I don’t remember any of the presents. Who
does? A litter of torn paper had most
likely been gathered and stuffed in the biggest shopping bag for Monday’s
trash. A smaller bag would have held the
poufy twists of ribbon for future Christmas mornings. Or perhaps we stuffed them all away beneath
the torn shards of plastic packaging and ripped paper, knowing that The Big Move would have little space for
used ribbons and refolded Christmas wrapping. There would be no more
Christmases in our little house.
Nine
years earlier, on a sticky summer day, the ancient stones, wide planked
floorboards, and creaking, winding staircase had enfolded our family of
girls. In the middle, I wobbled on the
sharp edge of thirteen, slipping clumsily between child and young woman and
back again. Karen brought her flute and
guitar, her Sixteen magazines, and
her secret crushes to her room of ten windows.
Kathy tumbled into the house with scraped knees and a travel box of
Little Kiddle dolls, the youngest at nine.
Our mother arrived with white uniforms, polished shoes and winged cap in
which she had just sailed bravely back into her nursing career after seventeen
years of being a mom at home.
Betty and Dick,
Carolyn and Lloyd, Lois and Clif: all Mom’s smiling high school friends from
old black and white photographs, arrived like an army to repair, caulk and
paint the little house in the woods. A picnic followed a hard day of hauling
furniture and memories from our old house. Mosquitoes and lightning bugs swam
in the muggy twilight as we waved goodbye to our friends, dragged the dog into
his new home, and unpacked life without Dad.
Window glass, a
secret liquid, slides south on gravity and time. Grey sticker bushes and swaying fingers of
trees peered through hundred-year-old glass at our lives flickering in each
room of the house like the colors of our new television. They became “our”
trees: solid, predictable, constant, quietly watching over the agonies of
geometry and first loves, stupid sister quarrels and tight hugs, and the
healing of four broken hearts. The old
glass distorted their view, as if through tears, but the trees nodded at nine
years of fire-glow and shimmering candles, plates of ginger cookies and Swedish
Braid, and the comings and goings of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and
friends. The doors swung open and shut,
airing out our grief, replacing it with unexpected life. We had reached the last chapter of Dottie and the Girls in the Big Woods. New
chapters were trailing up and over our tall trees, carried in four different
directions by time.
What 100 other Christmas stories had the trees
watched over in that house? We never knew. Our story ended on a cold night in
1977, around a warm fire, gleaming turkey, creamy mashed potatoes and gravy,
and the traditional but unloved succotash.
Like others who knew they were witness to great historical moments, we
savored each element of the day. We sighed over the memory of fires that kept
us warm and stirred the scent of the Christmas tree. We would miss singing in
the kitchen as we cleaned up after holiday meals. Each of us gazed at the ornaments… the table
cloth… wreath on the massive door…. Silently, and near tears, we thought of
each memory that would move on with us to unknown places…
Wallowing in my most
mournful tone, I dug the big serving spoon under the steaming white mountain in
the yellow flowered china bowl. “I’ll
always remember… these mashed potatoes.”
Our giggles began, and the house filled with laughter at our own sappy
sentimental sorrowing.
I have since celebrated Christmases in homes
in Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and even on the beaches of East
Africa. My sisters have gathered at
holiday tables in Costa Rica and Thailand.
Mom now celebrates in heaven, but she still seems present in the love
and recipes at our scattered tables. (There is no succotash in Heaven, I am sure.) Those old tall trees remain, but the house crumbled from neglect and was
torn down long ago. The trees have grown
protectively over the hump of brick, stone and glass. Every Christmas, wherever
we are, we remember the joy of holidays in that old home, and the healing that
time and laughter brought to us under that roof. And, wherever we are, we never forget to
celebrate those legendary mashed
potatoes!
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