This topic proved difficult for me simply because I love all Christmas carols!! How do you possibly narrow it down to one?? While I was growing up I was always involved in choir and thoroughly enjoyed singing Christmas carols during the holidays. When I was little I made up my mind that I was going to teach myself to read music and play the piano. Every Christmas I would take great pleasure in playing every Christmas carol in every songbook I had, over and over again.
When pressed for a favorite, one song keeps coming to mind. It was the song that I sang to both my babies as I rocked them to sleep. It was the carol that the choir always sang by candlelight. If not my all time favorite, “Silent Night” has to right up there!! I loved how the choir perfectly blended their voices while singing this classic song. I loved the fact that this particular song fell in my voice range.
“Silent Night” embodies the true reason we celebrate Christmas and is full of perpetual hope. Following the deaths of my parents and grandparents, simply hearing this song brought tears to my eyes and brought me ever closer to G0d. It has brought me joy, sadness, and peace.
Even though I could also choose “O Holy Night”, “Rocking around the Christmas Tree”, and others as clear favorites, “Silent Night” is special because I know all the words by heart. It is the only carol I can play on the piano without sheet music. Since this particular challenge demands I name one all time favorite, “Silent Night” wins hands down. I guess after a little reflection, I found a favorite after all. That is all I have to say until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.
Loved ones are the people you hold most dear in your lives. They may be your friends or your family. They are your everyday support system and help you navigate life through the valleys and the high points. They love you unconditionally, no matter what. They are there for you. They make life worth living. In my life few have held the exalted position of being termed as loved ones. At this point my husband and two children top the list. They are the loves of my life. Without them, my life wouldn’t be complete. Without them, my Christmas wouldn’t be merry and bright.
Sometimes the people that fall in that classification include a close knit group of friends. They take over where the biological family fails and become as treasured as if they had always been there. They are the chosen ones, not the family we were born into that we had no choice over.
Sadly people come and go throughout a person’s lives. Even loved ones evolve and pass from this life onto the next. Even more sad, oftentimes the biological family you are dealt in life turn out to be on the same page as your enemies. Even though they should by all rights be amongst your loved ones, they are not. They join the group of those people who make it their number one priority to make your life a misery. You find yourself wishing the world would stop and let them off. If people were truly honest, they would admit that every family has at least one troublemaker who makes life difficult for everyone else.
No matter whom you count as the most near and dear to your heart, without these precious people, life would lose its luster. In the song titled “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, the two turtle doves that represent our loved ones make up a powerful and essential component of Christmas. It is little wonder they are included in the song considering all they symbolize. Love makes life worthwhile not only on Christmas, but on everyday throughout the year. That is all I have to say until the next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.
I love Christmas trees!! Growing up my folks always made the trek to Eby Pines the weekend after Thanksgiving to select a tree. We put it up that very weekend with my Dad in charge of hanging the lights, and the hanging of the decorations fell to the rest of us. It always made the house smell so good. Even if the cats took great joy in using the tree stand as their personal water dish, I always loved our real Christmas trees. My mom loved to decorate the whole house for Christmas and there were some years she placed 2 Christmas trees in the living room, a tree in the hall, and one in each bedroom. She loved to decorate for Christmas and hung tinsel garlands, lights, and ornaments everywhere imaginable.
When my husband and I first married it was important to me to continue the tradition. The weekend following Thanksgiving was rainy that year. We didn’t let the rain deter us from schedule and marched right out to Eby Pines to select our tree. By the time we returned home we were resembled drenched rats. The tree was soaked, and everything in the living room pretty much was too. After that, my husband didn’t want any part of a real Christmas tree and we purchased an artificial model.
Shortly after we first married, everyone in the family made the transition to an artificial tree. Whether it was from the bad luck of all the needles promptly falling off upon the tree’s arrival to the house, or the fact that everyone was getting older it seemed no one wanted to deal with the headache of maintaining a real tree for the month of December.
Before my Dad died fiber optic trees became all the rage and he was the first person I knew who rushed out and purchased one. By the next year, WALMART advertised a 6 foot fiber optic tree on sale for $40.00 on Black Friday. My husband and I bundled up our toddler and rushed to the store at the butt crack of dawn to get ours at a great price. It lasted a few years and then lost its luster. The bulbs burned out, and by then I was aching for twinkling lights again.
Another Black Friday came where Walgreens had a 6 foot lighted tree on sale for 30.00. Once again we rose at the butt crack of dawn and made sure we got our hot little hands on one of those trees. We have used that tree ever since.
With our special decorations from the baby picture ornaments, wedding picture ornament, to the ornaments made carefully by my kids, our tree is overflowing with memories. When my husband first married we vowed we would add a new ornament each Christmas whether it is a Hallmark classic ornament, a handmade ornament, or one representing the year. After 14 years of happy additions, we now have a tree full of very special ornaments.
There is no better time of the year than Christmas, and no better decoration for the house than a Christmas tree!! That is all I have to say until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.
1 Cup of Sugar 1 Cup of Brown Sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp Baking Soda 1 TBSP hot water 4 Cups of Flour ½ tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla 1 can crushed pineapple 1 cup black walnuts
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream Crisco and sugars with mixer. Add eggs, baking soda, hot water, salt, vanilla, pineapple, and flour. Mix well. Fold in black walnuts.
Drop teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.
Prepare Creamy Vanilla Frosting
3 Cups powdered sugar 1/3 cup margarine softened 1 ½ tsp vanilla 2 TBSP milk
Cream sugar and margarine. Add vanilla and milk. Beat until smooth.
Spread frosting on cookies and decorate with red and green candy sprinkles. Bon Appetit’!
I have been the wife of an over the road truck driver most of my married life. I can honestly say even all these years later, his homecomings are still a time of celebrationand jubilation. You would think we would be used to his absences by now. In a sense we are. I know it is his job. The kids accept the fact that Daddy is on the road so the bills can get paid. We all accept that he absolutely loves what he does or he would do something else. Unfortunately his job requires being gone most of the time. You can’t make money staying at home. Even though his absence is a fact of life, I still miss him. I miss having him around. The kids miss their Daddy.
So when that shiny semi truck finally backs into the driveway we are overcome with our jubilation. The kids and I rush out onto the lawn in eager anticipation to watch him turn down our road. We jump up and down and wave. As soon as that truck is parked, the door is flung open and we are there to greet him with hugs and kisses.
Even the dogs celebrate to the point I have to hook them up outside or put them in the garage so my husband can even get into the house. As soon as the garage door is opened it is like igniting an explosion of dogs. They rush in barking and jumping. Their tails practically wag off, and they jump on my husband licking him. I make sure a tall glass of iced tea is always waiting. As soon as my husband has taken up his place in the recliner, all three dogs struggle to find a place on his lap. They simply can not contain themselves!! The kids’ take turns showing Daddy all the school work they have done while he was away and catching him up on what was built with LEGOS or what pictures were colored in their color books. It is almost as if we rush to tell him and show him everything he has missed in the first half hour for fear if we don’t he will vanish again.
Usually he is only gone 2-3 weeks and then we are granted a reprieve and he comes home. The last time I saw the whites of his blue eyes was after Thanksgiving. I won’t see him again until when he comes home for Christmas. By then my little family will have more to celebrate than Christmas. By then, we will be primed for a full blown celebration because my husband will finally be home!! The time will speed by, and before we know it he will be gone again. Until then though, we will celebrate. We will enjoy his presence, and we will count our blessings! Blessings always seem more abundant when he is safely at home. I am so thankful that his company ensures that all drivers go home for Christmas!! That is all I have to say until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.
When I was a little kid it was often up to my Dad to get us kids out of the house on Christmas Eve so my mother could finish wrapping the presents. I remember these Christmas Eve nights fondly. We would head out into the snowy night to some of the nicer housing additions in town to Oooo and Ahhh at the Christmas lights and displays. We would travel down the snow covered roads slowly gazing at the houses adorned with brightly colored twinkling Christmas lights. Although none of them compared to Clark Griswald’s house or the house in “Deck the Halls”, they still were magical as they twinkled in the night.
One Christmas when I was small we were driving through a housing addition not far from home when we spied none other than Santa Claus standing beside the Christmas tree inside the house. Being impressionable little kids who believed without a shadow of a doubt that if we were not home in bed asleep when Santa arrived at our house he would pass us by, we begged to hurry home. If Santa was in this neighborhood, it wouldn’t be long and he would be on our street!! This was serious!!! We had to get home and in bed asleep quick or we would be screwed out of Christmas.
As soon as the Ford Ranchero rolled to a stop in our driveway, we were scrambling out and rushing up to the front door. My mom came rushing out to see what all the commotion was about. My sister and I were so excited we were talking at once exclaiming that we HAD to go to bed NOW! Santa was on his way!! I don’t remember anytime before or since ever getting into my pajamas that quickly or my teeth brushed that fast. Soon we were hanging our stockings and rushing to bed. Normally I would have begged my Dad to read me “The Night before Christmas” before I went to bed. Not this Christmas Eve. There wasn’t time!! I jumped into bed, covered my head and held my breath in eager anticipation. Did I hear the jingle bells of Santa’s sleigh?? Was that the pawing of the reindeer on the roof??? I screwed my eyes up tight!! When would morning ever come?? Before long, to my utter horror I realized I forgot the cookies and milk for Santa and the carrots for the reindeer!!! With my heart hammering in my chest, I flew out of bed and raced slipping and sliding in my footed pajamas on the hard wood floors to the living room.
My stocking still hung limp and empty. I wasn’t too late!! My mom helped me assemble Christmas cookies and carrots on a paper plate and a glass of milk. I placed my offering on the hall table near where our stockings hung. With another kiss good night, my mom tucked me back into bed warning me to go to sleep. Now everything was ready and Santa Claus could come. Although I don’t remember when I fell asleep, in what seemed an instant I awoke. It was still dark in my room. With a toy flashlight, I hurried from my bed and tiptoed out to where my stocking had been hung. To my delight, the stockings were packed to overflowing and seemed to sparkle in the light of my flashlight. The cookies and carrots were gone save for a few lingering crumbs! I raced to wake up my older sister and together we descended on my parent’s dark bedroom screaming “Merry Christmas!! Santa has been here!! Get up!!! Hurry! “ We jumped up and down on their bed in our exuberance.
Once upon a Christmas, I actually saw Santa, anticipated Santa’s arrival, and celebrated when he in fact had made an appearance. Santa Claus may be a myth to some, but for those that believe like me…the shiny bell from the fascinating movie “The Polar Express” will forever ring. That is all I have to say until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.
