Christmas letters!

My husband is sometimes a real sweet guy well, most of the time really. This year while I was busy washing clothes and baking cookies etc., he took the time to sit down and write our Christmas letter. Normally that has been my job and it varies from year to year how I tackle it. I guess it depends on the mood I am in at the time. Sometimes they have been funny (or at least I thought so) sometimes newsy, sometimes nostalgic. This year my husband hit the nail on the head and went right to the heart of Christmas. I love this letter so much that I asked his permission to share it with all of you. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas you probably have your own special family times that will make you feel like he is speaking right to you. Enjoy! Happy Holidays from my family to yours!

I am not certain what Christmas would be like without snow. We received about six inches of the stuff a few days ago and I have to admit it has given everything a much more “ Holiday “ appearance. I know a large part of the world is warm this time of year and I am certain they have their Holiday traditions but I have always lived in the Snow Belt and a White Christmas seems much more like home to me. Granted, I grew up in North Dakota where two inches of snow can turn into a blinding, white blanket when the wind blows ( which was most of the time ). It’s just, I have memories of coming in out of the cold and snow, warming up by a warm heater and enjoying the smell of the Christmas tree and all the decorations and lights. My favorite lights were in the shape of icycles and contained some type of clear liquid which generated small bubbles which traveled up the inside of the icycle. I have never found lights like this and I imagine it is because there was something distinctly hazardous about a decoration hot enough to boil a liquid being hung on a tree which could dry out and go up like a torch. It still looked great. Gotta wonder sometimes how we survived our childhoods before all the new safety precautions came to be.

In the small town where I grew up there weren’t a lot of lights on homes. I don’t know if it wasn’t a tradition or if it was just to expensive for many of the families. We did have lights and decorations on the light poles along Main street and it was always quite the occasion to see them go up. There was a hardware store and a small gift shop on Main which would decorate their windows. The hardware, in particular, was a draw because it was stocked with toys and other gifts for Christmas. I am sure it was probably not much larger than a Superamerica convenience store but to a little kid it looked like a huge toy land.

We had a small creek which wound through most of the town. It ran behind our home and each winter we would shovel the snow off to skate. It was during the baby boom years and there were quite a few young kids living along our little street. The creek behind our house was one of the best places to clear the snow because it had some trees and a high bank to protect us from the wind as well as a light from a small park so we could see better. It was always easy to find friends for a small skating party or bonfire.

As I have gotten older, Christmas has been a time to enjoy our friends and family and remember those who can no longer be with us and the wonderful times we enjoyed. When Janet and I had children, we decided we wanted to create some new traditions we could share and hopefully they would remember as they go through their lives. We decorate the tree together, drive through our neighborhood and look at all the decorations, attend a special Children’s service at the church on Christmas Eve, bake cookies, open our gifts to one another early ( very early ) Christmas morning and so on. I am sure each of you have traditions in your families. It’s what helps bind us together and remind us who we are, where we came from and hopefully, where we are going. This can be a very busy time of year, there is always a lot to prepare for Christmas. Try to take a little time and remember what you liked the most in previous years and what you are looking forward to the most this Christmas. Having things to look forward to makes our Holiday Season special . We wish you all the best this Christmas and hope you will be able to look back on this Christmas with many happy memories.