How I love looking back upon
my childhood Christmases.
Where my mother would work 
so hard to wash the house down
polish the livingroom floor to such a shine.
The baking she would do
if only she knew
how us children would sneak down 
to the freezer to munch on her frozen cookies.



I remember a time or two
going out into the bush
to cut down our very own tree.
I also remember the times my father
would bring "a two tree" christmas tree
into the house for us all to decorate.
How we laughed that very first time
when we saw two trees tied together
to make one bushy tree.



It's funny how I can still smell
the scent of the freshly scrubbed down house
the scent of our Christmas tree,
some scents never go away.
Our decorations were so beautiful
for my Mother made them,
a lot of work she truly put into them.



I grew up on a farm
where money was always spent wisely,
so when Dad and Mom came home
with bags of Christmas candies
OH GOD
what a wonderful TREAT for us kids.



Christmas Eve was spent at the home
of my sister, Judy
where Dad was Santa
the laughs we would have as he would be
running into the house saying HO HO HO
all the while he lost the top of his "santa white wig and hat"
and always giving himself away many times 
as he would say
"come sit on Grandpa's knee".



But the real magic for me as a child
was waking up Christmas morning
going downstairs to the chill 
of the fire burning low
and plugging in the Christmas lights on the tree
and feeling the rest of the house waking up.



My father and grandfather would go 
and tend to farm chores
and if we had any snow
yards had to be cleaned first 
before our Christmas began.
Mom would get food prepare for our
brunch meal of bacon and eggs
us kids would tidy up the house
and help where it was needed.



Then Grandpa and Grandma from next door
would come over,
we would all gather in the livingroom
and one of us would hand out
the gifts from under the tree.
Gifts back then were like "heaven"
just a few we received and so happy we were
with the few we got.



But I think the best part of that day
is giving a gift to my Grandparents
you see, they never bought for no one
cause there were just way to many in their family
but that didn't matter to us
... I think this is where I learned the real meaning of Christmas.
For never once in all my childhood
have I ever wondered why I never received one back from them,
for it was "the gift of giving".



How I miss the simplier times of my Childhood Christmases,
today we give more than we should
we spend money so unwisely
at this time of year.
It's gone so commercial
we overload our children with tons of gifts
they say families are small so it's okay
but is it ...
don't you remember a Childhood Christmas 
of just being together
and receiving just a few that meant the world to you.



I know I over did it with my kids
and it makes me sad
cause they are missing out on the real meaning of Christmas.


16 December 2003