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| 1969 |
There’s no Place Like
Home for the Holidays.
For my brothers and I the place to be on Christmas was home, our parents’ house. No matter what was happening in our lives or where we lived, we went home. We gathered around the tree together, opening gifts, covering the floor with papers and ribbons, and laughing. Later in the day we sometimes went to our Uncle Leo Brown’s house for dinner or dessert but our house in Germantown, NY was the gathering place for Christmas Joy.
Of course, lives change. As adults there was a time or two that one of my brothers was missing due to holiday travels and now we gather at each other’s houses but I never thought I would be away from my brothers on Christmas. I love to travel on any other day of the year but not on Christmas.
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| 2007 |
As with many things, our children change our lives. When our oldest daughter got married and moved to South Carolina she and her husband invited us there for Christmas. My husband and I and our two other children packed up the old minivan with suitcases & pillows, gifts & tins of Christmas cookies, stockings & surprises. I was secretly afraid it would not ‘feel’ like Christmas, far from snow and cold and my brothers. The day was wonderful. We opened gifts, played board games, ate too much food and passed around the phone so we could all talk to the family back up north. Now we go to our daughters’ house every third year and in the future who knows where we will be? As long as we are together it will be special.
Written in response to Geneabloggers Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories. Click on the link to read Christmas memories from other genealogists.
I always want to be at home for Christmas. My husband's family lives away, and we've never done Christmas with them -- it's always been with my family. But we visit his family at New Years when everyone gets together for a big potluck.
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