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December 8, 2020
Growing Up In Bandera
By Glenn Clark
The Bandera Prophet
As we are preparing to put up our Christmas tree this morning some of the kids are heading into Bandera to join in. We have an additional great grandbaby this year to add to the Santa list. With a total of three now we are feeling blessed beyond words.
Memories of earlier times highlight many changes in the way things are done these days. Instead of heading out to Granddaddy Kindla's pasture with an axe in search of the perfect cedar tree we simply go to the storage shed and drag out a box with a plastic tree inside. The end result of the trip to the pasture was always the same. We came home with a tree that was too big and was nowhere near perfect. Traveling down the highway I still look at cedar trees these days and judge each one's shape on it's worthiness as a Christmas tree. Don't ever let anyone tell you they had the perfectly shaped cedar Christmas tree because they don't exist. I've been looking for over seventy years.
Most Christmas gifts we received back in the day were pretty simple in comparison to what shows up under the tree these days. Brother Eddie and I were close in age and often shared a gift from Santa. A football was expected almost every year and we always ended up having a touch football game when all the family was gathered at mom's house. It started out as touch football but usually ended up as tackle when we got warmed up and egos kicked in.
Cherry cordials were always available during the holidays and they didn't last long after I discovered them. This holds true even today. My sister Martha's buttermilk pies got quite a bit of my attention too. Pecan pie comes in a close second. The smell coming out of my mom's kitchen around the holidays is still fresh in my mind today.
I try to plan ahead by starving myself a week or so before the anticipated holiday meals in an effort to control my waistline. It's a great plan but I can't say it ever works out the way I intended.
Everything associated with the Christmas holidays seems to get out of hand around our house. Deciding on what the meal will be on Christmas Day is a discussion that begins a month ahead of time and never ends up being exactly what was decided. It just morphs into something that can best be described as a smorgasbord. Turkey or ham might be joined by tamales, cold cuts or bbq brisket. It's all good as long as I have black olives and deviled eggs to snack on.
Our small home has seen some packed house celebrations over the years as family and friends have gathered around the tree. Gifts will take up a good bit of floor space and some will have to be stacked elsewhere until unwrapping time. The madhouse scenes of kids ripping the paper off their gifts is a reminder of Christmas Day at my mom's house when our son was small. It could best be described as chaotic but we always managed to get it sorted out without throwing a kid out with the resulting paper trash pile.
The way I feel now around this special holiday is what my mother must have been feeling back in some earlier years. Growing Up In Bandera at Christmas time for me has become looking forward to having all of our kids at home. Love fills our home as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
#259 2020
Memories of earlier times highlight many changes in the way things are done these days. Instead of heading out to Granddaddy Kindla's pasture with an axe in search of the perfect cedar tree we simply go to the storage shed and drag out a box with a plastic tree inside. The end result of the trip to the pasture was always the same. We came home with a tree that was too big and was nowhere near perfect. Traveling down the highway I still look at cedar trees these days and judge each one's shape on it's worthiness as a Christmas tree. Don't ever let anyone tell you they had the perfectly shaped cedar Christmas tree because they don't exist. I've been looking for over seventy years.
Most Christmas gifts we received back in the day were pretty simple in comparison to what shows up under the tree these days. Brother Eddie and I were close in age and often shared a gift from Santa. A football was expected almost every year and we always ended up having a touch football game when all the family was gathered at mom's house. It started out as touch football but usually ended up as tackle when we got warmed up and egos kicked in.
Cherry cordials were always available during the holidays and they didn't last long after I discovered them. This holds true even today. My sister Martha's buttermilk pies got quite a bit of my attention too. Pecan pie comes in a close second. The smell coming out of my mom's kitchen around the holidays is still fresh in my mind today.
I try to plan ahead by starving myself a week or so before the anticipated holiday meals in an effort to control my waistline. It's a great plan but I can't say it ever works out the way I intended.
Everything associated with the Christmas holidays seems to get out of hand around our house. Deciding on what the meal will be on Christmas Day is a discussion that begins a month ahead of time and never ends up being exactly what was decided. It just morphs into something that can best be described as a smorgasbord. Turkey or ham might be joined by tamales, cold cuts or bbq brisket. It's all good as long as I have black olives and deviled eggs to snack on.
Our small home has seen some packed house celebrations over the years as family and friends have gathered around the tree. Gifts will take up a good bit of floor space and some will have to be stacked elsewhere until unwrapping time. The madhouse scenes of kids ripping the paper off their gifts is a reminder of Christmas Day at my mom's house when our son was small. It could best be described as chaotic but we always managed to get it sorted out without throwing a kid out with the resulting paper trash pile.
The way I feel now around this special holiday is what my mother must have been feeling back in some earlier years. Growing Up In Bandera at Christmas time for me has become looking forward to having all of our kids at home. Love fills our home as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
#259 2020