This early morning of Christmas Eve, the ghosts of Christmases past reverberate in my mind.

My mother had four sisters and each Christmas Day was spent either at our home or one of theirs.

I always dreaded the year that we hosted "Christmas" because that meant that, among other things, Mother was going to wax our wooden floors, all six rooms and the hallway! No such thing as a buffer back then. Mother and I did it on our hands and knees. Boy, I hated that job!!! I would apply the Johnson Paste Wax and Mother would come behind me buffing. And one coat was NEVER ENOUGH. Mother insisted on TWO coats; but when we finished, a person could see his reflection.

In fact, they were so slick that the small children had to have tape put on the bottoms of their shoes to keep them from falling and splitting their heads open....but that was Mother!! Those floors had to be PERFECT!

Of course, all the windows had to be washed as well. Another fun job, as we had storm windows. So, I would work outside while she worked inside.

When the house was finally cleaned to Mother's satisfaction, the Christmas cooking began, always with the candy first. While I shelled pecans and walnuts, Mother began by making fudge and divinity. Then the two of us would collaborate on my favorite...Aunt Bill's. It was a difficult candy to make that required two people working together; but I still love it to this day.

When Christmas Eve finally arrived, Mother began the cooking in earnest. I was given the unenviable task of shining all the silver. Mother always made her famous spicy applesauce cake, which she filled with walnuts and raisins and topped with a caramel icing that hardened as it cooled. All the sisters would bring food and desserts as well, so that we could easily have fed 100 people. It was excess, to say the least.

Around five on Christmas Eve, we would dress in our Christmas best to go to my Grandma Higgins' home to take her Christmas gift to her and visit with my dad's family.

When we returned home, Santa would have magically appeared. We always opened our gifts on Christmas Eve, as Mother did not want "the mess" on Christmas morning as she prepared for her family to arrive. Or if we were going to their home, she wanted to get up and leave without having to leave a mess at home. I never liked this and changed the tradition of gift opening to Christmas morning with my family, which they now follow with their children.

Finally, Christmas Day arrived. By 11 a.m. our house was chock full of relatives with their families. Noise, confusion, laughter, eating and fights among the children were the fare of the day with everyone departing around five that afternoon, leaving behind tons of leftovers and our house in total disarray.

But that was the one time Mother never complained because we had been busy making Christmas memories all day.

As I sit typing this, those ghosts of Christmases past come back to me as though they were yesterday.

Now, I'm busy creating new "memories of Christmas" with my family.

Here's hoping you create some special memories this Christmas with your family.




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