{"id":1284,"date":"2024-12-24T14:11:56","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T19:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1284"},"modified":"2024-12-24T14:20:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-24T19:20:18","slug":"christmas-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1284","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every year I miss the joys of a white Christmas that I experienced as a child and young man growing up in snow country. Even with the passing of 56 wonderful years living in the deep South, I can\u2019t shake my memories and a gnawing need for snow during the holidays. It just never seems like Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>I remember the season being cold so that we had to wear parkas and boots, scarves and mittens when going out. It was never a problem though as we kept warm sledding and skating and building snowmen when not pelting one another with snowballs. I still hear the crunch of the snow and feel the cold bite of the air and miss it this time of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Christmas Eve Day was a wonderful time in our town with everything decked out, and the bustle of last minute shopping included stops at local taverns and saloons providing free *Tom and Jerrys, a traditional Christmas drink popular in midwestern states.<\/p>\n<p>Christmas Eve was a special evening. In the German tradition, we celebrated both Jesus and St. Nick then. Families and friends gathered for dinner, opened presents and often attended midnight mass to sing Christmas carols and enjoy the magic of the Gregorian chant. Always there was snow, piled high around the walks and doors, freshly plowed on the streets and frequently traipsed inside.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, I still dream of a \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d every year and miss the joys of my early years. But today I\u2019m living a different dream, for over a half century I\u2019ve enjoyed the prosperity and good life here in Georgia and for this I give thanks.<\/p>\n<p>Merry Christmas to all and to all, a ho, ho, ho!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1285\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image.png\" alt=\"\" title=\"image-png\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1285\" srcset=\"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-45x45.png 45w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>*Google Tom and Jerrys and try some. They just might warm up your holiday too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every year I miss the joys of a white Christmas that I experienced as a child and young man growing up in snow country. Even with the passing of 56 wonderful years living in the deep South, I can\u2019t shake my memories and a gnawing need for snow during the holidays. It just never seems&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-robert-fischer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Christmas Dreams - Potlatch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1284\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas Dreams - Potlatch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every year I miss the joys of a white Christmas that I experienced as a child and young man growing up in snow country. 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