241211 Christmas

The picture above is from 2004 on the front porch of the farm.

Christmas time is here with us again. For me, it is my 79th time. I don’t remember all of them, but the ones I do remember were for the most part, wonderful!

The best Christmases were the ones with Joyce. No one could do Christmas like Joyce did. Many times she cooked for 20 plus people. Those were the best. She started cooking 4-5 days before the day. She began with cookies and fruit cakes because they could be done early and would still be wonderful on Christmas day. Her fruit cakes were so much better than anything one could buy in a store. People actually enjoyed it and looked forward to it. She always bought a 20 pound turkey and a 10 pound ham. She made enormous amounts of mashed potatoes and gravy to put on them. There was always a huge pot of broccoli cheese soup. That may not sound good to you, but it was well received by every guest.

Our decorating for Christmas began weeks before the day. On the farm, she had 5 Christmas trees inside the house. The outside of the house was well decorated. Christmas lights outside covered the front porch, the back deck of the house, all the trees around the driveway and even on the barn through an underground cable I had buried. There was a huge wreath facing the road that went by the home. The upstairs front window had a Santa face all lit up. The front porch and back deck had Cedar bows that were filled with Christmas lights woven among the Cedar bows. In front there was a large nativity scene.

And then there were the Christmases away from home, 2 on Guam, one in Japan onboard the USS Kitty Hawk. I remember that one well. The ship’s boiler went out and there was no heat on the ship. We were sleeping in our dress blues with our pea coats on and any blankets we could find and we were still shivering cold. One Christmas was on board the USS Enterprise in the gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam. On that Christmas eve, I went to a service with Billy Graham held on the hanger deck of the ship. It was a good service and the deck had hundreds of us sailors there. Graham was a good preacher.

When I was a boy, Christmases were always wonderful. There were lots of presents and mom always cooked for us and aunts and uncles, distant relatives and friends. Those were huge events and I always looked forward to them in my life. Back then families lived close by, so they were always big events.

To all of you readers I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Be safe and enjoy all of your blessings.