Jan
Twelve days of Christmas
There`s a noreaster bearing down on the Maritime provinces today and for the next two days with snow fall ranging between 30 and 50 cm. So it is a good day to stay put and putter. I have a pot of vegetable soup simmering on the stove and plan to make at least two chicken dishes this afternoon. In the event of a power failure we will be snug thanks to our propane fireplace and generator and our bellies will be full. Who could ask for anything more?
We will pack up the few Christmas ornaments we set out this year, and put the Christmas china back in the tall cabinets. And so the Christmas season will end at our home for another year.
When my siblings and I were very young we would go to bed on Christmas eve in a house completely void of Christmas decorations. The next morning when we awoke the tree would be up, decorated, with presents beneath. Lights would be wrapped around the windows, tinsel swags would be strung from one corner of the ceiling to the other. It was truly magical! December 25th is the first of the twelve days of Christmas.
The trees and the decorations would often stay up until Little Christmas January 6th. I remember helping my grandmother Daly dismantle the tree on Little Christmas. This was a good thing, as Nanny trimmed her tree with candy canes and someone had to eat them.
This time of the year I think of my grandparents more often. Memories of huge real Christmas trees, tinsel, angel hair, bubbling Christmas candle lights, beautiful hand painted German glass ornaments, and angels looking down from the top of the tree. Each year the amount of Christmas decorations I put up become fewer. But the memories of Christmases past become more.
