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I don’t know about you guys, but we’re on our third bottle of wine ovah heah, while we put together the last implements of Christmas with the extended families. It’s gotten me into a reminiscing mood…

Since even before I was married and before I had all these great kids, I’ve been spending Christmas with the Kentucky side of the family. For more than a decade and a half of that time, our Christmas was spent in the remote mountains of Eastern Kentucky, where my father in law was “King” and as was his due, he lived in a large house on top of a mountain surrounded by trees and rivers and vast quiet. It was sublime, as the house was big enough to accommodate all of his daughters, their husbands, and children at Christmastime. What’s more, even filled with people like that, one could always find a quiet room with a fireplace to devour a book that had been pushed aside by the exigencies of city life.

I would usually take the entire week between Christmas and New Year’s off, and even if I was busy at work and had some end of year fire drills to march through, I would find that the stillness would soothe my soul, and ready me for the new year ahead. I think the atmosphere of that environment took all we temporary residents back a step. No one thought of putting on the TV, but there was music playing in the background all week long. Even with all of their cousins present, it seemed that the kids were better behaved in that place. We were at peace.  I miss it terribly.

In more recent years, my in-laws retired and moved back to the city to be near their grandchildren, and now live in a lovely double-townhouse in the Victorian section of town. We still all come for Christmas and the music is still here, but as you may imagine it’s a vastly different experience from the frost-rimed woods and the ash-colored mountains of those earlier Yuletides.

Still, the joy of family is the same, and if anything, the bonds have become stronger as a result. We, who have evolved from strangers, have become cohorts in building this next generation present among us. This Christmas, and Christmases forward, we can begin to take pleasure in unwrapping the presents we’ve wrought for ourselves. They are mighty.

I wish a blessed Christmas season to you all, my friends, and much joy in the New Year.

 

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