The Gift of Grandparents

December…It’s that time of year.  Reminiscing about family and holiday activities brings back all kinds of emotional memories; even as we continue some traditions and begin making new ones.

Some that we have continued include reading nightly (or at least most nights) from the Jesse tree book, and hanging the ornaments.  This year we began finding some outside Christmas decorations to bring a little bit of Davisville to Indonesia.  Our community is putting together a list of houses that have some outside decorations so that we can drive the girls around to look at Christmas lights!  And this year, Santa and his trusty elf are coming to our community to visit the kids.  

New traditions (and one of our favorites) include finding a beach to go to for Christmas vacation.  We look forward to a little bit of relaxation as this crazy semester/year comes to an end, and we prepare for the all-too-unpredictable that will kick off 2021. 

I love all the traditions, but this time of year also has me reminiscing about holidays of the past.  I still treasure the memories of going into my Grandma Cleveland’s house on Christmas morning with presents piled up around the Christmas tree.  She absolutely loved Christmas and instilled that excitement in my mom and in turn instilled it in us.  Sitting around her living room with all the cousins captured that innocent joy of the season.  

We all knew that we would have a gift from Grandma Duncan also.  And one or two of us were going to get an amazing new gift from her.  The rest of us were going to get a pair of socks or underwear that may or may not fit.  It was so much fun and we would all play together with the one amazing gift.  

My reminiscing about Grandma Davis didn’t include Christmas.  My memories of Grandma Davis center around food and travel.  Every time I came home from college, my grandma would always have some cornbread and sweet tea for me to take back with me.  Sitting around eating her homemade biscuits and gravy for breakfast before going to work on the farm got the day started off right.  But, my favorite time with her was when I took my Spring Break one year and drove her and Aunt Bertha to Omaha.  We picked up Aunt Christine in Kansas City on the way.  I remember distinctly people asking why a college kid spent their Spring Break with his grandma.  But, I had an amazing time with one of the greatest women I’ve ever known.  

People say you’ll never get that time back. And there’s definitely some truth to that. But the more memories you create, the happier those reminiscing moments are. I’m so thankful for these memories. -Michael