Santa decorates a tabletop Christmas tree, circa 1910. (Photo courtesy Calvin Dodge collection)
Good morning to everyone. When I awoke this morning, there was a fresh coat of beautiful snow. My sidewalk and driveway had been shoveled and plowed. I now find myself in the Christmas spirit. My neighbors have all their Christmas lights out on full display and they look so beautiful with the white snow all around them.
I have just come in getting the morning mail and I got my first Christmas card from Beacon Chapter No. 202 Order of the Eastern Star. I am a life member of the Eastern Star and a past worthy patron. I have been blessed for my age and my health and now have over 50 year membership in all the Masonic orders I belong to.
I am now off to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Wednesday healing service and lunch afterward. Then I go to the Damariscotta Historical Society building for a few games of cribbage with some of the members. I am truly blessed to have so many friends. I am very pleased to see the Village of Lights celebration bring holiday cheer to the Twin Villages for another Christmas season.
We are blessed to live in area full of loving and caring people who support many churches in our area as well as social programs like food pantries, local heating assistance programs, and Lincoln County Friends in Service Helping, or FISH, which offer free rides for older people who do not drive or have a car.
I also had a visit from Greta Bickford, who presented me with a beautiful decorated wreath made by the women of Beacon Chapter of Eastern Star; a gift from Greta and her mother, Marjorie Redonnett.
Winter has come early this December. We have a fresh coat of snow on the ground and the daily temperatures have been below normal so far. This past week I set up my Christmas tree in the south living room with all its decorations, many of which have been passed down through the years. Some of the decorations are over 100 years old and have seen many a happy Christmas.
The angel on top of the tree was bought by Mrs. Kathleen Cooper for her newborn daughter, Marjorie A. Cooper. This angel is now 95 years old.
The Christmas skirt that I placed under and around the bottom of the tree was bought by my wife Marjorie on a trip to upstate New York some 40 years ago. The same is true with the pair of Christmas stockings which I have hung on the fireplace mantle.
I recall Santa used to leave so many everyday items in them for us to use like lip balm, toothpaste, a box of Band-Aids, maybe a box of playing cards, small can of shoe polish, a box of pens, or a package of your favorite gum, or a candy cane or even a Sugar Daddy candy bar – just wonderful memories. Everyone enjoyed opening their Christmas stocking first each Christmas morning.
The next event I did this week was to set up the card table in the dining room and place a white linen tablecloth over the top of it and place the manger building I had built for Marjorie back in 1961 on the table. Then I carefully removed each item from a box and placed all 33 items in and around the front of the manger. Many of these manger items have been passed down through the family over many years and have also seen many Christmases with newborn children looking at them.
I truly enjoy seeing the baby lord Jesus lying in the manger with his parents Joseph and Mary and the three wise men looking on with gifts and all the animals around them.
Now I turn to Christmas memories of the past when I was a child. My parents celebrated this special holiday as a true gift from the lord who had given our family true love and kindness that dwelt in our home all year long. We were taught not to over-buy gifts, but to share with the less fortunate. My parents would invite people into our home who had no children or relatives.
That deed continued on after Marjorie and I were married. We often invited Mr. and Mrs. Richard Hopkins, our next-door neighbors, for a holiday dinner because they were in their 80s and had no children. We always had a great time sharing our home with others at special times.
I have talked to a few people of my age these past months. We all agree that so many special events in our childhood still linger in our minds and still bring us joy when we think of those past events. This past year I have lost a number of friends, classmates, and lodge brothers. We as Masons look to that starry-decked heaven, where all good Masons hope at last to arrive by the aid of that theological ladder, which Jacob, in his vision saw extending from earth to heaven.
May this Christmas season bring love, joy, and peace to all.
