On The Lake
By: Janet Dominy
I remember how things were for me after my father left. Mom was on the go from morning till night trying to fight the world, Dad was...well I still don't know where Dad was, and I was mostly at my Granny's house arguing with my Papaw about watching Nickelodeon. I remember my mother being really busy, I remember the skating rink, and I remember hearing the words "I can't afford it" for the first time.
However this time was also sprinkled with the memory of the holidays, and the magic that always surrounded them. There was some sort of whimsical effect that the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas had on my world. Houses were illuminated with light, the air was damp and cold, the house was warm and snug, and each morning I would go to school I would be excited by the layer of thin frost on the ground. In school we would study about pilgrims until the break for Thanksgiving, and then afterwards we would study how other children around the world celebrated the season. Candy was abundant and chocolate, and food always seemed to taste a little bit better when you had just come in from the cold air of winter.
Nothing on this earth, however, could even come close to being as magical as Thanksgiving and Christmas at my Grandmother's. Thanksgiving day I would wake up early to the smell of Mom's green bean casserole, a rare but wonderful occurrence. I would turn on the television and be entertained by the Macy's Parade and all the entertainment that went along with it. Usually around 3 or 4 mom would load up the casserole and myself into the car and we would make the short but always exciting trip to Grandmother's.
Her house was straight out of a fairy tale. Out on a peninsula, it was surrounded by a pond. There were ducks and sometimes Canada geese, a labyrinth like garden, and even a tree whose branches went out over the water. By the waters edge there was a weeping willow tree and I would often run through it's long wispy branches, enchanted by the spirit that I knew lived amongst that tree.
My cousin Adam and I would play all kinds of games. It was the age of the nintindo so one of the popular....and obvious games was Zelda. He was link and I was the Damsel Princess Zelda. He had to save me and conquer the triforce from the evil Gannon! Most of the time we played this I spent stuck tied to the weeping willow tree, but it didn't really bother me that much. I liked watching the lake.
During the day the lake would shimmer in the sunlight. The houses that surrounded it all had back yards, and often times there were other children playing and I wondered if they were having as much fun as I was. Grandmother would always give us a bag of "bad" bread. Truth be known, we knew that there was nothing wrong with the bread, but they told us that so we wouldn't gorge out on bread....we always took a taste though. Usually a croissant or something like that. We would feed it to the ducks, and the minnows and watch and giggle as they fed.
At night fall was generally when dinner was ready. Sweet Potatoes, Dressing, Turkey and ham, Mom's casserole, Tia's pea salad, and the deviled egg recipie that to this day has no true owner, just that it's a family thing that everyone know's, even I know it now that im an adult. Everyone would gather round and Granddaddy would lead us in the prayer to bless the bounty.
Come lord Jesus
Be our guest
and let these gifts
to us be blessed
It's hard to forget something so catchy as that was.
Depending on how many people had made the trip to visit often times there was a special table for the children. Many times I sat at that table thinking that it was ridiculous that they couldn't tell that I obviously an adult an above the children's table. However I sat there anyway and ate my small portions. I was never big on the traditional Thanksgiving/Christmas meal. Out the window as the sun went down you could see the beginnings of the christmas lights glittering on the lake. It was an exciting view, because you knew that Christmas was only a month away!
In the living room stood a bare tree, lights very expertly put on by the men of the family, cause after all, lights are a "man's job". Under the tree the same lovely nativity scene with an empty manger, and often times Siam the Siamese cat that my grandmother loved dearly. The tree was totally enormous! Im sure it wouldn't seem so large today, however I regretfully haven't seen it in 10 or more years.
After dinner was finished, children's bellies settled, and dishes covered and put away, we would all gather around the tree. Grandmother would then ever so gently open the first box of ornaments. Each one special, and each one with a story. I hung to those stories. They seemed to tie me to a long chain of family and happy times. Each of us would take turns finding a specific place to hang a ball, or a shiny thing, or the little stuffed mouse that squeeked when played with. That one always went close to the bottom for Siam, even after she passed. After the last ornament was on the tree, we would step back and look at it, often times in silence, often times accompanied by a christmas carol. It was always such a beautiful scene though. Not the tree so much as a happy family standing around, holding on to each other, gazing at something that we had all accomplished together. We would all part ways afterward. The drive home would usually lull me into a very nostalgic peace which made it an effortless task to go to sleep.
Christmas Eve was much the same as Thanksgiving, it was generally 20 degrees colder outside, there was much more excitement, and often times less family. Usually the only young people were myself and Adam. We would do the usual playing around in the yard, or with the legos in the dinette if it was very cold. The trees and bushes were all decorated with colored lights, and there was always a pyramid of lights right next to the lake. At night it was really fun to go and lay down the the middle of that pyramid and look up at the lights, or watch as the lights seemed to dance on the surface of the lake. The lake seemed more beautiful at christmas than any other time. It was like a shiny multicolored curtain that surrounded the house. The Hi-Fi outside played instrumental christmas carols, and there was always something about that, that made the day and on into the evening enchanting.
After the traditional dinner that was much the same as thanksgiving, it was mine and Adam's job to try and figure out if the baby Jesus was born. It wasn't until then that we were allowed to open our gifts. We would usually go to the back of the house and play about and check in every 10 minutes to see and then run back to our game, whatever it was.
Once the baby Jesus was born we would run to Grandmother with much exuberance and exclaim "Baby Jesus is born! Come look Grandmother! Come Look!" We didn't know how it had happened, and we didn't really know why it had to happen before gift time, but it instilled in us a certain happiness that Jesus was born. As an adult I understand it. For whatever reason it was, it was important that we as children had a love for Jesus, and an excitement for his birth around christmas time.
The presents were always so incredible. Usually things that we really needed or wanted sprinkled in with those special grandmother gifts. The ones that maybe you didn't understand fully, but they were very special to you in any case, and as the years passed they grew more special because they were truly from the heart. I remember one particular gift. It has stuck in my mind, and to this day I enjoy it. It was an classic video of Little Women. The version with Elizabeth Taylor and June Allyson. At the time, I hadn't read the book or seen the movie. I knew only that it was an old movie, and didn't understand why she had gotten it for me. However it is the one present that I received, that I still have, still use, and still remember unwrapping.
After the gifts were opened, it was pretty late in the evening. All the new gifts were packed into the trunk, hugs and kisses were given, and we all got into our cars. I can always remember the warm happy feeling I felt watching the lake as we backed out of the driveway and drove off home.