Page 23 - Giv'er Miramichi Magazine - Christmas Giver 2023

Eventually the Keenan family would and drive home. We’d put out cookies
outgrow the house and move their and milk for Santa before mom and
get-together to the church hall. dad would tuck us in bed. On
On Christmas Eve, I portrayed Christmas Day, we'd wake up early to
Joseph in St. Raphael’s telling of the unwrap our presents and stockings,
Christmas story, while Vanda spending the day playing with our
Donahue played Mary. We sat on the new toys and watching Christmas
altar in front of a small wooden stable specials on TV or a VHS tape of E.T.:
while Father McGowan gave his The Extra Terrestrial.
sermon. The church was adorned In the days following Christmas,
with bows and holly, and the choir, we'd visit family, the Keenan’s and
led by my school music teacher Miss McLaughlin’s, and I often found
Frenette, sang sweetly to our right. myself at my cousin Jonathan's
After Mass, we’d exit the church and house. Every year, my uncle Jerry
stop at the creche that stood just would build the perfect sliding hill
outside the front door. It was lit from that stretched from the old railway
inside and surrounded by trees draped tracks across from their house up to
with multicoloured twinkling bulbs. I Les with his sisters, Cathy and Lori in the back the Blackville Mill property. I have so
remember staring inside to see the and Jennifer beside him. many fond memories of that place,
nativity as snow began to fall. It but that's a story for another day.
always snowed on Christmas Eve, or at least that’s how I When the holiday season wound down, we'd
remember it. reluctantly prepare for the routine of returning to school,
Later that night, we'd head to Gram's house. The living yearning for those magical Christmas days to slow down,
room would be filled with laughter, and the sounds of if just a little bit.
Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s Once Upon A Christmas As I look back on those treasured moments from my
album playing in the background. The warmth of the ever- childhood, the Christmases of the eighties and early
burning wood stove made it feel extra cozy. Gram would nineties remain a source of deep nostalgia and joy. The
bring out her fresh-baked molasses cookies and cinnamon traditions, the love of family, and the spirit of the season
rolls. We would all sit around the tree, trimmed with all hold a special place in my heart that's as warm and
strings of tinsel icicles and bulbs, and watch Gram open bright as those holiday lights. Those cherished memories,
her presents. She'd act surprised opening each gift, even both big and small, are a reminder of the magic that
though she knew very well that she and I had peeked in surrounds us during this special time of year, and they
most of them beforehand. continue to shape the way I celebrate and appreciate the
When it was time to leave, we'd hug Gram goodbye holiday season today.

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