Back When

Back when Carrie and Kevin were small children we were farming in Boon Lake Township.  Kevin was born at that address.  Carrie was three.  Back then Christmas was celebrated on Christmas Eve by attending a church service.  Seems fitting then as now.  

Back then there were many Christmas gifts that were done in secret.  Christmas morning was commotion in motion.  From the times when Santa was hero, until the times when the kids were a bit more informed, Christmas Day was the best ever.  For Orlin and I there was the initial fleeting moments of taking in and enjoying the surprise that was found under the tree for Carrie and Kevin.  Nothing sweeter than blue eyed babes seeing wishes come true.  That was one morning when the milk cows did a shuffle as the milking schedule was stalled a bit.  

The Christmas tree housed the opened gifts at its base for days to come.  Toys would be played with, scattered about and carried around . . . but at the end of the day they all came back to rest where they had been found.  The entire week between Christmas and the New Year had a laid back schedule.  Not much to hurry over, not much done that couldn’t be put off.  Even the feed mill was quiet that mixed the feed for the cattle and hogs.  There had been double batches made the week before.  Christmas came and Christmas was to be enjoyed.

Each Christmas holds a place in my heart.  Though some Christmases were enjoyed at different homes, it was still “our” Christmas.  Extended family was visited.  Extended family was hosted.  Amazingly, the one time of the year, when the world could stand still for a bit.  Almost to the sound of a drum beat the Christmas days, the Christmas feeling faded and there was a new date with a new year to remember to write.  

Oh so many “new year” dates I have written.  Oh so many “new year” dates that I want to be able to write.  The entire world has changed so very much since the Christmas glisten can be remembered in Carrie and Kevin’s blue eyes as the small wonders that they were.  Now when I look into their blue eyes I see the strong adults that they are.  Taking each day . . . each event in their lives head on.  I don’t think I was ever as strong as they are today.  Today . . . I want to keep the child within myself alive as I can then recall all the wonders of Christmases past that have brought Carrie and Kevin to today.

Santa gave me just what I had asked him for in this the Christmas of 2019.  I have been given the gift of my children’s abiding love. 

Hmm.  Back when seems like yesterday.