"I Still Got It!!!"...by Jim Terry

As I sit here writing this blog for Christmas, it just amazes me that another holiday season is here and that another end to a year is once again upon us. I know I have asked this before, but “Where does the time go?” And, as you know, this year has also definitely been one to dismantle, sever and destroy. With the pandemic currently in full strength, mask-wearing, TP shortages, hand sanitizer use, opening and closing of businesses with job losses, this year, I would clearly say, has been placed in the category of “one to remember”…without a doubt! Most might also say that this has been, “A crappy year,” or might even say it’s, “One to forget.” However, in light of everything that has happened this year and claiming myself to be an “eternal optimist,” I have to admit that, “I still got it.”

I’m sure you all may be thinking right now, “Oh no! What glory day story are we about to hear?” But I will save you the agony and head in another direction.

We normally would put our Christmas tree up around Thanksgiving so we, as my Mom used to say, “Could enjoy the Christmas season.” I must say, it was definitely fun to enjoy the tree for a little over a month, but I totally understand now why we completed decorating the tree at that time. With eight kids and an unknown amount of work to still be completed within the next month and in time for the “big day,” I’m sure my Mom and Dad needed every bit of time they had in order to make the magic of Christmas happen without worrying about another thing to do. It was always so dreamlike and surreal how my parents made it happen so beautifully and perfectly each and every year.

To this day, not only do I still put my tree up around the Thanksgiving holiday, but I also like to carry on some of the other family traditions that we used to do that would make the season so picture-perfect…so magical.

The smell of apples and cinnamon was an ever-present aroma in our home during the Christmas season. As a young boy and with my Mom’s kettle on the stove, I always knew that the gentle jingling and jangling of the kettle’s lid created from the simmering of the potpourri contained with the container only meant that the Christmas season was near.

I also remember that there were times when the prominent smell of apples and cinnamon were superimposed with baked goods. Everything from cookies, homemade rolls, pumpkin pie, and turkey in the oven somehow enhanced the delight at that time of year.

Funny how other traditions, from a beautifully lit tree, to lights on the exterior of the home, snow quietly falling outside, snowmen in the front yard, “stockings hung by the chimney with care,” a crackling warm fire, Christmas tree festivals, a soothing and comforting cup of hot chocolate or warm cider, leaving a letter for Santa with cookies and milk on Christmas Eve, can all bring such feelings of longing and nostalgia.

Do you remember when you were young and how Christmas Eve and that night made you feel? It’s interesting to me how you’d think that as you age, where I am no longer the “tiny tot” I once was, that it would make it easier to sleep instead of finding it “harder to sleep” on Christmas Eve.

“Why is this?” I had to ask myself.

My role as a receiver and the excitement that was generated as a young boy has now turned into a giver. It’s a new type of enthusiasm and fervor that now keeps me up at night…the anticipation of a phone call from or to family and friends…the experience of watching children on Christmas morn finding out if they were “naughty or nice”...the happiness in simply seeing others receive the gifts you bestow or by simply being with family. Those are now the things that cause the restless night and have become my greatest gifts.

So what did I mean when I said, “I still got it?” you may ask?

It’s definitely not the baseball arm I used to have or the ability to run for miles and barely be winded, but that IT is the one same thing that makes the Christmas season so magical…so memorable…so fun. It’s the same thing that also made Scrooge realize what a miserable old miser he was and what made the Grinch’s heart grow ”three sizes that day”…so when I say, “I got it!” It’s the Christmas Spirit that I still got and will always have! Have you still got it?

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!!!

♦ Hope you'll let us share your stories and photos here at our residence "In a Nutshell." Email us at nutshellstories@gmail.com.  

"Run, Don't Walk"...by Jim Terry

Just last month my brother, Ryan, posted a wonderful tribute to my sister Lora for her birthday on our “secret” family page. It not only included a paragraph filled with sweet sentiments of memories past regarding why she is so special to him and to our family but also included a photo. It was a photo of when she was young. The photo also included my sister Angie and myself. Since I was so young in this photograph, I had to ask my mother, before she passed, what the occasion was. Apparently, it was taken during the Christmas season when my sister, Lora, got her favorite racecar she always wanted. As you can see in the image, she is also sporting her favorite crash helmet at the time. It also portrays the oldest sister’s love for her younger siblings and expresses some pretty happy and content kids. As I continued to look at that photo, it also brought up some great memories of Christmas’ past.

One of the first things I remembered from my past Christmas’ was the anticipation of Christmas morning. Didn’t time seem to just entirely slow down or stop on Christmas Eve when we were young? Oh, how I wished I could speed time up for that next morning to arrive. Seconds turned into hours and hours turned into eternity during that night.  I recognized it was a bad situation for me when I would outlast the constellations.  What are the constellations you might ask?  Well, as a young boy, I also wanted to be an astronaut and had those plastic glow-in-the-dark stars that were carefully placed on the ceiling in my bedroom to resemble the heavens above. Once the light was turned off, they generally would glow for about an hour. I rarely remember not falling to sleep before they would stop glowing. However, on Christmas Eve, I recollect having to turn on my light two or three times during that night in order to recharge my stars so that they might glow once again until I would finally have “visions of sugar plums" dancing in my head.

You know that old rule, “walk, don’t run?” Well when the next morning would arrive, I remember my siblings and myself, never walking, always running to see what Santa had delivered in the wee hours of the morning. I can picture it now as we entered the living room. 

First, there was always the lingering faint smell of cinnamon and apple potpourri in the air that had been simmering on the stove from the night before. The peaceful radiance from the lights on the carefully decorated Christmas tree, that we all decorated together as a family, helped with the ambiance of the setting that we would experience. The stockings that were hung by the “chimney with care” were now filled and carefully placed next to the other items that Santa had brought us regardless if we were “naughty or nice.” The faint flickering light from the fire being lit and the warmth it provided…The beautifully wrapped gifts to each other under the tree…The fun…The laughter…The Joy…The happiness…(sigh).

From Left to Right...Jim, Lora and Angie ~1971

If I could go back in time and witness this again, even if it might be with the Ghost of Christmas Past, I would do it. This time though, I know my attention would be directed differently. Instead of focusing on the gifts I would receive from Santa, I would now focus on and notice the reaction of my father who had worked so hard to provide for his family. I would also focus on my mother, who wrapped, sewed, cleaned, cooked and made everything so special during the holiday season.  I would also direct my attention to my grandmother Hattie, who, in her quiet demeanor, would sit in the corner experiencing the joy of the younger generation's delight until it was her turn to open her gifts. And lastly, I would also focus on my siblings so that I might experience and relive the joy and happiness that we all had together knowing we were family.

As they say, "time flies," and since Christmas is here and you still have time to get off of Santa’s “naughty list” for next year, I would recommend being bad and breaking that old rule I mentioned before.  My Christmas wish for you...“RUN, DON’T WALK," to be by your family’s side or by those you care about so that you can make those memories that will last a lifetime.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

♦ Hope you'll let us share your stories and photos here at our residence "In a Nutshell." Email us at nutshellstories@gmail.com.