December 26 is my grandparents anniversary. They were married in 1945, after he came back from serving in the war. In those days, the church would not allow you to get married during advent, so they chose the first possible day that they were allowed. They celebrated 55 anniversaries until she passed away in 2001.
About 40 of these anniversaries included an open house at their home. It was generally the first stop in a week of Open Houses hosted by various aunts and uncles between Christmas and New Years. At this party, a yearly tradition was relived.
My grandmother had a set of 4 choirboy angel type candleholders, each with a different letter. N-O-E-L. They must be over 50 years old by now. Every Christmas she would display them in her curio cabinet. N-O-E-L. And every year, on the 26th, at some point during the party, someone would notice that the angels now spelled L-E-O-N. It took many years before my uncle finally fessed up to being the culprit, but as it had become a tradition, he continued to rearrange them every 26th. When he was away in the Air Force, it became my responsibility, but I always deferred to him when he was home for the holidays.
As I said, Momma (as we called her) passed away in the summer of 2001, and I bought the house from my grandfather very shortly afterwards. While cleaning out the house, (which is not easy to do, deciding what of more than 40 years of memories gets thrown away. Almost 4 years later, I’m still not done) I came across the candleholders. I gave them to my uncle and said “You started the tradition, you should have these.”
This October, my grandfather (Poppa) passed away. My wife and I thought the time had come for the traditional December 26 Open House to be revived, but this time we would do it in their honor, on their 59th Wedding Anniversary, in their house.
Invitations were sent out, and the family gathered. I don’t recall so many people at one time being in the house, but it didn’t seem crowded at all. The arrangements were similar to how Momma and Poppa did it. Picking food (kielbasi, meatballs, cheese and crackers), cookies, beer, soda, wine, coffee, and tea. We drank a toast to my grandparents, with the wish that all of us present can also find the lifetime of happiness that they shared.
My uncle gave me my Christmas gift. He handed it to me and said “Be careful.” I peeled away the tissue wrap, and saw the four candleholders that belonged to Momma. I was confused, and the look on my face made it clear to my uncle. He looked at me, and said “They belong here.” I was mostly in tears as I arranged them on the shelf. N-O-E-L. Just like Momma did for those many years.
Everyone had fun, the children got along well (two moreso than the others, it turns out-my 5 year old neice and 4 year old son of a friend were caught smooching :eek: ), many stories were exchanged and memories were shared.
Eventually, our guests began to make their way home, and at some point, I looked over at the shelf, and saw the four candleholders looking back at me.
L-E-O-N.