Dexter Iowa Community Site

Consider this quote from Abe Lincoln

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

     I’ve been testing the theory of how much strawberry cake one could eat before getting completely tired of it the last few days here at the house. We had a mix and the kids thought it would be great to take to Thanksgiving dinner to complement Grandma Bev’s hamballs. The children were right as always, and now that the last of the cake has been consumed and the dishes washed I can turn my mind towards the Christmas season.

     As I’ve gotten older I tend to get more nostalgic about Christmas. I think for many of us it holds so many different memories, that it is hard for us to not think of Christmas in a melancholy way. Maybe for me it is a time to look back and reflect at the Christmas table at those who no longer are with me. There was a time when as a youngster when going to Grandma’s for Christmas was the highlight of the year. It wasn’t about gifts, but mostly because I got to spend time with my cousins.

     There were eight of us, all boys, and we always knew how to make Christmas, or any holiday a fun time. There was always a game of football out in the yard, or contests where we would bet cousin Matt that he couldn’t eat an entire pound of cheese, or those special moments spent around the tree giggling uncontrollably as Cousin Kyle opened his bath towels and soaps. Those are all great memories.

     At other times throughout the year we would get to see a selected group of them. Maybe my brothers and I would head to the Minnesota boarder to have Green Scuz parties with Jay and Kyle, or there were always times to play with Matt, Tim and Paul at the farm outside of Minburn. Sometimes we were the hosts. There was bicycle races, camping out in the yard, sticking a foot in an ice cream bucket and laughing until our sides hurt, and even the occasional game of softball.

     We don’t see each other as much any more. We are all so spread out that getting all of us together at once almost takes a natural disaster or an act of congress. On my wall here at home is my favorite picture of the eight of us, standing with Grandma a few years back when we took family pictures. We are all older now, with our own kids and our own careers and yet when I look at that group, I can think back to so many times when I was so glad to have them around.

    I saw that in the faces of my kids last weekend as they played with their cousins at Thanksgiving. From a dangerous game of spoons, to poking sticks into the fire, to some sort of walkie-talkie espionage game they played in the same way we played when we were kids. I’m sure that years from now they will look back on the pictures of the group of them, (even the ones where Max won’t smile and Dalton has to be held kicking and screaming) and be thankful to be a part of such a fun group.

    Time moves on for each of us and yet with each generation it seems as though history repeats itself in many ways. I think maybe this year, instead of getting stressed about the holiday get together I might just relax a little, make a batch of Green Scuz and take a turn poking a stick in a fire.

See you next week….remember, we’re all in this together.