Merry Christmas

Growing up as a child, like many families Thanksgiving and Christmas were huge!  It always started off the Sunday before Thanksgiving when the Kelly family (and Elbert’s) would gather for Thanksgiving.  A tradition that is still kept to this day in the church hall of the tiny Catholic Church in the center of a small town in SW MO.  (Seneca to be exact)  Thanksgiving day we would make our way to Grandma Ruth and Papa Jacks house with the rest of the Owens/Reed clan.  We would play endless hours of basketball games in the backyard, spend hours at the Neosho National Fish Hatchery, and once the first Nintendo came out, we would all become glued to the TV and Super Mario Brothers!  By midday we were typically bugging our parents for quarters so we could run across the street and play arcade games at the old gas station.  Often Uncle JE and Uncle Steve would pull through for the parents giving all us kids a few hours’ worth of quarters. 

Next up would be Christmas Eve with the Kelly’s!  Santa would make a surprise visit for the kiddos, and later on in the evening the kids would all get a gift from the annual name exchange.  Grandma Minnie would always make the best Chex mix, to this day I cannot make it like she did.  The Kelly Christmas was always full of laughter and love.  Christmas morning grandma Ruth and Papa Jack would make their way over, and mom would have a turkey in the oven for lunch after all the morning excitement. 

As I reminisce over these fond childhood memories, I can’t help but think how lucky we were and are.  I have to admit there were times when I didn’t understand life, and everything my parents did just so we could have presents under the tree.  Often my mom would buy for others, even when we had very little for ourselves, just to make sure they had something to open Christmas morning.   I cannot tell you what I got for Christmas every year as a child, or even as an adult.  What I can tell you, the memories of our families being together, that is what made and makes both Thanksgiving and Christmas so special!  Remember over the next few days and weeks, it is not the gift that matters, it is the gift of your family and friends that matter!  Most of all, it is the gift of life we each received by Jesus being born on this Christmas day!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Julie