Thursday, December 22, 2022

BOYHOOD COUNTRY CHRISTMAS MEMORIES OF LONG, LONG AGO

MIDNIGHT MASS, TACKY DECORATIONS, COUNTRY HAM SANDWICHES AND OPENING THAT SINGLE GIFT
 
I can clearly remember, as a very young child, going to Midnight Mass "dressed in our best" at my little country St. Theresa Church in Rhodelia, Kentucky. Even though Mass itself was in Latin, I considered the high point of the whole service to be the point where the choir sang "O, Holy Night" in English!  Even though that hymn always gave me "cold chills," I remember it ending too soon and  my wanting them to keep repeating the verses. 

We always came home after Midnight Mass, ate country ham sandwiches, opened our one and only Christmas present and got into an argument or two before finally going to bed in the wee hours of Christmas morning!

I am sure that if we had video recordings today of those times, they would ruin the few sentimental and  nostalgic memories that I still carry in my head. The choir, I am pretty sure, would have been pretty amateurish by today's standards. The decorations in the church, as well as at home, would have been a bit tacky and the presents we opened would have been pretty simple.  Our expectations were not very high, so we were seldom seriously disappointed. However, I am certain of one thing - those country ham and biscuit sandwiches at 2:00 a.m. in the morning were "to die for!" 
Besides, I probably would have known the pig personally! Oh, yeah, we country boys certainly knew where our Christmas ham came from!!!! 


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