Remembering... A Christmas Past

My granddaughter Kylee, Christmas 2009

There's something special about Christmas through the eyes of a child. A child's view is pristine, full of hope and innocence, it has not been convoluted with essence time.

One of my favorite Christmas childhood memories I included in my book, What's Your Story?

"During the Christmas season one year, we were victims of an ice storm leaving us without electricity and heat for a couple of days. Through those dark cold nights, I had protection of my family and several layers of clothing to keep me warm. In my childlike innocence, there was something magical residing in the stillness of the wintry night. I would lie silently and watch the glow from the fireplace embers and the flickering candlelight as they cast delicate dancing shadows upon the walls and tiny iridescent sparkles on the vaulted ceiling above me. My mother and aunt learned to cook over the open hearth, which was rather comical, all the dishes had a smoked flavor. The days were brisk making our cheeks rosy as we played outdoors catching drops of melting icicles on our tongues. We even made snow ice cream!"

It is a funny thing about memories, their accuracy is blended with the actual and the remembered. Our memories are captured pictures of a segment of time in the past. When we look back, we see the through lenses of the person we are now... life through binoculars.

Remembering is looking back, magnifying the passage of time, and pulling the memory into the present. A recollection... to collect again. I re-collected the images; I remember the above story from my perspective in the here and now. Much has changed since then, life and time have undoubtedly glossed my view.

None-the-less, I enjoy this memory from where I sit today... it is a jewel found within my treasury of memories. I encourage you to look into your memory box and collect a few treasured Christmas stories from the past.