for entertainment. I have to say, this
one thing was starting to wear on
me. I didn’t feel I had anyone’s full
attention, ever.
The first day went smoothly after
a grocery run into Westlake and
an excursion to find some kind of
Christmas tree. My son was able to
find a nice little tree at Capps, a home
building store in the Westlake area.
We purchased a couple of strands
of white lights and a tree stand, but
needed some kind of decorations.
Needless to say, when I announced
that I thought we should make the
tree decorations, I did not get a
rousing response. In fact, none of
the grandkids lifted their heads from
their various devices long enough to
even be curious. A couple of our
grown children did perk up a little
and volunteered to make a run into
the Westlake Kroger store to purchase
a few items that Roz and I had written
down. Later that afternoon, while my
sister and I were putting together
chains of popcorn and cranberries
and multicolored paper garlands, I
looked out the window and thought
I saw a snowflake or two blowing in
the air. Roz and I continued to work
on the tree decorations, but I didn’t
mention that I had seen the snow
starting to fall.
Several hours later, as I was placing
one of the popcorn chains in the
boughs of the tree, two or three of the
youngest grandchildren actually put
down their games and asked what I
was doing, and where were our real
Christmas decorations. I began to
show my age when I, of course, said
these were real Christmas decorations
like the ones we grandmothers had
made as children. I actually heard a
couple of moans from the teenagers in
the room. Still, heads were bowed to
look at screens and thumbs continued
to fly over the keyboards of everyone’s
gadgets.
What this holiday needed was
an adjustment in attitude and less
technology. My brain began to start
cranking out visions of some of the
other “old-fashioned” things we
used to do for the holidays and that
gave me an idea. Why not have an
old-fashioned Christmas with no
electronic gadgetry and start using
our brains to come up with holiday
ideas. No more trips to town. Enjoy
the lake view and each other.
When I suggested this to everyone
I got complete silence. Roz piped up
about this time, and said she didn’t
think this was going very well. I had
to agree with her. With a shrug, I
turned and began opening curtains
and raising blinds just to get more
light into the room when I realized
that it had begun to snow in earnest.
In fact, I could see that there were
several inches of snow on the ground.
I let out a yelp, and everyone turned
my way. All the grandchildren’s faces
were pressed up to the window, and
they all started talking at once. A
beautiful change had come over the
room.
Every one of the grandchildren
got on their hats and coats and went
out to play in the snow. Two of our
daughters decided to start baking
Christmas cookies. My son found
an ax on the front deck and headed
off to find more wood to burn in the
fireplace. My sister and I continued
to make garlands for the tree and
reminisced about our childhood
Christmases.
We heard some yelling and calling
from the direction of our dock and
looked out the back deck window.
On our dock we could see not only
our grandchildren but some children
from the neighborhood. It looked
like they were in a serious discussion
as they pointed to the slight incline
going down the side of the property.
This could mean only one thing.
They were trying to figure out how to
turn that incline into a sledding hill.
Christmas Continued...
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It would be interesting to see what
the group came up with for sleds.
Later on, everyone came into the
house to get warm and find something
to eat. There was a roaring fire in the
fireplace and freshly baked cookies on
the dining room table. The chatter
from the grandkids was deafening
as they talked about how much fun
they were having sledding with the
neighboring kids. It happened that
one of the houses was a permanent
residence, and the family had three
sleds. With some cooperation, all
the kids were sharing the sleds and
getting along.
Two of our daughters and my
son decided we needed to prepare
something for everyone to eat that
evening. Our original plans had been
to travel into Moneta to eat at a nice
little Italian restaurant, but we weren’t
sure of road conditions and didn’t
want to venture out. I could hear
them in the kitchen going through
cupboards checking out the groceries
we had bought, when someone
knocked at our door.
My sister opened the door to
find a gentleman, bundled up and
rosy cheeked, extending his hand
in introduction. Seems he was our
neighbor who lived at the lake all year.
After talking with him, Roz shut the
door and said we had all been invited
to the neighbor’s house for a pot luck.
I’ve always known the South is the
only place I would ever want to live,
and this was one of the reasons: the
people. Where else would someone
invite twelve strangers into their
home for dinner on the spur of the
moment?
To say our evening was one of the
most pleasant I had spent in a very
long time, would be putting it mildly.
Not only had we been invited, but
several of the other neighbors and
their children were there. To my
utter delight, I did not see one piece
of technology. The younger children
had decided to play a board game, and
the teenagers were downstairs playing
cards of some kind. From the laughter
we could hear, it seemed they were
having a wonderful time. The adults
spent the evening in conversation
swapping stories about their favorite
family Christmas traditions, and
getting to know one another better.
Discover Smith Mountain Lake
Winter 2014
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