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Health & Fitness

Your Elders Love Sharing Christmas Memories

 Your Elders Love Sharing Christmas Memories

 My good friend, Karen Everett Watson, a gerontologist, knows a great deal about getting elders to share their feelings and history about the Christmas seasons past.

 You give them great pleasure when they can share something so personal and they know that you are enjoying it. See what Karen says--

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Do you know the traditions that your parents grew up with? How did you grandparents celebrate the holidays? What foods did they always cook to celebrate? 

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Some of my favorite memories belong to my parents! Over the years they've talked about what Christmas was like for them growing up and I relish each story they've shared. 

My momma had six brothers and five sisters. She talks about her and her brothers wandering out into the Oklahoma woods behind their house to find the perfect Christmas tree. She said they always managed to bring back a glorious tree to decorate with popcorn and tinsel. 

Daddy's tree also came from the woods behind the 160 acres where he grew up. Oklahoma is covered with cedar trees, so they had plenty to choose from each and every year. The presents my parents talk about were meager compared to today. 

Oranges don't grow in Oklahoma, so Momma said the ultimate gift was a big round orange in her stocking. Daddy got walnuts, and perhaps a pair of stockings. His momma would cook a big turkey with all the yummy side dishes. 

I don't know if they left cookies for Santa, but that was a tradition that I had growing up, and of course I had to leave a big glass of milk. But first we'd decorate the Christmas tree. Momma would turn on the radio to a station playing Christmas carols, while we hung the glass balls and hoped all the lights would come on. 

I wish I had asked my grannies about their childhood Christmases. Those stories our now gone forever, since both of them are gone. I do know that my momma's momma always made divinity. 

My aunt keeps that tradition, while my mother always makes a mincemeat pie. Another aunt sends us fruit cake in a red round tin. Fruit cake was a big deal when my parents were growing up. Personally, I never could acquire a taste for them. 

Somehow Christmas brings out the child in all of us. I remember believing completely that Santa would visit my house on Christmas Eve. I just knew if I even opened my eyes before morning, that Santa's elves would tell on me. I tried my best to dream of the "sugar plums" my mother read about in the "Night Before Christmas." I just never did figure out what sugar plums were! 

I did my best to carry on the family traditions while my own children were growing up. Just like daddy, I read them the Bible passages about the birth of Christ, and of course "Night Before Christmas" was also read each Christmas Eve. 

It does my heart good to know that my grown children now carry on those traditions. I hope they'll also share all the fun times we had together while they were growing up. If you don't know your parents and grandparents’ favorite childhood memories, ask them to share them this year. You'll be so happy you did.

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See? I told you how cleverly Karen deals with her grandparents during the holiday. Try it with YOUR grandparents and watch how their eyes light up as they recall the days of Christmases past. 

Aileen, Co-owner, San Clemente Villas by the Sea 

San Clemente Villas provides full-service, luxury assisted living to those over the age of 65. San Clemente Villas by the Sea is at 660 Camino De Los Mares, San Clemente, CA 92673. Phone: (949) 289-1534 | Fax: (949) 234-0081. Contact: Paul or Aileen Brazeau, Co-Owners of San Clemente Villas by the Sea. www.SanClementeVillas.com | abrazeau@cox.net.

 

 

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