Staring Down the Holidays

 

For someone who is still wondering whatever became of October, I'm afraid I can't cope with facts like the fast-approaching holidays. What? Is it Thanksgiving already? I'm not sure I can run fast enough to outpace the calendar pages as they flip from today's date to the start of a new year.

And "Black Friday"? In the constant effort to outsell each other, companies are pre-selling their pre-holiday sales. The day after Turkey Day, I'll be helping my husband prepare his traditional turkey broth to stock our freezer, but even if I weren't busy that day, I'm certain I'd be staying far from the center of town.

Used to be, I'd look forward to the annual genealogy-related sales, such as price reductions for DNA test kits—the more in the family who test, the better—but now, I'd much rather have those family members' company than their DNA sample. It's the people and their stories that count the most for me.

In hopes that the harried pace of life can slow for just these few weeks, I'm looking forward to recalling the traditions our families valued at this time of year—the kind of rituals which were passed down through the generations because they meant something to the people we loved. While those loved ones may be gone now, we can still keep their memories with us whenever a moment sparks that recollection of what our they appreciated the most about the holidays when they were still with us. The stories, the songs, the smells of pies baking or the scent of freshly-cut pine branches: each of them becomes a messenger reminding me of memories of the people who once made the holidays so special to me.