Pour Your Heart Out~The Simple Times.....

Where did the SIMPLE times with family go?Is it me or are we all loosing touch with our families as the year go by? Have we just gotten selfish and put our families aside?

When I speak of family I mean grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins that come together as a family... Not so long ago I remember those times, the simple times when we were all kids... Without a care in the world, but our family always close at hand. Have these simple times died with the past generation?

I remember a time when my entire family would gather for Christmas. Family would come from near and far just to be with the family for Christmas. In fact my uncle and his family lived in Japan for most of my younger life and they always tried their hardest to make it home for Christmas. Whoever was hosting, whether it be my grandmother or her brother or sister, would be preparing food days in advance. The WOMEN would all pitch in to help prepare the meal, all the while the MEN would be watching the football games and all enjoying each others company... The house would fill with laughter of silly jokes and children playing.

When the meal was ready the adults would sit at the BIG table while the children would be sitting at the kiddie table. I can remember how it was an honor to sit at the BIG table as you got older. My Uncle would always say the blessing, he is very well spoken and has a beautiful deep voice that just touches your heart, in fact I asked him to say the blessing at my wedding. Food filled the tables and stuffed every ones bellies. Heartfelt home cooked food that was made from the heart of everyone that was there.

After eating we would all proceed to the living room to open presents under the most beautiful tree... Presents that we thought all year about what to get for them. Unlike some families we would pull a single name out of a hat the previous year and just shop for one person and not everyone, that would have blown every ones budget.

When all the excitement of the presents dwindled down, the men would continue watching the game and the women would prepare the desert. I come from a family that loves pies.... My Great Grandmother baked the most divine pies in the world. She started making them when she was just a teenager working at Conneaut Lake Park in the 1930's. If you would ask her for a recipe she would say "Oh you just put in this and that with a pinch of this and a hint of that." If you asked her how much of something to put in meaning cups or tablespoons, she couldn't tell you because she eye balled everything and never went by a recipe card. I miss her and her wonderful pies that would fill the house with the most wonderful aromas. Of course my favorite was her cherry pie! mmmm

The women would all pitch in to help with the clean up while the children played with new toys and the men would still be watching some kind of sport. After the dishes were done and the left overs were dived up came cards! This was my favorite part of the day! We usually played Hawaiian Rummy(it's similar to Phase 10). Sometimes this one game would last for hours on end. In Hawaiian Rummy on the last Phase per say you have to have a straight run with NO discard. Then as night fell everyone would start to head home, with the hope that next Christmas will be just as good.

So, what happened to those days? I miss those days with a passion! After my Great Grandmother went to a nursing home is when these times ended. Now, its just my grandparents, parents and my husbands parents that gather for Christmas...

My husband and I have also talked about these days gone by and we both miss them... How could we all just let these wonderful SIMPLE times just slip away from us and not have the opportunity to pass it on to the next generation.

Where did those simple times go........