As we approach Christmas Eve we should be thankful for what we have and that we have so far survived the pandemic. My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones to this virus. I look at Christmas as a time for Joy and Celebration with family and friends. This year, however, most of us will be doing the scaled down version of our normal Christmas celebrations. When this goes to print, I will have fulfilled one tradition that will carry on. That is making lefse with my sister, Judy. Although this year we will not be celebrating with her and her family on Christmas Eve, our lefse making is still a big part of the tradition. Hopefully next year we can get back to celebrating in a more normal capacity.
I usually get pretty nostalgic this time of the year because Christmas always brings out the little kid in me. I don’t put cookies and milk out for Santa any more, but I do still get a warm feeling when I sit in the house and enjoy the Christmas music and the lights that I always dress the inside and outside of the house with. I know that I inherited this trait from my mother, because she would decorate the inside of our little house on Bridge Street with streamers of garland crisscrossed across the ceiling of our living room. Some years we had a pretty scraggly looking tree, but by the time she finished decorating it, I wouldn’t trade it for anyone’s. Our house at Christmas time was always warm and cozy. My dad would decorate the outside and he loved using blue Christmas lights. I did the outside of our house in all blue this year as a sort of remembrance to my Dad.
Those Christmas’s gone by always bring back fond memories of my childhood and sometimes, when I think about it, I still get that warm feeling inside. I guess, when a person reaches a certain age, fond memories are what keeps folks going.
My grandson, Trevor, never ceases to amaze me when it comes to outdoors adventures. Two weeks before Christmas he was still hitting the open water on the Minnesota River and catching fish. He, his friend Collins from New Ulm and another friend caught their share of walleyes. Oh, to be young and adventuresome again. It would be fun fishing open water in December, but the years have made me feel much more comfortable sitting in my easy chair than in a cold boat in December. When the warmer weather is once again upon us, I will be making up for not fishing as much as I’d have liked to in 2020.
Meanwhile, I will have to be content with sitting in the warm house, watching fishing shows and the Discovery Channel while wishing that my grandson, Trevor, would take old Grandpa ice fishing. I’m not an avid ice-fisherman, but getting out for a little “hard water” fishing a couple of times a winter would be just enough to tide me over until spring.
I don’t believe that I have Covid, but I’d swear that I have a form of that disease known as the dreaded “cabin fever” and winter hasn’t really set in yet. That will make for one long winter if I am already itching for spring.
Until next time: I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a New Year that is filled with good health and normalcy.
Although Christmas is a time of family, presents and song, we need to take time to remember the real reason that we are celebrating this holiday.
Please show your support for the troops that are serving our country, some of whom are deployed and will not be home during this Holiday season. These servicemen and women are making that sacrifice, so that we may enjoy the many freedoms that we have today.