some good some not so good. Rick and I did an open house the Sunday before Christmas for many many years. I cooked more food than you could imagine, decorated, cleaned and crammed as many friends as possible into our cottage. A couple of years ago, ...........not sure what exactly happened, but we stopped having our open house. I miss it. ..........what I miss most, seeing our friends. I know, things change. People's lives change, they take on new friends, go in different directions. Just because I know it happens, doesn't mean I like it. But I also know that all good things must come to an end.
I hope that the folks who came to those open houses have fond memories......of laughter, great food, good music and holiday spirit. I have never been one for big huge gatherings. When people come to visit, I want to enjoy their company, not just greet them when they arrive and not speak to them again until they are walking out the door. The nice thing about living in a 1200 square foot cottage, you couldn't have a large crowd, if you got twenty five people in the great room, wow!
Some of those friends who came, have passed on........and I will never forget them. The year our friend John met the woman he would marry, he was so excited to introduce her to us, that he showed up at our door that Sunday morning around eleven with his soon to be bride(the festivities were to start around two) So John and Linda helped us fix food and get ready for the rest of our friends. Linda was so embarrassed, but as she helped me in the kitchen, we got to know each other and laughed ourselves silly about John's excitement. She knew then she was a lucky woman to be loved by a man so excited to show her off to his friends. Their marriage only lasted a few years, John's life was taken way too soon by cancer.
One of our friends left the party one year not feeling well. Later that night, she was rushed to the hospital with a heart attack. The next year, she laughed and told everyone not to drink the eggnog, it was lethal.
At many of the celebrations, we gave away puppies. We always had "Watson Reds". Don't ask me why, but for some reason, for many years, right around Christmas, we had litters of red
puppies. Maybe those puppy door prizes kept some from coming back!
This is the weekend we would normally have had our open house. We had talked about calling some old friends and asking them to drop by, but I have been under the weather this week and my body has come to a screeching halt. Tonight, I am hoping for enough energy to do Christmas shopping tomorrow.
I sit here tonight, and think about those great times. Of course, I also have memories of absolute panic....... of not having enough food, of no one showing up, of the house not being clean enough,
silly stuff really, thank goodness some things change.
But some things don't change, any of the nieces and nephews that want to come, will be here Tuesday to bake Christmas cookies, Swedish spice, the only recipe we have ever used. There will be hot spiced cider and the house will smell like Christmas. My cards are painted, and the first batch goes in the mail tomorrow. And my nephew Jordan will get his first Charlie Brown
Christmas tree! We started that tradition with his mom, Samantha.........we would walk out in the woods, find the saddest little pine tree we could find, and then she decorated it any way
she wanted. I have all her old decorations( she is twenty now) and Jordan will have to make some new ones.
Things change........and it is hard. But the good thing........the circle of life goes on.
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