Cavan Reflections

By: Anne Corke

Dec 14 2014

Tags: carving, Christmas, Manchester United, memories, ornaments

Category: Life stories

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Christmas is almost upon us and I thought it was about time to put up the tree. I wasn’t at all sure that I even wanted the tree this year. Our first Christmas without Gary is sure to be bittersweet. I decided against any room decorations or lights but felt the least I should do is put up the tree, if not for myself, then for Jeremy and Amanda. With Jeremy’s help, the tree was brought upstairs and placed in the corner of the living room near the fireplace. And when we started to open the boxes of ornaments and decorate it, we actually began to enjoy ourselves. It’s always fun to rediscover ornaments from years gone by and reminisce about Christmases past. Since we seem to add to our collection almost every year, those boxes contain more than thirty years of memories. There are ornaments for our first Christmas together, for Jeremy’s first Christmas, for our parents and for our pets. And there are unique ones that we’ve gathered over the years, a golden spider’s web, a chubby mermaid, a comical angel, a Tardis, a Manchester United ornament, a cross stitched Christmas coyote, a stained glass tree with a Santa hat, Thomas the Tank Engine and so many others. But the most special, particularly this year, are the ornaments which Gary carved for us, five different Santa ornaments for the tree and three Santas for the mantle. I remember how much he enjoyed creating these keepsakes and how much we enjoyed receiving them. But I wish he knew how very precious they are to us now. And speaking of carvings, a strange thing happened today. Last year Gary carved two dogs for me for Christmas. I have them on the bookshelf in my bedroom. This morning I noticed they were both turned around. Well, since Jeremy and Amanda were here on Saturday to let the dogs out, I reckoned that Jeremy was having me on. When he arrived for breakfast, I asked him if he’d been in the bedroom since we’ve often played similar games with one another, hiding things, moving things and so on. He was as surprised as me at the about-face of the two carvings. And it’s not as if the dogs had jostled them or even nosed them. They were both turned completely around, facing the books. I’ve turned them back again and will keep an eye on them but I have a feeling that Gary is enjoying a little Christmas merriment at my expense.

Copyright 2014 Anne Corke