Some will look upon this late fall, as a cold and prolonged early winter. Others will reflect upon the “Holiday Season” or as I prefer it, the “Christmas Season” as a time of cheer, love and joy. This particular season, I have found it hard to be bitter, yet harder still to be filled with the love and joy that the season promotes. It has been a particularly early cold and it has been prolonged. The pale yellow sun fails to warm the face of this corner of the earth. This is not necessarily a peculiar event, it just happens in my general location sometime in late January and early February.
While I have not really enjoyed this Christmas season as I have in years past, all hope, love, joy and cheer is not lost. What’s more, I just learned of the passing of my grandmother. This is no particular surprise, and in her case, it probably a blessing. My grandfather, her husband, had passed just before Thanksgiving, 2007.
Before I go further, I should explain the tradition of Thanksgiving in my father’s family. Ever since I can remember, Thanksgiving has been a gathering of all my cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandparents starting the Wed. night before Thanksgiving. My dad has 6 brothers and one sister. Each of the brothers and sister has a minimum of 5 children. As of today, Most of the children have 3-5 children. When we gather for Thanksgiving, it’s anywhere between 90-120 people. On the Wed. before thanksgiving, in the last few years, it’s been my responsibility to start the fire in the pit for the meats which we cook underground. It starts about 12 and we make about 18” of coals to fully cook 5-7 20 lbs. turkeys, and 25 lbs. of roast beef. We place the meats in the pit at 7:00 p.m. and retrieve them 1:00 pm the next day. On Thanksgiving, the feast includes turkey, roast beef, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy (I make the gravy) yams, salad, Dixie salad, rolls, green bean casserole, parsnips, and cranberry relish. It’s finished with a variety of pies, cakes, sweets.
The celebration does not stop with the feast. We hold a family home evening on Thanksgiving night. We have a load of games at park, use the leftovers for lunch, and return for dinner, and family entertainment. The next morning, families disperse to their homes.
Right before the Thanksgiving of 2007, my grandfather died. For me, it was not a time of lament, nor great sadness, for he was ready for the next phase of life. His years on this good Earth was spent working hard, and having challenges from external sources refine his character. He was a man that provided the needs of his family. He was an inventor, father, husband and had his posterity before him at least once a year at Thanksgiving. He relished those moments, for he knew his life was full rich – rich beyond description. He was not rich in terms of money, but his wealth was from the fulfillment of his family.
About an hour ago, I learned that his wife my grandmother died. It’s Tuesday, December 23, 2008. Two days before Christmas, my grandmother died. As was with my grandfather, I am not upset. She, like he, worked all her life. While her task was greater than any in the commercial or governmental field combined. She has stayed at home to raise 6 boys and 1 daughter. After they were raised, she then worked, keeping her husband from being idol. (I think that most wives are wired to do that) She was missing her husband, and with the various ailments that plagued her for the last 10 or so years, this is a blessing. She also was ready for the next stage of life.
While I don’t feel particularly distraught, or upset, I am sure that my dad is holding it together, right until the funeral. (just as he had with his father dying.) So for my dad, Thanksgiving will be a time for remembrance of his father’s passing, and Christmas will be the reminder of his mother’s passing.
Fortunately, thanks to the knowledge of what is after this life, and how it’s possible, despair is not commonly associated with death. We believe that all will live again. That is everyone that is born on Earth shall be resurrected in their time. For those that find the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, accept his teachings and become counted with his followers, life will be with the Father and the Son in a glory beyond all description. Thus, hope, faith and belief are all steps to this knowledge.
The only thing that really reoccurs to me, over and over, is that there are fewer days ahead than behind. And for the short term, the days ahead are dark, and dreary.
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