The author of this blog has many favorite Christmas memories.  One of my favorite Christmas memories was when my entire family aunt, uncles and cousins came to our house for Christmas dinner.  Grandma always had dinner at  1:00 PM. Our house was set up so that the entire family could have dinner together in the dining room and unwrap presents in the living room. The kids all went into the front porch room and the adults went to the basement where my dad had the fire going in the wood stove and cold beer available.  It snowed that year so Dad piled the snow against the basement window and when you needed a cold drink you just had to open the window.  I guess you could call it the window cooler.  My grandmother beamed with the idea that her whole family were there.  It was a a God send that we were all there that year, because in February my grandmother lost the first of her sons.  I will never forget the last Christmas with my Uncle Ron.

Of course as time rolls on we have had many losses in my family and Christmas was really never the same after that year.  In spite of the losses we continue to get together and celebrate the birth of Our Lord, Jesus.