During the holidays especially, we often become nostalgic over traditions we may have held with our families and friends.  One dear memory year round, but especially at Christmas, is one I hold of my grandmother.  I keep her picture on a shelf in my office next to a little gold-etched crystal tree.  I keep the tree next to her picture year-round!

Is there a relative or friend you hold dear to your heart, particularly for the inspiration you gained from them?  That would be my grandmother for me.

My grandmother was very independent and strong-willed.  She lived in her two-story home on the water until she passed at 97.  She and my Grandfather built that home.  She had 12 children, my mother being the youngest, and 3 passed under the age of three.  I often thought of how tragic it must have been to have lost those three babies, yet when I asked my grandmother, she would say, in the way that people of her age back then did:  “I was sad, but I could rejoice knowing that they were God’s angels after they left us.  I knew God must have needed them or He wouldn’t have taken them.”  In addition to her abiding faith and belief that everything happens for the best reason possible, Grandma taught me so much.  She had a certain strength, acceptance of life, ability to comfort, and joy of living that will stay with me forever.

I spent many evenings during the summers with her growing up.  We would listen to 78 rpm’s  before 33’s became available.  She loved all types of music.  She gave me money to buy her a Beatles album when they were popular!  We would sit together in that rocking chair in the picture I have of her here and rock as we sang together.  Each evening she’d say, “Honey child, let’s have us a little party.”  Just Grandma and me.  That was my cue to get out the ginger snaps, pour myself a coke, and Grandma would have a shot of whiskey most evenings.  This, she said, relaxed her body and made her sleep well.  I don’t doubt it did!

Her kitchen had a linoleum floor and a gas stove that always smelled of a certain grease, usually because she’d made a cherry turnover or fried up some bacon.  She loved to cook, and because I was thin, at the beginning of the summer, she’d say “Let’s try to fatten you up this summer.  Just a little.”  That was her way of saying, I’m going to cook everything I love for you and me!

So why the tree?  Well, my grandmother LOVED Christmas more than just about anything.  She always had a real tree in her parlor.  Her parlor had large velvet furniture with U.S. Navy pillows (my Uncle had given them to her when he was in the Navy years before), and old heavy pictures hanging on the walls.  It was a dark room before you turned on the lamp, and it had a fake fireplace and, at Christmas, her tree.  One year, in her nineties, she had her picture in the paper because she decided to leave her trip up ALL year.  A live tree that she kept watering that I’m sure was as dry as stone.  But she LOVED to look at it, the ornaments, the lights, and so–she left it up all year.  Someone must have notified the paper knowing it was a story.  Grandma, herself, was a story.

So my picture of Grandma in her chair and this little eternal tree stay on my shelf in my office and in my heart all year! I am always in awe of the people who touch our hearts so deeply.  Grandma, thanks so much for the inspiration you gave me as a child and continue to give me in my sweet memory of you.

This year at Christmas I will be in Chicago visiting my son, daughter-in-law, and my sweet grandson Zachary who was born on October 30 this year.  It will be our first Christmas together.  I am now Grandma!  How did those years go so quickly?

Zachary, I look forward to traditions we may have together and can only hope to be an inspiration for you someday.  You already are one for me!

Happy Holidays to all!

With love and gratitude, Cynthia