I grew up in a family with three sisters, and we enjoyed doing things together, and helping one another. It came naturally to us. One of the things we liked to do together was make ice cream. In winter, Daddy would chip off icicles from the cliffs along the Old River Road along the Delaware River on the New Jersey side.
The Old River Road, where Daddy chopped icicles
My mother mixed the milk, cream, sugar, and bananas or strawberries. Someone had to put their foot on the old ice cream maker to stabilize it, while Daddy cranked it. Then Mother and my older sister would make hot chocolate fudge sauce for it. It was so delicious! I can taste it now!
In the fall, I enjoyed rolling black walnuts under our shoes with Daddy, when I was about six to eight years old. The soft covers would split open and black goo would come out. I can smell the black walnuts just thinking about it. Daddy would dry the walnuts by lining them up on the garage roof, holding them in place with a plank of wood. In the winter, my older sister Gail cracked open the walnut shells, and sold the black walnuts to the neighbors. Even now, when I’m out for a walk in the fall, if I find a walnut on the ground, I will pick it up and breathe in the smell. The smell takes me right back there. Sometimes, I pick up one of the walnuts and put it on my kitchen window sill as a remembrance of Daddy.
Mother, Daddy, my younger sister Patrice, and I went ice skating together on a frozen pond in the winter. The ice was so cold under our skates, but our hot chocolate from our thermoses was hot. We also roasted hot dogs on a grill on the side of the pond. It was a cold day, but we had warmth in our hearts. The thing I liked the most about it was being together.
Christmas was very important in our home. When we were young, our parents would do everything while we slept on Christmas Eve in cozy brand new flannel pajamas made by our mother. When we came downstairs in the morning, there would be the Christmas Tree with all of the presents under it! So magical! Santa had been there!
When Gail and Nancy were married with families of their own, Daddy, Patrice and I decorated our Christmas tree with ornaments we had for many years. Each one held a story. Daddy would hang “rain” carefully, one at a time, over fir branches, and Patrice and I would place the ornaments on the tree.
. Then Daddy would hang our red stockings on the antlers of the two deer heads, one on each side of the fireplace. Daddy was so proud of his 12-point deer heads.
My mother made our stockings years ago for everyone in our family. This has become a tradition in our family. Beginning when a new baby was born. Patrice and I have taken on the tradition to make new stockings, and some of our nieces did too. We are passing down the tradition! We are getting more creative, making stocking s show what each person likes to do, or adding angels, snowmen, pets, or reindeer.
Christmas Eve, Patrice and I went Christmas Caroling with our church choir. It was beautiful at nighttime seeing the colored lights on everyone’s houses. We started to ask if we could open our presents in our stockings on Christmas Eve when I was about 14. We stuffed our parents’ stockings and they stuffed ours. Then after that we’d ask “Oh, can we open just one present?” So after awhile, Christmas Eve became the time for opening all of our presents!
Daddy passed away at only 62 years old, way too young! We miss him so much. Afterwards, Gail lived with Mother for a while. Then Mother lived with my oldest sister Nancy and her family, and our whole family would get together at Nancy and Roger’s house on Christmas Eve. We’d have dinner in Mother’s apartment and open presents in Nancy and Roger’s great room with a cathedral ceiling.
On Christmas Eve, Roger always made a nice fire in the fireplace, which was so warm and welcoming. It was heavenly. Teal would pass out gifts and we tried to open them one at a time. My niece Michelle made us evg nog. Many of us went to the Christmas Eve service at Roger and Nancy’s church as well. “Oh, Holy Night, would always be the last song sang as a solo. It would always be a perfect evening.
One Christmas, Mother gave her sewn Log Cabin Quilts to every daughter and older granddaughters. She had an excellent eye for color and design. The fabric choices were so harmonious in all of them. She gave her all to our family. It was wonderful celebrating together. Mother also made me a strip quilted vest in lavender and 6 placemats of the same colors, with strip quilting. And she also made me a jacket using different fabric, also using strip quilting. It’s wonderful having hand sewn pieces my Mother made for us.i
Making Christmas cookies with my sisters was another important Christmas tradition. We would always use Nana’s recipe for Sandtarts. We would take turns rolling, and cutting them with new and old cookie cutters (some were Nana’s) and decorating them. Every animal or gingerbread man and woman would have cinnamon belly burner eyes! We loved them thin and on the dark side. Gail could always roll them very thin.
Nana’s recipe is very important, even today! My sister Patrice begins making Sandtarts at Thanksgiving. We all love them for sure! And she recently taught her granddaughter Hazel (named for our mother) to make Sandtarts as well, passing down the tradition. Every one of Nana’s grandchildren loved her! Nana was our only grandparent for many of us. Poppy died when I was 7 and Patrice was 4. I remember touching him when he was in the casket. His lifeless hand felt odd to me.
Daddy’s parents both died in the same year before Christmas, which was sad. Patrice, Gail, Nancy and I never knew our paternal grandparents. But Nana was so wonderful, we didn’t miss not having other grandparents. She made all of us feel special. She taught me how to make apple fritters and butter scotch. She had been a silk weaver, and I often wondered about the coincidence that I love to weave! Since 2020, I have woven almost 60 unique and beautiful wall hangings! I have made them for all of my sisters and adult nieces.
“Tranquility” woven for my niece Sheree, my sister Gail’s daughter.
Most of the grandchildren had vacations at Nana’s house in the summer, which we loved. She gave each of us her whole attention. When Patrice and I stayed at her house for a week, we would get the Royal treatment! Being Pennsylvania Dutch, Nana would make home made cinnamon buns with walnuts which I would watch her make, and cream puffs with real pudding. I bet our parents wouldn’t like it if they knew we had home made hot chocolate with marshmallow whip on top and toast for breakfast! When we visited her she would also make make pastel colored sugared popcorn. No wonder we like sweets today!
Daddy took color photos, and made slides. We would ask him to show us the slides, especially after holiday meals when we would all be together. We could see ourselves growing up and how we fit into the family, with every birthday or activity together, including weddings and as new babies were born. We love looking at those slides!
The first time we watched slides after Daddy had passed away, the mantle clock started chiming! Amazing! It hadn’t been keeping time or chimed since Daddy died, since he was the one who wound it each night. All of my sisters and I have such good memories of him. He was a very active person. He always read to Patrice and I when we were sick. He skied, golfed, had a very big garden and loved life. He was also a bee keeper and a superintendent of our church. He visited people at home when they were sick. I wonder if that influenced me to want to visit people when they were sick He also had a set of diaries that began at my birth, and ended at his death. My mother wrote the last entry. I have them at home in Daddy’s desk which I inherited. I remember all of the nights and weekends I did my homework at his desk.
My mother was an accomplished seamstress and tailor, making all of her children’s beautiful clothing, coats, wedding and bridesmaid gowns, and she also sewed for others. She would make all of the twirlers’s outfits when my sisters Nancy and Gail were in high school. She taught me how to sew, so that I made my own clothing and entered a “Make it Yourself With Wool” contest when I was a sophomore in college. Mother, Daddy, Patrice, and I flew to Dallas, Texas for the finals. I didn’t win, but I placed, so my parents bought me my own sewing machine. I made my own white satin wedding dress with French lace overlays on the bodice and on the Juliette-style sleeves, and taught my bridesmaids to make their own forest green, velvet, Juliette- style gowns. Mother was also a very good cook, baker, and gardener. When she visited me, she would teach me which plants were good for which location and how to plant. Her enthusiasm rubbed off on me! I cannot wait each spring to see my Iris and Daffodils bloom, and I love to plant my window boxes and flower beds. My Daylily collection is my main love and joy each summer. My husband built me a deer proof pen that surrounds my very favorite ones!
Patrice and I, although she was four years younger than I was, did a lot of things together. We drew original pictures and made crafts on the dining room table almost every day or night. We took a walk on a beautiful road in the woods near our home every day after school. Patrice and I roller skated together in the basement and we sang down there as well, because the acoustics were very good. Not to mention that we did head stands in front of the tv at night, and in the summer we practiced hand stands, round offs, and cartwheels together on our front lawn. We sledded together down our long lawn in front of our house along with our niece Dawyn. Patrice and I also went shopping, to dances and to the shore together with friends,
Patrice, Daddy and I picked wild black raspberries in the hedge rows behind our house in the summer. We would dress in long pants with long sleeved shirts and carry milk pails to put the berries into them. Once we encountered a deer who snorted at us! When we returned home, Patrice and I would put raspberries in a bowl with milk and eat them as the milk turned purple, and Mother made black rasperry pies.
We had such fun when my son Bob was reunited with me and our family. That was an amazing time getting to know and love him more and more! We had so many picnics and parties until everyone got to meet Bob. We visited him in his home as well and went to chapel for Palm Sunday our first year together. Then, he married his lovely wife and they had our sweet, naturally beautiful granddaughter Caroline. We visited them at Christmastime for a few days for many years, which was wonderful! And in the beginning, we would visit them in August for both Bob and his wife’s birthdays. Now Caroline is already 22 years old, and in college. We have had so many memorable visits to their home! It is always so wonderful to be with them again!
Our family reunion was a blast! We had a wonderful time with our family, including my mother’s brother Jack’s side of the family: Our cousins Sandy, Jack and Jill and Sandy’s family. Also my husband Tim’s sister Nancy and her family and his father Willy were there. Nancy and Tim’s daughter Hannah is the same age as Caroline. They had a good time meeting each other.
Here is Caroline at 3 ½ years old with cousins Andrew, Hunter, Cody and Will.
We also had great times when Bob and Caroline came to our house for Grandpa Tim to teach Caroline how to ski! She was a natural at skiing, and caught on to everything so quickly. They stayed from Thursday to Sunday two different winters which was such a treat.
Spending family time together is so sweet, and so memorable with the love we share doing things together as our family grows and blends the old traditions with the new traditions. One thing is certainly clear, we have a loving, caring family. My sister Patrice and I are the oldest now in our original family! We treasure every minute spent with our families.
This piece is so heartwarming! I love how you capture the joy of family traditions and the little moments that make memories last a lifetime.
Very well told. It reminds me of what I always thought was a family was meant to be. Thank you.