Flashback Friday- A Letter From Grammy And Grandpa
Thursday, December 16, 2010
This time last year, my Grandparents were here visiting. My Grammy had surprised me with a "we're coming to see you" email just a week or so in advance, and before I knew it, I was picking them up at the airport, announcing my pregnancy (Miss Evelyn) the moment I saw them, and then we were sipping hot cocoa and reading Christmas stories to the babies together in our dining room.
My Grandparents are a huge part of my life. They've taught me so much over the years, more than they'll ever know, and even though they can't be here with me this year- they're staying in sunny California- it sure is nice to look back at some of the pictures from last years visit.
Lots and lots and lots of love.
Every year my Grandparents send out a letter. Ya know, the typed out kind that you can usually find stuffed inside of the envelope that your Christmas card came in? That kind. And I love it. Last year they switched gears from snail mail, to email, but even so- I still look forward to opening it and reading it. I hang on every word.
This years letter was different though. Rather than writing about all of the things that they experienced, happenings of their family and friends- they wrote something way better. Something that touched my heart.
So Grammy, I hope you don't mind, but I found it to be so beautiful, and so different from the letters that everyone else is probably getting this year, that I wanted to share it with all of my readers...
Dearest Friends and Family, Christmas 2010
Oh-oh, looks like Ol’ Santa is back. Christmas time again, and we’re all scrambling to finish our shopping, get the gifts wrapped and forbid if they have to be mailed! There never seems to be enough time.
What a difference from when our generation were children. This trip down memory lane this year takes us back to the nineteen-forties. We were in a war then too, but that war had a much more serious impact on our lives.
As children then - we looked forward to Christmas with great anticipation. We “could hardly wait”. We, as children, didn’t have any money to buy gifts so we made things as gifts. Everyone raved about what a nice job we had done, even if it wasn’t true! We usually got one gift from our parents that we REALLY wanted (as long as we REALLY wanted something not too expensive)! Relatives would give us small gifts like a tee-shirt or maybe a tinker toy or pick-up-sticks. On Christmas morning we would race out early to see what Santa had left in our stockings “hung by the chimney with care”. We would get an apple or an orange (or maybe even both) and a pair of socks or maybe some underwear and usually some candy and a toy of some kind (Santa didn’t have so many elves back then). We couldn’t wait to get out and see our friends to show them our bounty and see what they had gotten for Christmas. We sure loved Christmas back then.
I guess Christmas is really for children. It seems harder to get into the spirit of giving, as we get older. Everyone seems to already have everything they need. I know we seem to. So it’s “What do you want for Christmas” to everyone on our list. Gift cards are a wonderful invention.
As for us old fogies, the best gift we can receive is the most precious thing you have to give, your time. We say we are busy and we all are in our own way. If you can make time for us, we can make time for you!
Usually we give you the whole travelogue of our year, but this year we’ll just say that we did some traveling. Life’s road is pretty winding, and some of us travel along on the same road together, and we see those people all the time. But some of us travel on different roads, and we only see those people when our roads cross. Happily, several of those roads crossed ours this year, and we got to spend some of that most precious gift with our friends on different roads. We thank all of you for that time.
May God Bless each of you and keep you safe on into 2011!
Let’s hope our paths cross next year!
Wasn't that inspiring?
It was so real. And so very Christmas.
Flashback with us! Go through your polaroids, scrapbooks, old crappy cell phone pictures- whatever you've got. Scan them, upload them, get them onto the computer somehow, and then share them with the world! Or... with us at least. Post them onto your blogs, write a little bit to go with them- tell us your story. When you're all finished, grab one of our buttons from down below (wayyyy down there at the bottom of our page) and put it somewhere inside your post (or link back to us the old fashioned text way). Come back here to this post, and add your link to the photo list below!
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