Castor's Beth Elhard takes a stroll down a candy-cane-striped memory lane

My diary is full of beautiful Christmas memories.

Here are a few of my more memorable entries:

The wind swept down main street swirling the snow around the decorated light standards. Snow drifted off the roof tops, down past brightly lit store windows that framed scenes of tinsel, candy canes and shoppers sharing the warmth of hometown shopping. Christmas carols played on the store speaker while neighbors visited over last-minute purchases of teddy bears, dolls, toy tractors and trucks. Over at the local hardware store, shelves were stocked with crazy carpets and toboggans for thrill seekers, tools for the handy son and a popcorn popper for the University student home for Christmas.

At the grocery stores, shopping carts bulged with turkey and treats for Christmas meals to come. The food hamper and Silent Santa boxes overflowed –a sign of the kindness and generosity of the community. 

The post office bustled with stacks of Christmas cards and parcels coming and going. Neighbours chatted and shared new photos of family that arrived in their Christmas card. No Instagram or Facebook then!

 People would stop and ask each other, “Are you ready for Christmas?” or “Are the kids coming home for Christmas?” Hugs and handshakes all around. 

Christmas concerts! Nervous, giggling children in their new Christmas clothes! Churches and school gyms filled with parents, babies, aunts and uncles and proud grandparents. Everyone waiting with eagerness to hear the Christmas songs, the recitations and the pageants. And then, there was always that one child who liked to provide an extra bit of ‘entertainment’. 

I remember singing Christmas carols with family and friends, seated on a hay rack pulled by the truck. Or singing carols in the hallways of the local hospital and the nearby seniors’ lodge. 

The candle lighting service on Christmas Eve at church was always magical. At the conclusion of the service, we all would gather around the sanctuary with our candles and sing Silent Night.

After church we would drive around town looking at Christmas lights. When we returned home to the farm, the car lights would sweep down the freshly plowed lane and shine off our old farm home. 

Memories of stories by the family patriarch who told us every Christmas that if we went to the barn at midnight, the cattle would be kneeling. We never went to check because we didn’t want to spoil the thought.

The nativity scene that the foreman made for me on our first Christmas. Glued with love from wall board paneling. It still sits under our tree at Christmas.

Reading to the children on Christmas Eve: first the Christmas story from the Bible followed by ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Gathering around the table on Christmas day: grandparents, aunts, uncles and children flushed with excitement and over tired from rising in the early hours to see if Santa had arrived! 

Wait…how did the pages in the diary turn so fast….and when did we become the family seniors?

I have so many more memories to share and cherish – new family members, babies, first Christmases at our children’s homes, card games and board games, hockey games on the dugout after the meal with a bonfire nearby, family time together at Christmas dinner with laughter and moments of sadness for one that we will always miss. 

A diary entry courtesy of my grandson, a few years back. He said, “We don’t care what we eat, we just want to be together.” That’s a page to visit every year.

I hope this holiday season brings you many wonderful memories for the pages of your diary.

- Beth