As I attempt to ambulate through the one year "anniversaries" of the three deaths, I cannot help but torment myself by mentally reliving the worst 46 days of my life. In addition to grieving the loss of them, I am, at the same time, saddened at the loss of our Christmas traditions.
In addition to the traditions we enjoyed recently, I have been reflecting on past traditions which were revised as my sister and I grew up and expanded our family circle to include boyfriends/husbands/in-laws, etc.
Aesthetically, my earliest Christmas memories included a real white flocked tree with blue lights and ornaments, along with a cardboard fireplace where we would hang our stockings. That is until one year, the white flocked tree wasn't so beautiful to us anymore and my sister and I begged our parents for a green tree with colored lights. They were happy to oblige and I vividly remember making a trip to the Sears store in our local mall to purchase a fake green tree. 😁
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Renwick-7-5ft-Pre-lit-Pencil-Artificial-Christmas-Tree-with-Warm-White-Lights-Lake-Blue-Gradient/11173472998
As for traditions, we always had a ham dinner on Christmas Eve and usually either apple pie with ice cream or strawberry shortcake (my dad's favorite) for dessert. After the dinner clean-up we would make our way to the basement where my dad would pull out his guitar and we'd sing Christmas Carols. I remember this being one of my favorite things. I always loved Christmas music and enjoyed the sound of my mom and dad's signing voices.
Later on in the evening we would pile in the car and drive around looking at Christmas lights. There was a street in the city that had these beautiful Victorian houses and they were always decorated so beautifully.
Christmas Day would begin very early with two excited children! We'd open presents and get ready for church at 10:00. Then we'd leave straight from church to drive to my grandparent's house near Milwaukee and spend a full day there.
The day after Christmas we would drive the opposite way to Iron Mountain, Michigan to celebrate with my dad's side of the family. Due to the three-hour travel time, we would stay overnight at my grandma and grandpa's house.
The next day would begin with a full breakfast before leaving - you never left hungry from their house!!! We would not drive home though, instead we would stop at a Ramada Inn in Green Bay for a night. My sister and I would swim all day. The pool had a dome roof similar to this one.
photo credit: https://www.vintag.es/2023/06/ramada-inns.html
