Me with my cousins (my grandfather’s great-grand children)
The holidays are a magical time of year for me. I remember as a young girl, hearing my grandfather talk about being “overseas” in South Pacific for Christmas while he was in the US Navy and how much he hated being away from home during the holidays. He was not married during the time that he was enlisted in the 1940’s and hadn’t started his own family yet, when he vowed that he would never spend another Christmas away from his family. He never did spend the holidays away from his family after his time serving his country, sharing his legacy of family with his children & grandchildren that went well beyond the holiday season. While I can’t remember all of the fabulous holiday gifts that I received from family members over the years (thank goodness for family photos being at my fingertips for a quick reference), I will forever cherish the moments that we spent laughing together over a special dinner prepared with love by grandmother, sleighing, playing games with my cousins and singing holiday songs with aunts & uncles. I am forever grateful to my mom and her sister for choosing to nurture the connection between their children and our grandparents. The Temptations’ “Silent Night” and the smell of my grandmother’s Lekvar cookies baking are forever etched on my soul.
As I get older, life constantly reminds me how precious time is and I get a deeper understanding of exactly where my grandfather was coming from with what I thought, at the time, were just rants about something that went far beyond what my 7 year old ears could comprehend. While I felt the connection and the love, I had no idea that he was building a legacy that would continue to follow us for generations. Although I don’t have any kids of my own, I’ve mostly tried to stay close to family during the holidays. I’ve dipped off to Europe a few times over the years to celebrate with friends, but nothing can compare to the holidays gathered around the table with my family.
Skipping out on stressing about missing Black Friday deals, I decided to give the gift of an experience and bonding time this holiday season. I LOVED watching the little ones explore their own ways of finding wonder in their surroundings and the conversations sparked by their experience. While, giving the gift of an experience has become increasingly popular over the past few years, I feel like this was some of the wisdom that my randfather was touching on all of those Christmases ago.
Thank you Pop-Pop, for the gift of storytelling that keeps on giving!
“Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot.”