Echoes of a Vintage Christmas

Echoes of a Vintage Christmas

The vintage photograph fades,
its sepia toned edges curling like whispers
of a time when holidays lingered longer.
Shadows of tinsel glimmer in softened light,
hands clasped tight against the chill of memory.

Silver bells ring out,
deep and resonant in the chill air.
Old sentiments are stirred awake
by the pungent scent of pine
and oranges by the crackling fire.

The owls call through the silent night,
their low cries weaving between bare branches,
a rhythm older than the bells,
older than the song,
their secret hymn to the winter moon.

Time slows in the glow of Christmases past,
where the world felt smaller,
wrapped in the hush of snow and candlelight.
Joy was simple then –
a hand to hold, a voice to sing…
a quiet moment that stretched forever.

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2024
December 27, 2024

Happy Friday! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah! I was a busy little elf in the kitchen on Christmas Eve, baking apple pie, dark chocolate coconut blondies, and making potato candy. I also prepared a cheese ball and the corn pudding casserole for Christmas Day. Dan even made us some Naughty But Nice Christmas Cocktails, a recipe I found online a few days before. And of course, the requisite last minute wrapping of a handful of gifts! On Christmas morning, Dan and I exchanged our gifts, played with the cats and had our traditional cinnamon rolls with coffee before we headed out to Mom’s house. We took her up to my sister Sarah’s house, where we shared a delicious ham dinner with all the trimmings, drank mimosas, exchanged gifts and laughed a LOT! Her kids are growing up so fast! I was so grateful to spend time with my family this year. Even so, I was missing the kids and grandkids – we did FaceTime with them earlier on Christmas morning!

Then it was back to work these past two day doing bonus payrolls and wrapping up all those last minute year end client tasks. Only a few more days to enjoy the holidays, and then for me it’s full force into January, my busiest work month. There will be an endless parade of W-2s, Q4 & Annual payroll filings, client catchup bookkeeping, and 1099 processing, along with keeping up with the usual client payrolls. The only good thing is that I do get paid overtime, which is nice especially after Christmas.

I got my stitches out Monday, and my foot is healing up pretty well. I was advised to stay in the Beastly Boot another two weeks…I really tried, but yesterday I woke up in so much pain in my entire foot that I couldn’t bring myself to strap that heavy thing on again. It was causing pain in my pinky toe that kept waking me up, which is not where the surgery was done. Believe it or not, walking in my bare feet on bathroom tile felt WONDERFUL, my foot could flatten out and the muscles relax. So I just wore some adjustable Mary Janes and had NO PAIN whatsoever! So I’m on my way…. next up, hopefully regaining my independence and driving my car. WOO!

Have a Happy New Year, everyone!

Xoxo,
Colleen

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 26.16 – Vintage Holidays
Hard Bonus: Incorporate a line from your favorite Christmas carol or holiday song (“Silver Bells” and “Silent Night”)
Easy Bonus: Include an elf