With family away this year it took me a bit longer to get into the Christmas spirit. I was on my way to the Old Fashioned Christmas concert Dec. 8 when I received a call that another family member had passed. This was a fundraiser and the show had to go on, and I wanted to give the audience a great Christmas concert so I put on a happy face and tried to put it out of my mind.
The concert began with some great performances. I knew the entertainers I had chosen would do us proud and put all their talents to use but I had no idea of how the Twelve Days of Christmas would play out. I was relying on friends to come and do some crazy things for me during that song and they did not disappoint. The feeling of Christmas began during that performance for me and grew even more after the show when adults were telling me that they hadn't felt like that since they were a kid.
The following day my daughter and husband left for a funeral and I had my grandsons to take care of. Having my precious boys around helped even more to set the mood. I have always had plenty of decorations for my tree, and each year manage to gather up a few more from craft sales.
I love the handmade decorations and it seems so does my grandson Jacob. When decorating the tree, Jacob would say, "Nanny, this one for my house, OK?" How could I tell a three-year-old that he couldn't have the little Oscar the Grouch in a garbage can? Soon he had a bag full of decorations for home and I was moving things around the tree to make it look full. Candy canes fill up the empty spaces pretty good, but in our house they usually get eaten. Grandpa helped make the gingerbread house and after lots of icing and a big mess we had the house ready.
Now it's time for the real house to be decorated. We pulled stuff from the storage room and threw garland here and there and decked the halls. The kids were shuffled up the stairs in order to wrap their gifts. Different piles of gifts for here, and another pile of gifts for there, and I am always careful not to wrap up any chocolate because the dog will surely sniff it out.
Speaking of presents, I was shocked to find out how much it costs to mail out presents. But that's a whole other story.
Saturday night we had our annual "Wilson Christmas party" and after all the guests had arrived there was one more knock upon the door. No, it wasn't Santa, not yet anyways; he came riding over the stairs on a reindeer much later with a ho-ho-ho. What we heard was "any mummers allowed in"?
It's an old Newfoundland tradition that often takes place during the Twelve Days of Christmas. Mummers will sometimes dance for their guests, which ours did, and we are supposed to offer them drinks and food. There was plenty of food and drink around but I can't remember if I offered them any. Hopefully they just helped themselves because lucky for us they stayed and enjoyed the evening.
Besides our annual party we have other traditions in our house. It's always been tradition that the kids get to open one gift on Christmas Eve, and it's always pyjamas. I started another tradition in 2007, one that I copied from Jan Hall who has been sending the same Christmas card back and forth to her brother for years. I started that tradition with my brother Eric Christmas of 2007 but realized in July that I had forgotten to mail it. I sent it anyways and he signed it and sent it right back to have it ready for 2008. Last year we were on time and this year I'm hoping it makes it on time to him in Palm Springs, California. I'd love to hear other Christmas traditions that your family shares and I promise not to borrow them all.
Christmas is almost here and the turkey is in the freezer. The salt beef in the fridge and the yellow peas are on the shelf. I've been spoiled over the years with my parents cooking our Christmas dinner, but this year I'll be cooking it myself since they've moved east and I'll be sharing it with my brother John and his family along with a brand new baby girl and my daughter and her family. We'll have to share stories over the telephone with the rest of the family from afar and hopefully next Christmas we'll all be together.
Some of my friends are helping out with the turkey and all the trimmings at the Community Christmas Dinner Friday and if you'd like to go everyone is welcome. It is at St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic Hall at Juniper Drive and Cree Road from noon to 12 to 3 p.m. Christmas Day. Wherever you are this Christmas Day my wish for you is peace, joy and happiness.
