Happy Holidays!!!!

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Remembering Grandma at Christmas

The years have chosen to abrade
the paper angel Grandma made
that year when Christmas cheer was thin,
because for weeks we were snowed in.
Even Santa ceased his action
for his reindeer had no traction.

Weeks of snow and sleet and fog
even kept the catalogue
from providing a Christmas doll
when Santa couldn’t come at all.
And so the holidays that year
did not reflect our usual cheer.

No tree, no lights, no heavenly choir,
our only heat a roaring fire.
We kids complained to Mom and Dad
and by Christmas Eve, they’d had
as much of kids as they could stand
and that’s when Grandma took a hand.

Her silver scissors nipped and flew
creating something that was new—
a Christmas angel feathery light
that floated that December night
above our heads in fire glow,
hung by a string, rotating slow

around the room with wafting wings
descending from above on strings.
And from the dark a heavenly song
prompted us to sing along.
My Grandma led, with timorous voice
that song that always was her choice:

“Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, and all is bright.
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.
Holy infant so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Sleep in heavenly peace.”

One by one, we entered in,
our voices first halting and thin,
but when my Grandma chimed a bell,
our family choir began to swell
up to the ceiling, throughout the room,
dispelling darkness, cold and gloom.

Mom made cocoa on the coals
while Dad made popcorn, filling bowls
we strung on thread to deck our halls
from curtain rods to lamps to walls,
along with paper snowflakes that
twirled on their strings to tease the cat.

In the firelight’s magic glow,
they made things magical and so
every normal Christmas since,
we love our turkey and pies of mince,
Christmas presents to poke and squeeze,
bubble lights and towering trees,

but what’s most special is when Pop
puts Grandma’s angel on the top
of the tree covered in flakes
and popcorn strings the family makes.
And when we sing her special song,
if angels sing, she’ll sing along.

For dVerse Poets, the last prompt of the year is “Holiday.”

I wrote this poem 6 years ago. It may not be Kosher to run it by again, but then Chritstmas isn’t a very Kosher holiday at all, is it?  Happy Holidays to one and all..be it Hanukkah or Xmas

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About lifelessons

My blog, which started out to be about overcoming grief, quickly grew into a blog about celebrating life. I post daily: poems, photographs, essays or stories. I've lived in countries all around the globe but have finally come to rest in Mexico, where I've lived since 2001. My books may be found on Amazon in Kindle and print format, my art in local Ajijic galleries. Hope to see you at my blog.

37 thoughts on “Happy Holidays!!!!”

    2. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      I only knew one of mine but she lived in the same town as me so I got to know her well. She was not, however, as perfect as this Grandma, but we did have many close times together–always making things or playing games.

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  9. lillian's avatarlillian

    I absolutely adore this…..actually, I’m quite misty eyed sitting here a bit emotional. This has such a wonderful story to it….and the idea that your grandma is still with you….as in every time you put that angel on the top of the tree, her memory comes to mind and my guess is, a gentle smile comes across your face.

    And I must comment on these two lines….which contain such a special detail that makes the story in the poem real.
    “along with paper snowflakes that
    twirled on their strings to tease the cat.”

    Thanks for posting! You poem reminds us of what’s really important.

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          1. Lisa or Li's avatarmsjadeli

            We got no allowances, but I used to get 50c an hour to babysit other peoples’ kids. Later, when I took care of the household and the kids when my mom worked (she was a bartender who worked nights) and my stepdad was out of town on the railroad, I used to earn $$ that she gave me from her tips.

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            1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

              I loved babysitting. Probably because I didn’t have any younger siblings. I only did it myself twice but my best friend babysat all the time with her sisters’ children as well as neighbors. I’d go along just for the fun of it.

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            2. Lisa or Li's avatarmsjadeli

              I never minded babysitting. Other peoples’ kids were easy and never gave me any trouble. My own sibs, however, were a different story. Who wants to listen to big sister when she’s only a year or two older? I kept them safe and that’s what mattered. My BFF and I did a lot of babysitting, but never together. I did visit her at one of her main jobs though, as she was practically raising that woman’s kids. 50c an hour was a lot of money for a kid back then.

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  12. anntonyjandc's avataranntonyjandc

    This is the sweetest poem and tribute to a lovely grandmother. Was that the winter wyominghad such a snow it was aired on our little TV set in southerñ illinois. The 50s. Maybe 55? They threw hay down from airplanes to the cattle? I was amazed. That was at my grandma’s. We had good grandmas.

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    1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      I was in South Dakota that winter. It may have been 52. No heat or electricity so we all gathered around the fireplace, cooked and slept there, too. We put food from the fridge on our enclosed back porch to stay cool and it froze solid. Yes, they had to feed cattle from planes.

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  16. kim881's avatarkim881

    I too am struggling to feel Christmassy this year, Judy, as once again I won’t be seeing my daughter and grandsons. But your poem has cheered me up this morning. Thankfully, there is no snow (yet) and, after a week of rain and drizzle, we have some sunshine.

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