I remembered you today. I thought about the long walks to check the fences and care for the animals. I remembered the stories of your brothers and sisters. The stories that you brought home from Europe. I remembered the gentle wisdom and the laughter. I remember the work we shared and the adventures we had. I remember us. I miss my best friend. I love you. Merry Christmas paw paw.
Tag: Appalachian traditions
Christmas is forever
Everyone is a child at Christmas. Every year we all revert back to the days of excitement and wonder. Our journey in childhood is aided by colors and lights and smells of the Christmas season. I remember when one of the special parts of Christmas was the yearly tradition of handmade decorations. The process of transformation from everyday home into a winner wonderland had a personal touch. The tree topper was made from a recycled cereal box that was either painted or simply covered with tinfoil (and later aluminum foil). The ornaments on the tree was sometimes hand carved from thin scraps of wood. Construction paper chains served as garland. One of my childhood friends would go out in the woods and collect acorns in the Fall and paint them for use as ornaments. Whatever the process and materials used it was the bonding of friends and family that made the memory. Today we have projectors and lasers and inflatable Santas that are produced on an assembly line (probably by robots soon) and then sold in the stores. Our modern plug and play Christmas provides us with a great deal of splendor but how much spirit? Time is of great value in our busy lives. The “Christmas Rush” is on and in a lot of lives the pressures of earning a living shows no mercy. Time is the most valuable resource we have. It’s a resource that we can possess but not own. However, I have learned that it is in fact entirely possible to freeze time. Not through some contrivance of technology or secret of the ancient Magi but through the simple act of bonding with friends and family. This year I encourage you to incorporate some homemade Christmas in with the technological splendor. The time you spend with your loved ones is the greatest gift you can give.
Electricity Is Delivered By Train
Electricity is delivered by Train. In my Appalachian home coal culture runs deep. Almost every family has at least one family member who is a miner. The rest of us only have jobs because the miners buy our goods and services. The hours are long and even though great advances have been made the work is brutal. I don’t know if you have ever been in a darkness like the bottom of coal mine miles underneath a mountain. It’s absolutely pitch black. Or so I’m told. (I’m one who never went into a mine). As a child I grew up with men who had black spots just beneath the skin as a result of a piece of coal that fell from the roof of a mine. They all had hands that were hard and calloused. I’ve listened to stories about what it means when you feel a sudden breeze from one end of a tunnel and the the rebound hits you from the other end. It means there was a cave in somewhere in the Labyrinth underground. It’s the most terrifying experience a miner can have. People scramble to find where the roof has fallen. Miners always pack extra food because they never really know if they will be trapped or for how long. Self rescue is sometimes the only option. This is the reality behind the lights we see by, the energy that powers the microwave, the refrigerator that preserves that food and even the Hospitals that save our lives. All of it is powered by the men and women who enter the deepest part of the world and pull the light out of the darkness.
Sunday
- Growing up in the Bible belt I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to visit a lot of small churches. In the days before the mega church and when there was nobody selling religion. The churches of small communities were places where families gathered to hear the word of God and not just what the preacher said. We knew good and well that nobody can buy a ticket to heaven with money or goid works. Vain obligations were just that. We resisted judging each other because we were justified by the blood of Christ and not by works or money. Church is a place for bonding not bondage.
- The architecture of small community churches is something special. Everything from little cabins to scaled down cathedrals can be found tucked into Appalachian landscape. Bells and spires are sometimes topped with crosses and sometimes not.
- The ringing of the church bell was a special privilege. Young people (mostly boys) would like up and take turns tugging on the rope. In trutruth we just liked making noise.
- After church service extended family would get together at the home place for a large meal. The cooks would all gather in the kitchen and soon the house was full of wonderful smells the sounds of laughter. During the warm weather the children be outside trying to have fun without getting dirty. That’s a very difficult skill to master for a 10 year old boy. I can still smell my grandmother’s homemade bread when I think about it.
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