Memories of Darkness and Long Nights!

Yesterday marked the Winter Solstice, here in the northern hemisphere.

This is the day when ancient Nordic peoples celebrated the return of the light, as days once again started getting longer.

Light meant life and the ability to grow things, so it was celebrated on this day, interestingly enough long before Christianity claimed the day (close enough) for its own festivities.

When I was a kid in Denmark, I do remember the darkness of the days before Christmas. It would be dark in the morning when I waited for the school bus, and dark when the school bus dropped us off in the afternoon, at least on cloudy days... which was most days.

The darkness was OK though, because we all had plenty of indoor hobbies to keep us busy. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if people who live in the far north are more inclined to keep indoor hobbies to keep themselves busy because of the seasonal variations in daylight.

Much of the time I would be working on my stamp collection, or building something with my dad in his workshop, or — in the case of December — making Christmas ornaments, both for ourselves as well as to give away. I can't recall it ever feeling like there wasn't plenty of things to do.

In the Denmark of my childhood, school holidays for Christmas started around December 20th or so, and it always felt like such a great sense of relief to no longer have to go to school. Of course, we kids were always hoping for a "white Christmas," but those are surprisingly rare in Denmark... most of our snowstorms come in January, February and March. In fact, we only had one such during my childhood, in 1969.

But that didn't put a damper on my joy of the season!

One of my favorite things during the days before Christmas was to help my mom bake cookies. I learned a good bit about cooking although my main motivation was to get to "taste test" our work.

And once school ended, so did having to go to bed early because it was a school night. So that meant staying up late with all those cookies!

We would also make chocolates and other treats to give to friends and family.

In many ways, Christmas gave me some positive memories in what was otherwise a pretty empty childhood. It was a time when even the adults who didn't get along well seemed to put aside their differences.

I probably remember Christmas of my childhood more fondly than it warrants, but it just felt like such a time of light, in what was otherwise a dark and dreary time of the year.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week ahead!

How about you? Do you have good memories of childhood Christmas? What were some favorite things? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 2024.12.23 02:07 PST
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