Every Christmas Eve my dad bought poinsettias for Mom on their anniversary. I'm not sure when that custom for them began, but I think I might have had something to do with it. If I thought Daddy was not going to get Mama an anniversary gift, I told him he had to buy her something. So, any gifts he once bought, evolved into the annual buying of the Christmas flowers. Mama planted them next to the house in their back yard where they continued to grow and bloom for a few years after each Christmas.
I have no memory of my parents ever celebrating their anniversaries other than by simply being with family on Christmas Eve. My uncles, aunts and cousins, accompanied by my mother's parents would often come on Christmas Eve. We would all tear into presents we exchanged with each other. Back then, no one drew names or worried over what to get for everyone. There were a lot of presents under our tree for everyone. Then, on Christmas Day, Santa Claus would leave his unwrapped gifts for us kids. Though I always knew Santa was my parents, and I was not allowed to tell my cousins, some years I wondered.
My brothers and I may have given our parents an anniversary gift sometimes, but I doubt it would have been every Christmas Eve. I do remember that we bought them an engraved silver platter for their 50th wedding anniversary. Why I thought they would want such a nonfunctional gift I don't know, but they made out like it was beautiful. They didn't want a big party and by then, Daddy was beginning to lose his memory. So, at their home in Port Neches, with engraved napkins, cake and punch, we celebrated the 50 years Louise and "Jiggs" Ritchey had spent together as husband and wife.
Every Christmas when red poinsettia start making their appearance in florist shops, I still think about my parents and their Christmas Eve wedding anniversary. Then, I miss them with a heavy heart and tears. I can still picture how Daddy would get such pleasure out of watching my sons play and be silly. In fact, he was as much a big kid as they were and often got down on the floor to play along with them. I can still see Mama's joy as she dressed my boys in pajamas she had lovingly sewn for them, or as she stood in the kitchen cooking all our favorite foods. It brought them both great joy to indulge their children and grandchildren for whom they loved dearly, with these acts of love.
Today, on this Christmas Eve, I am remembering Mama and Daddy, their lives and all the generations who followed their marriage on December 24, 1941.
Mama and Daddy, I miss you every day.
Happy Anniversary and Merry Christmas!
1 comment:
The older I get, the more I miss them too. Funny. I think Aidan and Regan would adore them, the way Big Mama loved with food and Papa with music and funny noises (right up Aidan's alley). Every milestone the kids hit, I think about what Big Mama and Papa would think. I think they would love my kids as much if not more than they loved us, and that's saying a lot. Merry Christmas, mom.
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