For some people their memory is going out into the woods to find the perfect cedar tree. I have that memory. I also remember hearing Christmas music being played over the speakers from the Western Auto. I remember standing along Main Street waiting on the Christmas parade to begin. It never started on time. But the street vendors were always there early, walking up and down the street with their balloons, their trinkets, the stuffed animals, the cotton candy…everyone seemed to always be in a festive mood. There was laughter and love, but we kids were impatient to see Santa. Off in the distance we would hear a siren and we would get so excited. We knew Santa was in town. We knew that we would see him soon. Dr. Bill Pearson often led the parade, riding his beautiful horse, but that was not what we kids were waiting on. The end of the parade was what we were eagerly anticipating. The parades seemed a lot longer in those days…
Christmas morning was a more quiet time back then. Not commercialized like it is today. Santa always put oranges, apples and pecans in my stocking. I don’t remember ever having anything else in my stocking but surely there must have been some candy. I remember that my stocking had a Santa face at the top. I remember because ~65 years later I still hang that stocking. There are no apples, oranges or pecans in it on Christmas morning anymore but it doesn’t matter. The stocking is filled now with precious childhood memories and for that, I am very grateful.
Daddy loved peppermint sticks and Mama would always buy a box of peppermint sticks at Christmastime. He also loved chocolate covered cherries and so did I. Mama always bought a box of them, too. Our daughter, upon hearing about my love for chocolate covered cherries, would always be sure that I received a box of them at Christmastime. They were for me and I would not share. Never felt guilty, either; I enjoyed every one of them. When she passed in 2015, chocolate covered cherries never tasted the same again. I bought a box just before Christmas but there was nothing special about them because they had not come from her. The memories of her bringing a box to me will sustain me from now on. It wasn’t because the taste had changed so much since she passed; the love was missing.
Daddy loved biscuits and gravy. Homemade biscuits were not uncommon; Mama made them every morning for breakfast but Christmas morning was special. On Christmas morning, Mama would fry fatback and make fatback gravy to have with our biscuits. Fatback was a staple in Mama’s kitchen; there was no such thing as canola oil back then. Fatback was used to season so many vegetables and man, those green beans and creamed corn tasted so good!
The tradition of that delicious Christmas morning breakfast continues to this day. It is expected. In fact, our son called me a couple of weeks ago to remind me that he was looking forward to gravy and biscuits on Christmas morning. He wasn’t disappointed. On Christmas morning I took everything to his house that I needed to make biscuits and gravy. He and his family have their own Christmas breakfast traditions now but I am so happy that this has become part of their tradition. Mama would be so happy.
Memories become more precious with time. Keeping traditions is so important because they often have been passed down from one generation to the next and serve as a reminder of who we are and where we came from. Starting new traditions and keeping them year after year is also important for the next generation. Keep building on them.