THE CHRISTMAS CARD BY DIANE DE BAUN
Every Christmas, the Bayberry family would crowd into this weird tiny little house on fortieth Street in Brooklyn, New York. There before any of the other family and apartment buildings were added to the street, this little house stood alone.The only one like it anywhere, I am sure. You entered the house by going down stairs off to the side of the house into the basement really. There you would find a mud room , then a kitchen and 2 other rooms. When I was little the walls were all taken down making the downstairs one large room. Mostly kitchen. Even with these walls down, you cant imagine how small it was. Four tiny room only grew into one not so tiny room. Far from large. The cabinets were metal. The stove was ancient. It gave a big whoosh when you stuck a match to the burner. The huge old refrigerator stood alone right in the middle of the room. I never figured out why it was placed there. Right in the middle of the room. That refrigerator could have been a room of its own if it wasn't so cold inside. When you opened its massive door, people had to scurry out of its way or get slammed. There was little furniture in the kitchen. 2 large tables surrounded by mismatched chairs and one old china hutch filled too over flowing with dishes and glasses. Also mismatched. One tiny 13 inch TV on a metal TV stand so that the children ( me one of them at the time) could watch the thanksgivings day parade and then the yearly showing of King Kong. How could someone ever come to consider King Kong as a holiday classic? Everything in the room (except the furniture) was painted in whatever color paint grandma had found saved in the back room. She'd paints the walls, the metal cabinets, even the porcelain sink. Just about anything that could not run away from her. " its clean now. That's what matters" She'd paint right over the dust, the dirt and consider that sanitary. . Yes, it was a strange house. Maybe out of place, an oddity to those passing by but for the Bayberry family it was a little magic tucked between the buildings . There only for us. Now picture a growing family squeezed into this little space. Grandma and Grandpa had 5 children and all but one of them had families of at least 2 children each. How we ever fit into that tiny kitchen I will never know but I never felt crowded. I never felt there could be a better place or a better way to be . This was where the family met for Sunday dinners, every birthday celebration, thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas dinner. As I grew up, this became the symbol of celebrating together. The ENTIRE family, all there, all squeezed into a small area. Adults at and about the big table . Children at the kids table area. Eating off dishes that did not match. Glasses that were very size imaginable including jelly jars. Sitting anywhere you could find a space. Laughter and conversation coming from every direction .There were 3 itty bitty and I mean itty bitty bedrooms with a tiny parlor upstairs but family members seldom went up those stairs except to use the bathroom at the top of the stairs. A room with a huge claw foot tub and a toilet with a tank suspended over your head with a huge metal pull cord hanging down the side. I always feared I'd pull that wood handle one day and all the water in the toilet tank would come rushing down on me. Only grandma and grandpa used the upstairs and that was only to sleep. Otherwise, all life took place down in the small kitchen cellar.in the tiny house on 40th street in Brooklyn, NY. That tiny house with its little flower garden in front and small vegetable garden and play area in the rear that stood alone between the every growing high rise buildings . It was heaven. It was the holidays Every time we gathered there I knew this was what the holidays were supposed to be about. How the holidays were supposed to feel. I grew up, moved upstate.had a family of my own with holiday celebrations and new traditions that blended my history with that of my husbands. but for me, something was always missing. I missed the family all together. I mean the entire family. all of it all together gathered together no matter how small the house or apartment we gathered in. Nothing could have been as small as grandma and grandpas house. It did not matter if the food was a feats or a bag of potato chips with dip. What mattered was that we met together , all of us. The way grandma and grandpa wanted us to be then, now, forever.Sooooooooooooooooooo, this year I made one last attempt to make my dream come true. For memory or grandma. For memory of grandma & grandpa. I called and I emailed all my relative. Come for Christmas. Come for Christmas please. But although the responses varied, the answer was always the same...."NO" "You live too far away to travel in winter" "its too far to travel with small children" We are so many" it would be just to crowded and uncomfortable" "We prefer to stay in on the holidays" I just could not understand. We all traveled , some from all distances, in bad weather, with the hassle. No, to me these were all just weak excuses. You cant make people remember the past the way you do. You cant force then to feel the way you do. So, I gave up my idea. I had made a valiant attempt. Time to let go and go on. Today is Christmas Eve. Usually I would be a flutter with last minute touches to make tonight as special as possible. But this year I was sad. I could not let go of the memory of loss those family gathering and my dream of the family together. No matter where. No matter how small a place. no matter the chipped dishes or the unmatched size glasses. I hid my regret from my husband and kids but i wanted to cry. I wanted them all to WANT to be together. Be a family celebrating the holiday not with friends and co workers but with the family grandma and grandpa had built for us to have through the good times and the bad. Wasn't that what a family was for????The day moved on. Snow began to fall lightly. It was going to be a White Christmas. I played our favorite Christmas music on the stereo. I put "Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol" video on the TV ( with the sound muted) . Around 3 PM we began to play Christmas board games and challenge each other to Christmas trivia questions we hoped would stump you. We placed our gifts under the tree. My son played some Carols on the piano. My daughter made a batch of Christmas cookies in the kitchen with my granddaughter. My husband was messing around with one set of Christmas lights that always seemed to go out Christmas Eve. This was good This was Christmas with the family. Why wasn't it enough? "Grandma, Grandpa, Do I at least make any sense to you?" I asked the heavens.It was 6 PM. Night comes early in December. There was a knock at the door. Who could it be? We weren't expecting anyone tonight. I opened the door. Shock came over my face. There on my front step was my family. Aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters. "Merry Christmas" they said as they filed past me into my tiny house. Arms filled to over flowing with packages and trays of food. Bottles of wine, boxes of it alien pastry, loaves and loaves of bread. "What are you all doing here?" I asked. No one answered. They just put out the food, placed the gifts under the tree and found a spot here or there to sit. I asked again" What are you all doing here?" My cousin Jared answered me "You know very well why we are here. That Christmas Card you made. I have to hand it to you. It worked. It worked great. Made us all blue and feel good and guilty. But mostly blue. It made us miss all those Christmas' as Grandmas house. So , since you offered to have it here.Here we are". He took a Christmas cookie off the table and off he went. I followed him. My husband and children joined me at the tree just as bewildered. "What Christmas card are you talking about?" My husband asked. Jared laughed " Oh, Come on. It worked. You don't have to go all twilight Zone on us". "No really" I begged "What card?". Jared reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a card. The outside looked like a picture frame gilded in gold. Inside the frame was a family photo of the entire family as we were when grandma and grandpa were alive. Their grandpa was sitting in his favorite recliner. and there in the corner was grandma in her apron. Her hands filled with dishes as always. The inside of the card readHolidays are there to remind us of our blessings.No matter where the years take you.No matter how busy or how farAt Christmas the family come together to celebrate.You are so lucky you can spend the holidays together the way we once did.How we wish we could be there with you.The card was signed With All Our Love From Up Above,Grandpa and GrandmaI began to feel dizzy. My husbands mouth hung open. I looked at my husband and then at my family who were now all looking at me."I never sent this card" I barely whispered."Well someone sent it," laughed uncle Chad. Everyone looked from one to the other . Everyone stopped laughing. No one confessed. No one could because no one there had sent it. So where had the cards come from?MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.WITH ALL OUR LOVE FROM UP ABOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I CARE, Diane Diane
