A Holiday Expose

I was thinking today, December 19, 2014, about my favorite Holiday.

It is not Christmas.

Christmas has become too commercial. It celebrates Santa. Gifts. Parties. Even at its basis it celebrates the birth of a baby, important but not just yet. Ho-ho-hum. For mothers there is always too much to do for Christmas: buy, wrap, send, write, bake, cook, decorate, clean. Dads? They watch football. One year I asked Ken to WRAP eight gifts that I purchased. I provided the gifts, paper, tape, and gift tags and set it all out for him in an orderly fashion. After 1 gift, He said, "I can't do this. It's too much work!"

Ho-ho-huh?

Moving on to New Years. My favorite was the year I was pregnant with Dania. I was still experincing "morning sickness" late December of 1982 and due in April. This was New Years 1983. Ken made us home made pancakes at midnight to celebrate! I ate them ravenously. At 12:02 AM I turned to the kitchen sink and threw up.

Ho-ho-yuck.

Memorial Day? Labor Day? One means 'summer is almost here," which is great. The other means, "fall is almost here," not so great. Between them I do prefer ... I don't have a preference but we have thoroughly enjoyed the Clarks Summit Memorial Day Parades over the years - truly a small town USA extravaganza with the high school marching band, firetrucks, police cars, garbage trucks, antique cars, sports teams, and community organizations all out walking 2 miles, ending with a memorable service at the VFW, complete with free hot dogs. However, Labor Day is fun in Scranton, too, with the Italian Festival... that's really not Italian.

What about the 4th of July? I love his Holiday! It's festive. Patriotic. There are parades, fireworks, hotdogs, and it's HOT; I love hot. Ken and I even celebrate our wedding anniversary on the 5th of July It's a great Holiday and everyone is celebrating. Probably my 2nd favorite Holiday.

Thanksgiving! Oh! Now THAT is a GREAT Holiday! Great food! Great family! Not too hot or cold (normally). No gifts to buy! Lots of football on TV. Maybe this is my 2nd favorite....and I love fresh turkey dinner with cranberries, Grandma Guenther's stuffing balls, sweet potatoes, and maybe a slice of chocolate chip pecan pie....

So, what is the my favorite Holiday?

Easter.

That is the Holiday that has a true gift.

Yes, it has good food.

Yes, it is family oriented.

Yes, it even has gifts - but minimal, fun gifts, mostly chocolate.

Yes, it represents SPRING!

Yes, golf replaces football on TV.

But the most important thing?

Easter represents the gif of Life Everlasting through belief in Christ as the Son of God, who shed his blood on the cross for us.

Simple.

Refreshing.

Free.

How could that NOT be my favorite Holiday? It's the one celebrate that celebrates our faith and hope of life everlasting. 

Believe it. Amen.

PLACES: NIAGARA FALLS, CANADA

Today is my 61st birthday. I was talking about jewelry with Jessica and Mike on the phone this morning and then decided to wear my penny necklace today. The first place that came to mind when I thought of the necklace today, although I don't have a penny from there yet, was Niagara Falls! The last time I was there was probably about 50 years go, so it's as good a time as any to try to recreate those memories.

My parents took my sister and I to see the Falls at least twice. It would have been a decent drive from Erie, PA, back in the days that you could easily travel from the US into Canada, and back, without excessive identification.  I do remember the border patrols would scrutinize your cars inside and out! I wonder what they thought a mom and dad with two little girls would be trying to hide?

My memories about the Falls include:

• Going to the top of what my dad coined "The Needle," the Skylon Tower. It's a observation tower, eatery, and tourist attraction. It opened in October of 1965 so we must have been there summer of 1966. It rises 775 feet from the base of the Falls and from its windows you can see both the Toronto and Buffalo skylines as well as both the American and Horseshoe Falls. I recall eating in the world famous 360 degree Revolving Dining Room as well as shopping in the base.
• Traversing the Gorge with my father in a gondola, the Whirlpool Aero Car! This antique gondola dangles above the Niagara River a drive north of the Falls. The scariest thing I've ever done, for ten nerve-jangling minutes the gondola makes it way between two points above the Gorge. All I can remember is gripping my fathers hand and a metal bar, praying to God that if I lived through the trip, I'd NEVER do it AGAIN. I think that trip started my phobia of heights! If you look down all you see is raging black and foaming water, hundreds of feet below you…
• Touring dressed identical to my sister. That may have been because it was generally crowded and it was be easier to keep tabs on us! The popular 'outfit' those days was the 'skort,' which was a short/skirt combo made for little girls. They were fairly short, ladylike, and allowed for more freedom of action than a skirt.
• Visiting Ripley's Louis Toussaud's Waxworks, housed in an English Tudor style building.
• And of course, seeing the main attraction, the Falls itself. Standing on an observation point on the Canadian side, looking down at 150,000 gallons of water/second flowing over the falls made your heart flutter and took your breathe away!  The fact that there is never a break in the action is exhausting in and of itself.

I'm sorry we never had the opportunity to take our own children there while they were growing up. Ken and I have both visited the falls, with our own parents, and his grandmother, Julia Dunnett, was actually from Ingersol, near London, Ontario, Canada, about 100 miles from the Falls. Someday we'd like to tie a trip in to visit Ingersol / Aylmer and visit the Falls together.