For so many years, we celebrated quiet, simple Christmases in Africa - away from family and things familar. The quiet and simple of African Christmases, I miss very much. But spending the holidays with family is a gift exceeding anything that can be wrapped and put under the tree.
We just returned from two days in the place where I learned to drive, had my first kiss, and raced my brother's dune buggy down the road without his permission. The place of my heart. It still holds a special magic for me. Probably more so than ever because I am not exposed to its charms on a daily basis. A mere burp in the road, my hometown does not even boast of a stoplight or grocery store, though we do have a post office and a gas station. However, it has not been influenced by metropolitan growth or urban sprawl. It's still a pure, quiet, clean place on this earth. When we arrived on Thursday night, my comment to my family was, "You all are so lucky that I was raised down here in this quiet and peaceful place so that we can step out of the city during the holidays and just relax." We joke that my parents' house must have some atmospheric drug stealing its way through the house, because when you enter it, you simple want to breath slower, think less, and sleep more. It's a wonderful feeling!
My mother put out a showcase of holiday delights this afternoon. She methodically and purposefully planned it all out, preparing a little at a time until by this evening, her dining room table was ladened with a fresh fruit tray with cheeses, a relish trays with everything from pickled okra to cherry peppers, a delectable seafood chowder seasoned with my homemade herbes de provence (that I took out of a basket of goodies I had prepared for her), chicken wings, potato skins, spinach dip with crackers, a crab dip, pecan and coconut pies, and a pineapple upside down pound cake. Made last week were several holiday tins filled with peanut butter balls, sausage balls, chocolate chip cookies, ambrosia cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, and cheese krispy balls. The delightful myriad of foods prepared especially and exclusively for her family touched me like nothing else.
My mother is the finest example of creating Christmas memories and doing it well that I have ever seen! As I lay my head down on my own pillow in my own bed back in the bright, bustling city that I now call home, my heart is telling me something different.
There's never gonna be another place like where I was these past two days and the lady who made it so special for all of us is one of the greatest gifts on this side of the cross!!
Sweet dreams..........make some memories worth remembering!
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