The Habit of Remembering: Christmases Long, Long Ago: Part 1

You don't always need the Ghost of Christmas Past 

to remind you of the good that has been in your life...

 Sometimes all you need is reminders that you can hold in your hand

Christmas Memories in Syracuse: Part 1

Once upon a Christmastime in Syracuse, 35 Christmases ago, there was a Little Girl who sat thinking about getting presents for her family for Christmas. The year before at Bellevue Elementary, she had bought a couple of trinkets at the "Santa's Workshop" that she gave to the family. But this year she wanted to do something different. She knew she didn't have much money, but she wanted to give her Grandma and her Aunt something special, something that would last a bit longer than candy. She pondered this for a while while looking at her tree.

The ornaments were hung about the colorful lights twinkling on the tree. She noticed that some of the hooks were longer than others. As she looked at the tree, she knew what she could do. A lady from her church had given her and her sister a box that to the untrained-eye looked like a box of junk, but to us it was a small trove of craft supplies. In it were necklaces that had broken. She started to go through the box and find every bead that she could and put them in a pile. Then she got some of the extra long hooks that her mother didn't want and set to work to make mini icicles. Patiently she strung them and the carefully divide them into two boxes, wrapped them, and excitedly waited until Christmas Day when she would see her Grandma and Aunt and give them their gifts.

On Christmas Day, she went to her grandparents' house and proudly handed one box to her Grandma and one to her Aunt. They both loved them. While the eventual fate of the ones she gave to her Grandma is unclear, her Aunt carefully preserved and hung hers handmade icicles each year. Then one year, her Aunt surprised the Little Girl, now grown and with her own family, with half of her share of that precious handmade gift. Now hanging on the now grown Little Girl's tree, they are a reminder of some many people from Christmas past: the lady from her church with a generous heart, her Grandma, and her Aunt. And now, she doesn't need the Ghost of Christmas past to remind her of love at Christmas, she has these.