When Mimi & Papa (my Mom & Dad) were alive and our kids were small, we would come up to what is now our house (Wife and I). We had an Fisher cast iron wood stove, and Dad would stoke it up and put the firescreen in. In the glow of a fire, we would have coffee, hot chocolate, and usually cinnamon buns followed by watching the kids open their gifts (which we had brought up with us). We then wondered how we were going to get those gifts plus the gifts from Mom & Dad for the kids and us into the car and get them back home. Somehow it all worked out. If we had snow, it was off for a quick run on the snowmobiles down to the field where Precious Gardens is on Rte 11 in Alton, then back home for the Christmas turkey, out to go sliding (I think I may have hogged the sled from the kids
), back to the house, change into some dry clothes, and then fall asleep in the warmth of that woodstove, now closed up and putting out some serious heat.
Mimi and Papa are now gone, and it's us that have the grandchildren come here. Christmas rotates around to different houses, but it is still the same fun to watch the kids open gifts, and still fun to realize now that we are older, that Christmas indeed has a gift giving meaning, it also has a deeper meaning, and becomes a second chance to reflect on things for which we can be thankful.
Seasons greetings to all, and may a smile given to others and one received by you carry the same warmth as that woodburning stove.