December 12-14 - Eleven Days until Christmas


Ouch!! Eleven Days!!! I've not even come close to finishing my Christmas Shopping!!! HELP!

Christmas is such a wonderful time for memories. The photos above bring back many wonderful, warm memories for me. The lady is my wonderful Grandma Melvina Stewart Matthews. For those who knew her, I don't need to tell you more. For those of you who didn't, she was the most wonderful grandmother in the world! She loved everyone and was a true example of a servant that Jesus described in the New Testament.

Grandma loved Christmas. The first photo is one of her living room in the later years of her life. She had a silver, foil tree before buying the green one, and one might say she was retro before its time!

Grandma would decorate each year for Christmas by getting out her tree and decorations that the grandchildren had made for her in years past. She always had a stocking for grandpa and herself and loved getting gifts for all the grandchildren. My mom helped her a lot and in her later years, when she was not able to shop, mom and I would buy lots of things for her to give to grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She wanted to have something to give each child that came to see her. Often we did last minute scurrying (behind the scenes) when someone unexpectedly would show up. The joy on Grandma's face was the joy of Christmas.

Not only did Grandma like to give, she REALLY enjoyed getting!! After everyone had received their gifts, Grandma would sit down and have people hand her gifts. Grandpa would also join in the ceremony at a nearby table. The rest of the family became the audience for this wonderful production.

Opening gifts for my grandparents was like a well-choreographed ballet. They had two different methods to opening gifts. Both believed in saving the wrapping paper and would make sure it was not torn as they removed it from the gift. Grandpa used his pocket knife to slit the tape and would neatly fold the paper for future use.

Grandma was not as meticulous with her unwrapping. She did save the paper but could unwrap at twice the speed as Grandpa. She would "ooh" and "ahh" over each gift, no matter what it was. Sometimes she would receive monetary gifts, and they would render her speechless! (That was a feat in itself if you knew how my grandma loved to talk.)

Once Christmas was over, Grandma would neatly arrange all of her gifts of the bed in the guest bedroom and invite her sisters to come and admire them. That was even more fun to her than the actual unwrapping event.

I really miss my Grandparents during this special time of the year. Their little house sits, cold and empty now. The sounds of laughter and smells of chicken dressing no longer fill the rooms. I'm so thankful that I still have these memories in my heart and will recall them often during this Christmas Season.

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