Light a Candle

Inspired by a Dear blogger Friend, Mariette, on her blog 'Mariette's Back to Basics' -

 

I did light a candle.

 

http://mariettesbacktobasics.blogspot.com/2012/12/16th-world-wide-candle-lighting.html

 

In reverence.

 

This time of year can be difficult for so many who have lost loved ones, especially children.

 

 

 

 

Memories come to mind of Christmas past, however long ago.

 

This special time of year brings to focus the loved ones that made this season special.

 

My Dear Father loved Christmas.

 

 

 

 

When I was a child

He dressed in Santa Suits,

He made us believe there were really reindeer on the roof,

 with the sound of sleigh bells and 'footprints' in the snow.

 

We left carrots for them, alongside the home baked cookies we left for Santa.

 

Years later I asked him how he made the footprints.

 

'Carved Potatoes', he said.

 

He decorated all the shrubs around the house with those large old fashioned bulbs.

 

Always red.

 

He took us on expeditions in the forest to gather greens for beautiful wreaths that he made

 

for my Mother, My Grandmother's, and Friends.

 

 

 

 

 

As the years went by and he became a Grandfather, he hand crafted rocking horses, wooden pull toys, fairy tale table and chair sets, doll houses.

 

My Dear Mother did all the painting.

 

One year he helped my own Dear Husband make wooden blocks.

 

With every shape imaginable.

 

Hand sanded and dyed with Kool-aid to be safe.

 

A huge crate full.

 

My children played with them for years, building forts and dollhouses and castles.

 

Oh, those simple things mean the most, don't they?  

 

 

 

 

He made us believe in magic.

 

Always a child at heart.

 

No matter how difficult his life was.

 

He always looked on the bright side with a twinkle in his eye.

 

 

 

 

I like to think that Dad is looking down on us as we celebrate his favorite time of year.

 

And I hope his eyes are Twinkling.

 

"One Hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove.

 

But the world may be different, because I was important in the life of a child." - Forest Witcraft

 

xx