Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Ghosts of Christmas Past, by Charlotte Boquist

 
Enjoy a family’s Christmas through the years. Charlotte concisely captures a sense of tradition and change, meeting together in her memories of a growing, changing family, remembering the past and celebrating the present.


December 2012
 
Snowflakes big and white, falling softly in the night.
Programs are presented at Church and school,
Stumbling recitations; partly forgotten as a rule.
Carols sung with children’s voices
Silent Night and Jingle Bells are favorite choices.
About the first week of December
Dad would let loose tiny reindeer one at a time
Mamma, busy sewing gifts, they loved Christmas and its secrets sublime.
Christmas Eve in Basin, Santa coming by;
Lovingly played by nephew Terry-what a guy.
Brother Bill reciting “Twas the Night”
With such feeling the young ones knew it was right.
Christmas has been celebrated in other places
With many new experiences and special faces
Phoenix, Long Beach, Basin, Colorado and North Dakota;
Our family has been growing way past our quota.
Now we decorate our little tree with a sock containing coal
A joke for Julie one year, and a crocheted angel brings a tear.
Rocky’s two pound box of Sees, always finds its way under our trees.
Oh wait, can I remember how to play “White Christmas” without dismay?
Celebrating Christmas past is the fabric of our Christmas Day.
 
 

3 comments:

  1. Charlotte like yours, our family Christmas'have changed-- being different each year. Some have been full of company and some with just our family, some so busy I was too exhausted to enjoy it until it was over and some so quiet I could reflect upon what we were celebrating which is of course the way it should be. We are glad some will never re-occur and we wish others we could do over but all leave memories making the fabric of our Christmas Day. Your poem is a nice list of some of yours.

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  2. Dear Charlotte, your poem takes us through the many scenes of Christmas,and reminds us that there is always some thread of remembrance that connect us to family and friends through the years.

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  3. Charlotte, you sure paint a picture of what Christmas is like with the Boquist house.

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