We had a busy and a wonderful week here. Every day there was something going on – most days quite a few things. It began on Christmas Eve when we gathered at the Shillig’s house to celebrate. They provided us with a Mexican feast – tamales, flautas, frijoles, guacamole, rice – all of it so delicious! After the feast, we sat in their living room and sang The Twelve Days of Christmas in our traditional way where everyone draws numbers one through twelve and when your part comes, you stand and sing. Santa Claus dropped in for a brief visit. After that we played The Left and Right Game where everyone held a wrapped gift and Julie read a story and every time she said “left” or “right” we handed the gift in that direction. Then we sang The Nativity Song and the children placed the corresponding figures – angel, shepherd, star, wise man, Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus – in the right spot. Then Josiah read Luke Chapter Two. Then we had dessert – so many good things, cookies, toffee, peanut brittle, gingerbread, and eggnog. And then it was time to come home.
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| Christmas Eve at the Shillig's. |
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| Christmas Eve. |
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| A visit from Santa Claus. |
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| Christmas Eve. |
When we got home, some of us went upstairs with the children and watched The Polar Express while grownups downstairs arranged presents around the Christmas tree. When the movie was done and the children were nestled all snug in their beds, the adults sat downstairs and sang carols. It was lovely to sit there in the quiet of the night and harmonize to the old carols. Finally, everyone retired for the night. I was the last to turn in. As I went through the house turning off all the lights, I listened to the quiet house with all its latent excitement sleeping. I stood before the tree last of all, surrounded by heaps of gifts, glowing with its lights and ornaments and memories old and new. Then I turned off the lights. As I went to bed, only one light remained, a single bayberry candle burning in remembrance of those who are not with us. Christmas Eve is filled with ghosts.
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| Very early Christmas Morning. |
Christmas morning was noisy, chaotic, and very merry. We let the children downstairs and herded them through the living room straight to the dining room to eat breakfast. After breakfast, we took our traditional stairs picture. Then the children went in search of their Christmas stockings that had been hidden the night before. After they’d ransacked their stockings, it was time to open gifts. Hazel acted as Santa handing out the gifts. It looked like an enormous amount of packages stacked across the room in front of the tree, but there were sixteen of us, so it wasn’t as excessive at it seems. There were great gifts, some of them fun, some of them thoughtful, some of them useful, all of them happy and much appreciated.
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| Christmas morning breakfast. |
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| The Thayn children on the stairs. |
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| Everyone on the stairs. |
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| Checking stockings. |
The rest of the morning we sat and played games. The children played with new toys. We worked on a jigsaw puzzle. And preparations for our Christmas feast began. I sat as an observer through a lot of this, doing what I love to do, watching and listening, taking in the laughter, the conversations, soaking up the happy atmosphere that filled the house, breathing in the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen.
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| Games and puzzles. |
We sat down to our feast at 3:00. We had our traditional menu – ham, funeral potatoes, zesty carrots, rolls, and fruit salad. Dessert, for anyone who could still manage it, was leftovers from the night before. Then we went back to playing games and enjoying each other’s company.
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| Christmas dinner, the children's table. |
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| Christmas dinner. |
On Tuesday morning the Fosters left for home. We were sad to see them go. That afternoon, we went to the movies. Stacey made a special arrangement through her connections at work to have a private showing of Wonka for us at the Coudersport Theater. The movie was fun and we all enjoyed it.
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| Sarah and Florence. |
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| At the theater. |
Tuesday was also Boxing Day, which has a different meaning at our house from the traditional British observance. For us, it is the day when all the Christmas decorations go back in their boxes as we begin cleaning the house for the new year. Putting up decorations is fun, taking them down is not. It is sad and yet I’m glad to get it done so the house can go back to normal again. We had lots of helpers this time with Josiah and Vanessa and Rachel and the children here. It took us several hours, even so. With the house stripped of its Christmas finery, although it is back to its normal condition, it looks a little bare without the lights and garlands and the tree. The tree, once glorious, is lying out on the edge of the orchard waiting to be burned, a pathetic sight.
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| The mess left when the tree is gone. |
Later that evening, Tabor went home leaving Rachel and the children here. Tabor returned on Saturday for our New Year’s celebration.
From Tuesday on, the music in our house changed. The Christmas carols and songs were gone, replaced by opera arias, big band music, and Strauss waltzes, our traditional New Year’s music.
The weather all week was dreary – cold, damp, and overcast. It rained at some point every day. It snowed a little yesterday, but it didn’t amount to anything. Wet weather complicated keeping the children entertained as they could not go outside to play and work off their excessive energy, but we managed to keep them distracted with toys and games old and new. They were back and forth between our house and the Shillig’s house several times a day every day. One evening we made gingerbread houses. And there was always a jigsaw puzzle to work on. I had chore helpers, which was nice.
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| Making gingerbread houses - lots of candy. |
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| Mabel making a gingerbread house. |
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| June and her gingerbread house. |
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| The finished gingerbread houses. |
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| My chore helpers - Mabel and Florence. |
On Thursday evening, Stacey and I went to the movies again, just the two of us. This time we went to see The Boys in the Boat. I am not a fan of sports movies. The fact that the plot is usually very predictable and you know the outcome before you even see the movie always taints them for me. I approached this movie with my same anti-sports skepticism, but I was pleasantly surprised. The movie tells the story of the University of Washington’s rowing team that made it, against great odds, to the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Berlin. It was a great movie. I recommend it.
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| My amaryllises blooming where the Christmas tree once stood. |
On Friday we had a treat. Stacey asked our friend Jamie, who is a massage therapist, to come and give neck and shoulder massages to those who wanted one. She thought that Josiah and Vanessa, having just been in a car accident would like one. I also got one – a first time for me but not the last. It was great. Kurt and Chase came over from next door for one too.
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| Josiah getting a shoulder massage. |
At lunchtime Miriam hosted a tea party at our house for the children. The girls wore dress up clothes (the boys weren’t interested in dressing up). She served them sandwiches and lemon honey tea and all the cookies still left over from Christmas. Then that evening we went over to our friends, Art and Laurie Kear’s house so the children could see Art’s amazing model trains. He has a room in his house dedicated to this trains with many tracks and buildings and scenery – all of it to scale. When we got back from the Kear’s it was time for homemade pizza night.
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| The tea party. |
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| Trains at the Kear's house. |
Saturday morning Stacey and I ran errands up in Wellsville. When we got back, Miriam, Hannah, Rachel, Josiah, Vanessa, and Chase and Jamie next door – went out antiquing. They drove up to Angelica, New York, and visited several shops there. While all of that was going on, the Thayn and Shillig children kept themselves entertained with games, all sorts.
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| Working on yet another jigsaw puzzle. |
Saturday was my mother’s 95th birthday. As a treat my nieces Jennie and Laura took her to the Chinese Lantern Festival in Raleigh. From what I’ve heard, she had a great time. I will call and talk to her later today so she can tell me all about it. She’s doing pretty good for someone five years shy of a hundred.
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| My mother on her 95th birthday. |
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| At the Chinese lantern festival. |
Church attendance was good today – 42 people. I hope everyone will make a resolution to be better about going to church in the new year so we have that many and more all year. Our family sang the hymn Ring Out, Wild Bells as a special musical number during Sacrament Meeting. We love that hymn. Now lunch preparations are underway – grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, something easy for so many people and light so we are hungry for New Year’s Eve.
This evening we are gathering at the Shillig’s house to celebrate. We will have lots of traditional treats – little wieners, a cheese ball, pot stickers, egg rolls, yakisoba, seven -layer dip, sherbet punch, and any cookies that remain from Christmas (there aren’t many). We’ll probably play a few games, but we don’t really plan anything. I do plan on being home and asleep when the clock strikes midnight.
So here we are, in the last hours of the old year.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind? and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne? and auld lang syne?
Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my jo, For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne, for auld lang syne,
we'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet, we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne. for auld lang syne.
And surely ye'll be your pint-stoup! And surely you'll buy your pint cup!
and surely I'll be mine! and surely I'll buy mine!
And we'll tak' a cup o’ kindness yet, And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne. for auld lang syne.
Chorus
We twa hae run about the braes, We two have run about the hills,
and pou'd the gowans fine; and picked the daisies fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary fit, But we've wandered many a weary foot,
sin' auld lang syne. since auld lang syne.
We twa hae paidl'd in the burn, We two have paddled in the stream,
frae morning sun till dine; from morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd But seas between us broad have roared
sin' auld lang syne. since auld lang syne.
Chorus
And there's a hand, my trusty fiere! And there's a hand my trusty friend!
and gie's a hand o' thine! And give me a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak' a right gude-willie waught, And we'll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne. for auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my jo, For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne, for auld lang syne,
we'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet, we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne. for auld lang syne.
Tonight we will sing this song, like many do around the world, as we pass from one year into the next. At our house, we only sing the first verse because we only know the words to that one, and we will sing it in the English version, not the Scots. It has always seemed a sad song to me. Maybe wistful is the best word, thinking of auld acquaintances and old times. I like the idea of looking back on those things as we face a new year. A new year is full of uncertainty, especially in these times, and old times, even the tough ones, are safely behind us.
The year 2023 was full of happy adventures, hard work, some disappointments, and changes – many good and some not so good. We got to travel to France in the spring, a great adventure. We had our second year in a row of no apples from our orchard, a great disappointment. We got a new roof on our house, a great blessing. We had a bountiful harvest from our gardens, plenty of flowers and vegetables. We had fun outings and gatherings with family all year long. We had a new granddaughter born in April. We all got older, which is an inevitability with the living. Death also took its toll on our family with Aunt Esther’s passing in November.
As always, I have plans for the year that lies ahead. I’ve been contemplating the garden of 2024 since before the garden of 2023 expired. We have plans for a family reunion in August. I have a list of projects to do – repairs and improvements to the house and garden and barn. I have lists of books to read, new music to explore. I have high hopes for fruit from my trees, flowers from my garden, and a bountiful harvest in 2024. I feel the vast potential of a new year welling up before me. And yet there is that nagging uncertainty lurking out in the world with all its tumults and confusions. Who knows what storms may come, what unexpected and perhaps unwelcome changes will challenge us? I can only hope for the best, work to do good, and pray for protection from harm and danger for me and for those I love.
I wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!
