There are many pleasant memories of Christmases past, when I think about it, I have a hard time deciding on one over the other, I suppose they were very good times, each in their own way and on their own scale. I suppose that if I had to choose, it would be an occasion when we were together in an old house belonging to Grandma, who had fields for planting corn and raising pigs, I was a little over seven years old, I'm not entirely sure, we were already almost finishing the preparations for Christmas Eve on the 24th.
Of the different relatives I have, most were at that meeting, the couples always agreed each year to alternate the end of the year and the nativity, dividing themselves into the houses of their respective in-laws, so at least one of the two days would be spent with their respective fathers. I remember that we had finished the preparations, and we were as a family, sharing drinks and food, scattered around the front patio, the large open side dining room and also inside the main house.
It was an old, agricultural property, separated by more than two hours from the city highway, with a poor TV signal, it had several buildings, but it was really a modest property, but very pleasant.
The point is that despite the fact that almost all the relatives were there, one was missing who was 'the soul of every party', a laughing uncle, joker, somewhat childish, a good dancer, musician, singer, reciter of poems... in short, He was the guy who could make a stone laugh or make a marble statue fall in love and make the statue dance with him.
Well, the uncle's daughters and wife were there, we were generally fine, but the other uncles and aunts missed their younger brother who was the happiest, supposedly he was on an emergency shift, and he worked in the Health Department, so if there were rain's victims, vaccination days or something related to disasters, he would have to go, and he wasn't sure he would return for days.
The thing is that we saw a Health Department jeep arrive, the uncle got out and him friends continued on the road and left immediately, he said that they managed to finish ahead of schedule, and they picked it up quickly, they did him the favor of taking a detour to drop him off at the old house and thus was able to arrive before Christmas dinner.
Grandma's smile for having all her sons and daughters reunited with her couples and her grandsons and granddaughters, I suppose that smile is the best memory I have of that Christmas.