So the holidays. For our very lives this year we must be separate. Such is life in a Plague Year. America is a good land,…we are a good people. We will care for each other, and more than survive this.
America is a strange land.
The Holiday season is a pole star to be looked to. I remember back when cars had fins milk was delivered in bottles children could wander safely, and you could have TV in any color as long as it was black, and white.
In that faraway time before we crammed near space with debris, and online meant either jump rope or waiting to get into a movie. I remember Uncles, and Aunts tons of cousins, and family friends pouring into each other’s houses.
I remember our house.
All done up as best we could. Our traditional six foot tree. Decorations some going back to the late 1800’s mixed with flashy electric geegaws of the 50’s. Dad, and the Uncles all gathered in the daddy spots yacking about guy stuff work the Army…WW2 recently won. What routes they took to get here. They all came on the new Interstates that Eisenhower just built.
My Ma, and the Aunts in the mommy space…the kitchen. Going on about how them uncles drove them crazy how the kids were just as nuts. Who was graduating college soon…a bunch of aunts did. Also who was having a baby. Babies. I remember babies showing up all the time. Endless new cousins,…even a new sister.
Meanwhile our dog Brownie was under the table listening. That’s what dogs do for kids. They listen to what’s really going on. Then tell all good girls, and boys what’s coming their way. Good Dog!
Presents.
Besides tearing the house apart all me my siblings, and the cousins. We dreamed about the neat stuff coming our way. I mean Santa never let us down,…mostly. Yeah I was still into the guy then. Still am somewhat.
There was the Sears Roebuck Christmas catalogue that the mailman would slip us every year. Yep the instruction manual for materialist yule heaven. The thought was that Santa ran Sears. At least at Christmas,…made sense at the time.
Then Thanksgiving part two.
I would have gone on about part one, but my fingers are tired…com'on I’m an old guy now. Anyway it was mostly the same stuff, but with a Turkey, and family incidents. Christmas on the whole just had the Turkey.
Christmas Turkey.
As I sez part two. Before the age of fast food gluttony. Folks only pigged out once or twice a year. The Holidays. As had been traditional for over a 1000 years.
Now we stay up all night eat constantly. Obliviously use tech that would seem magic to our folks, and us. But back then we just had each other. …and it mattered.
The aroma of cooking filled our house. Near every house. We sat said grace then the passing of food all manner of wonders. Laughing stories the tree bright blinking it’s soul to heaven in the background. We were family we were friends we were together.
Remember these were Depression, and WW2 folks. They were making up for lost time. Those that could made sure the kids had at least a taste of security.
As my ma told me years later. She dad, and our aunts, and uncles. They gave us good memories on purpose. They knew what desperation want was, and what it did.
They deliberately created a sense of harmony despite everything. I was told years later we nearly lost our house…more than once. I found out in my thirties. They so loved us.
There was also music.
My family both sides played instruments. This was a common thing before mass entertainment. In the days when radio was cutting edge. Folks made their own music. Having instruments, and sheet music was common in every house.
We sang carols. We actually sang. My dad played the piano assorted uncles or aunts accompanied on violin,…even viola. Everyone sang. Even me shy as I was. We sang, and meant it because we really believed in things. Each other,…even a G-d.
Yule gatherings have been with us for 1000 years, and more. Beginning as folk solstice rituals. It’s been passed on to many peoples each adding their touch to it. Family friends gather at certain points in the year for a reason. A Blessed one.
Sometimes in war or like now in plague it must be put off. But it stays in our hearts. That, and as many are already planning. Next years gathering after the vaccine will be as is being said, “A Fucking Blow Out”.
I have every intention of being around that that.
Bless you all. Be brave be safe be wise be kind.
