Brings It All Back

By Gayle Calder

Christmas memories … the smell of pine and cookies baking, people laughing around the table, the lights shining on the Christmas tree …

One of my earliest Christmas memories is of strolling down 5th Avenue in New York City with my mother. The store windows had beautifully dressed mechanical figures in scenes from various fairy tales and Christmas stories. Children lined up in front of the windows and watched in awe as the figures moved and glided to music that was piped to the outside. The tree in Rockefeller Center towered over the skaters in the ice skating rink below. The tree was bedecked in thousands of gloriously colored lights. Vendors sold hot chestnuts on the street corners and everywhere the shoppers hustled to and fro preparing for the big day.

I grew up in New York City in an area called Chelsea on the west side of Manhattan. People tend to think of New York City as a place where people go to work and shop and then vacate after dark but in actuality it is made up of many little neighborhoods where people live, go to school and church , frequent the little local shops.

Every Christmas eve my dad and uncle would go out and bring home the biggest tree they could find…My sister and I would go to bed , and during the night he would decorate it so that it would be a surprise on Christmas morning. We never realized till we were older that it was he and not Santa who was responsible for this wondrous creation.

My fathers family lived in Baltimore, Maryland and every Christmas morning after church and opening presents, we would get on the train and travel for several hours so that we would be at my grandparents house for Christmas dinner with all my aunts, uncles and cousins. My sister and I would gather with our cousins at the designated “children’s table”. The smells were glorious, turkey and stuffing, Christmas cookies… the memories of those times are wonderful and priceless.

When I married and moved to Long Island and had my own children I would see the wonder in their eyes on Christmas morning and it would bring me back to my own childhood memories. There is nothing like the innocence of a child in anticipation of Christmas morning…

One of my all time favorite Christmas memories is bringing home my newborn oldest son from the hospital on Christmas morning and having his older sister , who was three at the time, ask us if the new baby came with his “own set of toys”.

My three children are older now, two of them are married Over the years we have had the some same traditions (Christmas morning gift opening was replaced by Christmas eve as the kids got older and sometimes often the same foods and cookies. Even though we now have to share our time with them with their new families, at some point whether Christmas Eve or Christmas day we will be together as a family.

Every year all of us get caught up in the gift giving and trying to make everything perfect for the holidays. As I get older I realize that Christmas is about the people, friends and family, the people that we love, spending time with them, creating memories. This is what is most important.

Make some memories!

Gayle Calder, is a former school teacher and loving mother, mother-in-law, and wife who believes that passing on the power of “positive thought” is extremely important. Gayle was born in Baltimore, Md, raised and schooled in Manhattan, N.Y.C., brought her children into the world in Long Island, N.Y. and is currently living in Pennsylvania for the past 23 years and counting. Gayle enjoys her family, reading, exercise, history, music, travel and much more.

Are Your Beautiful Things Just Collecting Dust?

By Gayle Calder

I was standing at my kitchen sink the other day, doing my annual silver polishing before the holidays, and it struck me that a lot of people today would think this was very peculiar and why would I bother. In today’s disposable world who in their right mind would use real plates when there is paper let alone silver utensils that need to be polished now and again.

Appreciation Taught and Learned

I was lucky enough to be born into a family that has always respected the past, the history of family and the appreciation of the objects that were handed down through the generations along with the stories that went with them.

Grandparent’s Dining Room Furniture

My dining room set, a lovely old tiger oak, belonged to my grandparents who were married in 1908. Around that table they raised six children, a daughter and five rambunctious boys. Sometimes as I sit at that table I can hear the echoes of my father and uncles laughter, all long silenced, as they would play a spirited game of poker. I think of the dinners that were served there, the celebrations as the boys came home unharmed from World War II, the engagements and wedding celebrations, Christmas and Easters, birthdays and anniversaries. I think of my own three children who have been raised around this table and the son-in-law and daughter-in-law who have joined us in the continuity of our family , and all the celebrations and sorrows that we have shared around this same table.

Great Grandmother’s Dishes

I have my great grandmothers dishes, beautiful old Limoge china and yes, I use them and cherish them because it connects me to my past. When I wash these plates I wonder what this woman, who I never met, was thinking as she washed them and what her life must have been like. She was born in 1865 along the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, as our country healed from the Civil War.

Avoid Waiting For A Special Occasion

How many times have you received a gift and put it away to use for a special occasion? Or maybe you have a lovely old piece of jewelry or pottery and you are afraid it might break if you use it , so you put it in the closet and never get around to using it.
Life is short. You are the special occasion! Use the things that have meaning to you in your daily life. If someone gives you a nice gift, use it don’t save it. Wear that lovely sweater. Use those great wine glasses. Celebrate your life and the lives of the people you love. Even if its just you and your loved one having dinner, set the table with your good dishes, light the candles, play some music. Don’t just do it for company.

If you are lucky enough to have something that belonged to someone in the past, use it. Tell the story of that person who owned it to your children and help them feel the connection of one generation to the next.
I know that I am going to keep polishing that silver and hope that someday I will be able to tell the stories to my grandchildren as they too sit around that table.

Gayle Calder, is a former school teacher and loving mother, mother-in-law, and wife who believes that passing on the power of “positive thought” is extremely important. Gayle was born in Baltimore, Md, raised and schooled in Manhattan, N.Y.C., brought her children into the world in Long Island, N.Y. and is currently living in Pennsylvania for the past 23 years and counting. Gayle enjoys her family, reading, exercise, history, music, travel and much more.