Thursday, December 22, 2011

Advent Calendar - December 22: Christmas and Deceased Relatives

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This is the 22nd of 24 posts for the 2011 Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories, a Geneablogger tradition.

On the 3rd Day before  Christmas
My true love said "I'm sad,
Let's go see your mom and dad."

1) Did your family visit the cemetery at Christmas?

I have specific memories of, as a boy, going with my mother and her parents to put flowers on the wall to honor Georgia Auble, and Austin and Della Carringer, at the Cypress View mausoleum. I think it was at Christmas. My grandparents were very close to their parents, having lived with them, or next door to them, nearly all their lives. I think I took my mother (since she didn't drive) to Cypress View after her parents died for several years at Christmas.

I don't recall going to my father's grave at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery at Christmas time, although we went occasionally when we had Seaver family visitors.

2) How did your family honor deceased family members at Christmas?

We have never had shrines or anything like that for our deceased relatives. There are pictures on the walls of them. At the Christmas Day dinner, I usually lead a family prayer and specifically mention those that have gone before, and name them by name (I only go back to my grandparents! It would be a really long prayer otherwise).

I had hoped to gather thumb sized face photos of as many ancestors as possible from my collection of photographs and get them put onto Christmas tree ornaments but that project was put on hold. If I did that, then I could put the photos in my online Family Trees too.

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