Christmas
We had a blizzard (extreme wind and heavy snow) in the week before Christmas. But by the weekend, the sky was sunny and the roads were clear. Our son drove up from Atlanta, stopping to pick up a friend along the way. We celebrated Christmas with joy, with feasting, with gifts and games and activities and music, but our main celebration was in worship of Jesus, the Christ, our Lord and God. We not only commemorate his birth, but we recognize him as God incarnate (made man). Our first activity on Christmas morning was going to church. There we sang hymns and heard the Scripture with good friends. The bond we share in our family and friendship circle is the bond of divine love.
Our house was full of people, music, and conversation. Our son brought his accordion and played it for us. This instrument has a keyboard and a bellows for air and a set of buttons to give chords. It is held on your lap as you play. You have to move it back and forth to get the air, while playing the keyboard with one hand and making the chords with the other. Do you know “The Chicken Dance”? You don’t need a lot of room for it. While I was in the kitchen I heard the music and came into the front room to do the Chicken Dance with my daughters and husband. When it came to the circle part we had only a few steps to circle, but we did it. The accordion is usually used for polka music, but when our son plays it, he can also make it sound like a pipe organ. Maybe it’s the choice of music? He played some hymns in the minor keys and we sang along.
The Christmas tree, an artificial one, stood in front of the window in the center of the front room. It was decorated with glass ornaments, some very old, some fairly new; handmade ornaments, some of which our sons and daughters made when they were children; Santa Claus / St. Nicholas figures; snow men figures, toys; a few commemorative ornaments of gold plate; stars of various material: Styrofoam decorated with glitter and pictures; beads; and plastic and wood; nativity scenes, mostly tiny, but one about 3 inches of ceramic; plastic icicles from the 1950’s; Angel figures, and various other ornaments, each having a special history. We used the oldest lights we have. When we were first married, oh so long ago, Grandma gave us her Christmas things, because she was no longer using them. We’ve acquired lots more along the way, but it gives us pleasure to use the old things too. After all, we remember those old times well.
Our dinner Christmas Day was beef roasted with carrots, potatoes, and onions, green salad, “rotkohl”, green beans, and bread and butter, and red wine. “Rotkohl” is purple (or red) cabbage, sliced and fried in a little oil. After it has cooked about 10 minutes, I add vinegar, sugar and salt. The vinegar turns the cabbage red. I suppose in China, this might be called sweet and sour cabbage, but I never saw it in China. That is, I saw red cabbage in the market, rarely, but I never saw it prepared this way in a restaurant. Our second daughter says it is her favorite food. For dessert we had a selection: chocolate mousse, pumpkin pie, peach pie, all could be topped with whipped cream. Our allergic grandchild had his own special desserts prepared by his mother. Our daughter and son-in-law grow grapes on a small arbor in their backyard, and make wine from these grapes, only a small amount each year. It is this sweet red wine that we enjoy at holiday time. Our table is an old farmhouse table, about 100 years old, passed from my aunt to my mother, to my sister, to me. It can be a small square or a long rectangle. In fact, our room is not big enough for it at its full length. On Christmas Day, the table had a white cloth, deep blue dishes, and red cloth napkins. When the wine was poured and the toasts raised, our hearts were warmed. How blessed we were on this special day!