With the flip of a switch, it turned, lights flashed and it played about 10 different Christmas songs.  My children were teenagers when she gave it to us and so neither I nor they were especially impressed with it at the time.

It wasn't until MY first grandchild stared at it with wondrous eyes, that I began to appreciate it.  And every year since then, I have whispered a thank you to my mother-in-law for this wonderful gift, the gift of seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child.

This Christmas, I have a new grandson, a wide-eyed five month old boy.  My mother-in-law would be delighted to know that he is named after her son, my husband. How she would have loved to watch him stare at the carousel and the lights and then hear him squeal with delight! 

We celebrate Christmas to recall the moment when God came to be with us, indeed, becoming one of us. Perhaps the only way we can ever approach such an extraordinary happening, is with the innocent wide-eyed stare of a child. And once the wonder of it dawns on us, we, too, can squeal with delight!!

Merry Christmas!!!

To the Moon and Back

   Much to our delight, we continue to have a weekly date with our favorite four-year old, Orange Sneakers.  Except for a week or two when he was not feeling up to par, we've been able to enjoy some winter adventures!

 Our little boy is getting bigger and has outgrown his flashy orange sneakers.  Now he wears cool black ones with just a dab of orange.

  He is changing right before our eyes in other ways too.  Physically he's more agile - able to scale the heights  at the playground without a second thought.  He rides a scooter, a tricycle and something called a scoot bike at speeds that test out ability to keep up with him!

 
  He came for a 'sleep-over' recently and spent much of the weekend constructing elaborate structures and inventing  imaginative stories to go with each creation.

Bunny wagon!  Just in time for a tea party.

   We went on an adventure to the local air and space museum where he became enthralled with the moon landing.  He was fascinated by the whole story of  the astronauts,  how the space crafts were built and  other details of space travel.   We saw a display that included  the Lunar Module, a video showing the landing and the suits used by the men who traveled to the moon.   The questions kept coming all afternoon!

Orange Sneakers has been very busy making friends this winter.    Our little man doesn't play by himself on the playground anymore! His new friend is Pink Sneakers!   

 Largely ignoring the adults who accompanied them, they went on an imaginary trip this past week..  They took off on a space trip to the moon (of course)  via the swings which launched them into space (with a bit of help from Pappa and Pink Sneakers' dad)  They brought the following items, all indispensable for a moon landing:  reindeers, hotdog soup, space suits for the reindeers , robots and a space 'vehicle' to drive on the moon.  

  They play all kinds of make-believe and although we are not included in the fantasy world any more, we like to eavesdrop.  Here they were making popcorn
in the sandbox - chocolate popcorn, of course!


LIFE IS GOOD !

The Magic of Christmas

  It is usually easy to  conjure  up that old Christmas magic every year.  The sound of Christmas hymns in church ,  the smell of pine in the air, the gradual appearance of lights and decorations just as the darkness of winter comes upon us,  and the excited anticipation of children everywhere, all stir up in my heart,   the magic of Christmas' past.

 Perhaps nothing does it for me quite like the decorations I put on my Christmas tree. Each one is dusted with the magic of Christmas memories. A few were on the first tree I ever saw in my parent's house!

      When I was very young, we lived in the basement of my grandparent's house.  What I remember most about Christmas was the lights.   We had  bubble lights (since outlawed as dangerous)  that  were shaped like candles but had bubbling liquid in them. They were magical and  I loved them.  And perhaps because I was so close to the floor, I recall looking, in absolute wonder at the glittering balls and decorations on the tree.  Magic!

 On Christmas morning, we opened our presents, then some time later, Nannie would come to the stairs and call us,  saying that Santa had come upstairs  to her house too.   My sister  and I would run upstairs  to find another tree with more gifts under it.  Magic!!  

     

     My favorite memory of  my other grandmother involves her suggestion that we call "Saaaanta" into the old fireplace in the living room.  Before long, we would hear, coming right out of the fireplace, Santa's voice!!!!   Years later, my mother  told me that Grandma would answer us through the heat registers in another room and the sound of her voice would travel and sound like it was coming out of the fire place. Magic!!

       Moving to the suburbs a few years later, brought new and unforgettable traditions.  My father set up the only outdoor creche in the neighborhood and someone  got all the kids together to practice singing Christmas carols and every year on December 23rd, we went caroling after dark.  Finally we gathered around the creche on our lawn to sing one last hymn.  Then someone gave out hot chocolate and we warmed up.   Magic!

    
   I recall three gifts from my childhood.  When I was perhaps four or five, I got a chain drive tricycle.  I was thrilled that Santa brought me such a big bike!  Magic!  Another year, I  received a  John Nagy Drawing Kit,  something I had coveted.  I guess that was an example of early television advertising.  Still, it was magic!   By the time  I was nine or ten, we received mostly clothing  for Christmas but always, a few Nancy Drew books were tucked away behind all the clothes boxes.   I opened them last and spent the rest of Christmas Day reading.  Magic! 

     Once I married and  started to have children , the idea of Christmas magic shifted and  suddenly  we became the magicians - no longer did we expect magic, we now wanted to make it!   Soon we were creating our own family  traditions even as we added more babies to our family.

  We began collecting decorations for our tree,  adding a few more every year.  Watching the little ones react to the lights  was magic!   When the children were old enough, they made ornaments and those remain some of  my most cherished. 

  
    Sharing the  ancient Christmas story about the Light of the World with each child, perpetuating the magic of Santa for another generation and sharing with them the joy of giving carried with it  special joys.  I revisit each memory when I see the tree in all its glory.    

     Recently, our grandson  has brought the wonder and delight of childhood back into our lives.  Every light and ornament looks brand new when I look at it with him. As he stares with wide eyes at my Christmas music boxes and studies each ornament on the tree, I can experience Christmas through the eyes of a child again.  Magic!!

     My Christmas memories fall loosely into three eras : my childhood, my children's childhood,  and my grandson's childhood. And my tree has ornaments on it from all of those years.  Each one, sparkling with memories,  is capable of bringing the innocent joy of Christmas to my heart.  

 My fondest hope and wish is for the Christmas Light to grow brighter every year until  all hearts are touched by its brilliance.  

PEACE BE WITH YOU

Shared with Recuerda Mi Corazon   Postcards from Paradise.

December Sorrow

    My last post was about how December is a month for and about children. It was titled 'December Joy' and  I  recalled my own childhood as I pulled Christmas out of the attic, relived our children's Christmases  and planned  for more  magic  for our beautiful four-year old grandson.

    I was writing and posting my photos and recollections, forming some haiku as I went along last Friday morning.  No TV, no radio just me and my poetry.  So it was an enormous shock to discover what had transpired while I was writing about the joy and innocence of Christmas.  It was an enormous shock no matter how or when one heard the news.

   I am heart-broken......devastated.......  bereft of words.......filled with sadness like everyone else.

  At the heart of Christmas, of course, is the Holy One who came as a vulnerable child to teach the world about love. The One who always let the children come to Him.  I have no doubt He weeps with us today.

  All I can do is pray....... for the children, their parents, grandparents and siblings, friends and neighbors. All the ones for whom Christmas will never again be wrapped in joyful memories.   May they be consoled.


Shared with Recuerda Mi Corazon

December Joys

***

december weekend
unpacking decorations
wrapped in memories

christmas 

enters her heart and soul

through many doors

fragrant pine

scented with childhood
excitement

candles and toys

decorate an evergreen

with joy

giving gifts

the magic of santa

lovely secret

warm kitchen

nana's linzer torts baking

hugs from heaven

carols sung

 with neighbors and friends

o holy night

Jesus

born in a stable

humble love

a prayer

for the bells of peace to ring

on earth

***

Sharing with Recuerda Mi Corazon Haiku My Heart