Remembering Christmases past and saying farewell
- Bruce Stambaugh: The Rural View
- December 22, 2021
- 1120
Of all the holidays in the calendar year, Christmas is my favorite. I know I am not alone in that declaration.
I have many fond memories of Christmases past. The most memorable seem to be snippets of bigger pictures, but they are still meaningful after all these years.
Delivering Sunday’s newspaper as a teenager on a snowy Christmas Eve night is one of my favorite memories. I can still see the smiles and hear the well-wishes from many customers as I tromped through heavy, wet snow.
Christmas was my father’s favorite holiday. He was a big little kid when it came to Christmas. He and our dear mother worked hard to make each Christmas extra special on Dad’s meager salary.
Dad loved to get the last-minute shopping discounted deals. He spent part of Christmas Eve buying presents he thought were bargains. His offspring reaped the rewards early Christmas morn.
Christmas Day in the Stambaugh household was a joyous time. We woke our parents too early and tore open packages with abandon. The pile of ripped wrapping paper grew exponentially.
As my brothers and sisters and I grew, married, moved and raised children of our own, our traditions changed, of course. However, Mom and Dad hosted us all as long as they could until the brood expanded beyond the limited capacity of their post-World War II bungalow.
My siblings who lived nearest our folks took turns hosting the annual Christmas dinner and gift exchanges. Of course, once our children grew to adults and married, those traditions changed again.
My wife’s family always opened their presents on Christmas Eve, usually after attending services at their church up the road from their farm. It was Christmas Eve with Neva’s family, Christmas Day with mine.
At my age the calendar isn’t nearly as important as the opportunity to gather the family together whenever we can. Christmas just made it a most memorable delight.
Nostalgia only carries so much weight in celebrating the holidays. It’s the here and now that counts. We celebrate with those we love today, creating similar meaningful memories for the younger generations.
We will cherish the season with those who can join us and connect remotely with those who can’t. It’s the best we can do in this season of holidays mixed with precautions necessitated by the pandemic.
Accordingly, this will be my last column of The Rural View. I have been writing a weekly column for nearly 23 years, 20 1/2 with the Bargain Hunter. I only missed one week of publishing a column in all that time.
I greatly appreciate the support and space the owners and editors of this paper so graciously gave to me. But it is time to move on.
A lot has changed since I began writing right after I retired as principal at Mt. Hope and Winesburg elementary schools in 1999. The 21 years I served there were the best of my life. My nine years of teaching at Killbuck Elementary prepared me well for that role.
It has been a joy and a privilege to draw on those memories and share my insights with you. I sincerely appreciated the occasional affirmative comments along the way. I will likely miss my weekly musings with you.
But as I near the three-quarters of a century mark in age, I have other writing projects that need my attention. I want to complete them while still having my wits and enough energy to put pen to paper.
I started a memoir of living among the Amish years ago. Completion of that book is long overdue. I have other stories swirling in my head too. I want to set them to print before the Good Lord calls my name.
I will certainly miss you all, and I wish you the best. Goodspeed, blessings, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!