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Holiday Memories
By Sandra Lee Schubert | December 24, 2008
What are you favorite holiday memories?
My mother, a young widow, with two small girls managed to make Christmas spectacular. We had a small apartment so I don’t know where she hid gifts. But Christmas morning we would wake up to a wonderful smell of breakfast. Usually pancakes or waffles something good and gooey. The tree had a ton of gifts underneath it. On her limited budget I don’t know how she managed to give us some much.
Dinner would be roast beef and mashed potatoes. When I was older I became the mashed potatoe princess beating the hell out of those lumps to whip a creamy confection. MMM… I still have a deep fondness for mashed potatoes. We never lacked for anything as children.
I am very grateful for all that she gave us.
Mourning the Loss of Towels by Sandra Lee Schubert
Not a willing early riser, prone to steal extra minutes sliding further under the covers with just a nose to catch the air.
Slipping back to an entertaining dream before the clock radio bellows with morning voices, and then later the second beep, and finally the third alarm stationed in the bathroom making a bitter end to a delicious sleep.
I am reminded of lost things. The towels my mother taught me to fold— not like my aunt— she would have none of that.
First, one fold along the length of the towel to the middle, and the second fold over that. Smooth it out, fold the towel in half and in half again. After all these years I still fold towels the same way.
But it is my mother’s towels, the ones we folded together, I miss the most. Their frayed edges with soft middles, the way they wrapped me. And her hands, worn even then, her furrowed brow, brown hair, and the faint smell of gardenia that clung to her.
Then I learned about loss and sorrow still to come. Mourning the loss of towels I slip deeper under the covers to grasp one last dream. Published 2008
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