The decorating is done.
The Cottage is quiet and
the light of the candles
casts a warm glow,
along with a delightful essence,
throughout.
There is a feeling of contentment
that always settles in
at this time of year.
I think it may have started
many years ago
when, as a young child,
I saw how my mother was affected
by this time of year and
by Christmas
in particular.
I kind of skipped over
our decorations these last few posts,
so as I continue my Christmas Story,
I will give the Cottage her due
and share them with you
in between.
My mom was a twin.
She suffered from ill-health
most of her life
along with low self esteem.
She always felt she was inferior
and not as pretty as
her twin sister
and, as you can see,
they looked just alike.
For whatever the reasons were,
I think she may have compensated
by giving herself to
being a wife, mother and home keeper.
These things she excelled at.
I know I have mentioned before
how we never knew
where the furniture would be
when we came home from school.
Our home was always
pretty, immaculate, and
we all sat down to dinner each night
with a hot, full course meal.
We didn't have a lot of money
but, to my eyes,
Mom made our home look like we did,
by sewing pretty tablecloths and curtains,
and by arranging fresh flowers
throughout the house that
she grew and tended herself
in the garden.
She also had a
wonderful eye for color and style.
In later years, I found out
that she went to bed many nights
with chest pains
because she had overdone during the day.
But, to all of us,
this was just who she was.
My dad was a good provider and
we loved him very much,
but it was my mom who
made our world go round.
This was never more apparent
then at Christmas time.
It wasn't just the gifts either,
although the sight of packages
under the tree
was exciting.
We usually got the "big" gift from Santa
and the few, required, ones
such as underwear or stockings,
and the occasional doll or toy truck,
were wrapped in pretty papers,
leaving us to wonder for days
as to what was inside.
I never shook,
or even picked up,
a present
for fear that I might guess
what it was.
The surprise was,
and still, remains
everything to me.
As I mentioned,
it was never about the gifts for me,
there must have been something
in my mother's attitude
that set me on the path
to my love of Christmas.
The special ways she would
decorate the tree,
or the baking and the home made candy or just the fact, that I could feel her happiness.
Any one,
or all,
of these things
could have made a
lasting impression on me.
The pride she took
in what she did
for her family and her home
was very apparent.
Although,
how she felt was never talked about,
I can imagine,
because all of these ideals
were passed on
to me.
It is not just at this time of year
that I see the results
that my parents passed on.
I see it, every day ,
in my daughter's family as well.
It is like a line of dominoes,
falling one by one,
each taking their part
from the ones before,
and, I see,
how lucky we all are
to have this legacy...
...it is especially apparent to me
at Christmas time...
when the Cottage is quiet,
the candles are lit and
I sit by the tree.
I can feel the smile
on my mother's face and
know that she would be happy and proud
about her job
well done.
...Judy...
Thank you each, and everyone,
for taking the time to visit with me throughout this year.
I appreciate all of your kind words and
the fact that you let me return the favor.
I hope you all have
a wonderful holiday and
take a good rest
after the celebrating is done.
I will be doing just that
and will return next year.
Talk to you then...but
(as if this post wasn't long enough already)
I want to share with you
a beautiful Christmas present
that our whole family received...
Meet Bo
(pronounced as in Mr. Bo Jangles)
He is a golden retriever that
Tami and Tim adopted.
He has the most gentle soul.
He is loving, kind to all humans
and other animals.
He loves nothing better than
climbing onto the sofa and,
literally, climbing into your lap,
where he will make himself comfortable
for days,
if he is allowed.
Bo has epilepsy.
His former owners were told this
and were give prescriptions
for medications that would help him,
but they chose to use
marijuana for his treatment instead
and when he continued to have seizures,
they abandoned him at the shelter.
Luckily, Tami works at that shelter,
and saw him immediately
when he was dropped off.
She said it was love at first sight
for them both.
He has had one bad seizure
since they brought him home and
he is now on the meds
that the doctors prescribed.
There is no guarantee
that they will stop the seizures completely
but we are all hopeful
and it is not a factor at all
in the amount of love
that he will receive
or that he will give
to all of us.
