The make up of our family has changed over the past few years, as families do. We have lost people and had new additions to the guest lists joining our Christmas or New Year's tables. During this process, conversations reveal the traditions that evolve in families that are different to your own. When a couple get together, they discover over family times like Christmas, which traditions they will incorporate into their own celebrations and find ways to visit each side of the family, or make time to join in the different aspects.
Looking back to my experiences of Christmas as a child, there are things we still do today and others that got lost along the way. A treasure hunt to discover where Santa hid the presents was not something I did as a child, but was a tradition for my husband and his family. Once we got together, I joined in with that and then, when we had children of our own, we were the ones setting the clues for own children. I realised today that we haven't done this for a couple of years now and asked my daughter how she felt about that. Needless to say, she has asked if we can resurrect it for this year particularly, as she pointed out, this is likely to be her last Christmas living at home. So, of course, I am now plotting clues and when or how to fit that in on Christmas Day.
I went for a coffee with my husband this afternoon and we sat for a while just taking stock of what we have already done and what is still left for us to do, in preparation for the big day. As we have done for many years now, we are hosting Christmas Day and so we've been ticking off all the items that we need to have bought or made for the dinner and the festive table. We won't know until the day itself quite how full our table will be but it's likely to have up to 9 people joining in our fun, family Christmas. No doubt, memories of past years will be shared as we toast each other and the season. The poem behind today's author advent window illustrates such memories and all the family tales that we tell.
Family Tales
'Do you remember when...?'
That's how such stories usually begin,
Those moments and memories of old,
Tales relived, reshaped and retold,
Shared across the generations
As a nostalgia dipped Polaroid
A sepia haze, of mostly forgotten days,
Apart from those moments,
Those family spun tales,
Scattered gems illuminating the past
Sometimes a tale is told from my youth,
I feel I know it well
But I can no longer tell
If I actually recall the event,
For the story itself has seeped into the psyche,
The family recollection -
Who knows?
Yet, with each retelling, a fondness grows,
A yearning to hold onto such times,
Such stories and warmth,
For we all know how easy it is for them to fade and go,
Then will it be so, to simply say 'No'
When we are asked again...
'Do you remember when?'
Karen Honnor - 'Polaroids and Petals' 2021
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