I’ve come to expect certain things at Christmastime. Maybe “expect” is too forceful a term – “hope for” is better. I hope for certain things. Some years they happen, other years they don’t. And when they don’t I feel disappointed, so maybe I really do expect them after all. I hope for snow. All my life I’ve been singing “I’m dreaming of white Christmas” and thanks to Irving Berlin and Bing Crosby, my Christmases seem incomplete without snow. It is the one time in the year when I want a foot of the stuff on the ground. You’d think that, living in a colder climate, all our Christmases would be white, but not so. In the twenty years we’ve lived here, we’ve had five or six snowless Yuletides. Last week I thought this year would be snowy for sure. It snowed a lot during the week. By Thursday there was six inches of it on the ground. But now the forecasters are telling me the temperature will rise above freezing between now and Christmas. It looks like it might be patchy and slushy and that’s not the sort of white Christmas I dream of.
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| It was snowy all week. |
Another holiday hope that I keep is for a bit of calm. I love the quiet times that come now and then when no one expects me to be anywhere or to do anything and I can relax. Thursday was one of those days. I wasn’t called into school. It was too cold to do anything all day but stay indoors. I set up a long queue of my favorite Christmas music and baked cookies all day. There are certain foods I expect at Christmas. I can’t really indulge in them too much anymore, but I at least have to have a taste. There are cookies that have become traditional in our family – frosted orange cookies, anise cookies, lemon glazed lebkuchen, crisp sand tarts sprinkled with colored sugar, and peanut butter blossoms. I spent the day on Thursday baking some of them. And I did taste a few just to make sure they turned out okay. They did. I also baked a soft gingerbread on Friday. We took the cookies and the gingerbread and the makings for an eggnog with us to the Thayn’s house.
I also expect (hope for) fun, feasting, and family at Christmas. That all happened over the weekend as we gathered at the Thayn’s house for an early celebration. Stacey, Hannah, and I left home on Friday afternoon and drove down. We arrived there at dinner time. The Fosters drove down from Toledo and arrived later in the evening. Josiah was already there having flown in from Idaho on Thursday. Miriam drove over from Dayton and joined us on Saturday morning. It was so great to all be together for the weekend.
On Saturday there was lots of activity. Hannah painted the little girls fingernails and toenails (they love that). They worked on a Christmas Secret Code that Uncle Johnny concocted via video messages. We made gingerbread houses. Sarah and Tosh made all the gingerbread parts ahead of time and brought lots of candies to decorate them. Rachel added more candy. I’d never made a gingerbread house. It was sticky gluing it all together with frosting, but it was a lot of fun. Our finished houses looked pretty good.
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| Painting nails with Hannah. |
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| And working on Uncle Johnny's Secret Christmas Code with Josiah. |
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| Making gingerbread houses. |
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| Our gingerbread houses. |
Saturday afternoon we had our Christmas feast – ham, cheesy potatoes, zesty carrots, a fruit salad, roasted vegetables, and rolls. It was all so delicious.
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| Our feast. |
After dinner we had our family gift exchange. We drew names back on November first and there were lots of hints over the weeks since then. Everyone was excited to see who got what. There were so many nice gifts.
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| Time for the gift exchange. |
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| The gift exchange. |
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| Hazel, Mabel, and June with Uncle Josiah. |
After the gift exchange we had some refreshments – peppermint bark that Sarah made, soft gingerbread with lemon sauce, cookies, and eggnog. Then we played games for the rest of the evening.
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| Playing games. |
This morning we went to church. The Thayn’s ward had a nice Christmas program. Rachel played her harp as part of the program. She played What Child Is This. It was very nice. After church we went back to the Thayns. Today is the first day of Hanukkah so we played dreidel while lunch was being prepared. Sarah prepared a charcuterie tray of cheeses, meats, and crackers. She also made guacamole and chips. Stacey made potato latkes (for Hanukkah). And we had leftovers from Saturday’s meal. More delicious food. After dinner we played more games and sat and talked. And then it was time to come home. We said our good-byes and hit the road. Stacey and I came back in one car and Miriam, Hannah, and Josiah came in the other car.
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| Playing dreidel. |
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| Our lunch. |
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| Thanks to the Thayns for hosting our celebration! |
So our big Christmas weekend is over. It was great. I’m sad it’s over, but Christmas is still ahead. There is still some snow on the ground. We’ll see how much is left by midweek. There will still be food, fun, and family.
I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas.
