Brothers and Cousins

December 2, 2017

Some traditions are worth preserving. When I was a boy, every Christmas Eve, my father and mother would load the three of us kids in the car and head for Canandaigua where after our Aunt Marion’s lasagna dinner, we hit the streets. Or more accurately, the street. Our dads, our cousins, and ourselves donned coats, boots, and hats, poured out the door, and traipsed over to the neighbors for Christmas caroling. Once done, we urged and cajoled till they joined us, all to be repeated at the next house, till we had gone down one side and up the other of their dead-end street at the top of a hill. Finally, we all ran, tumbled, and trudged our way through the snow to the Witherspoon’s at the bottom of the hill. They were the neighborhood rich people, who opened wide their doors to receive thirty or more adults and kids for hot chocolate (and probably other refreshments) and cookies. Then it was time to go home.

The details are different, but today the Sinclairville Baileys and Andersen’s drove to Brockport Walmart where we met my brother and sister in law, their kids and grandkids to Christmas shop for a couple needy families. A couple hours later, we were at my brother’s home, wolfing down appetizers before digging into the soups prepared for the day. Our side of the family took turns going to visit mom at the hospital, while we all tackled the task of wrapping everything. 

It was warm enough today that the younger grandkids went outside to play kickball, while a few of us older ones tried our hand at cracking the Indiana Jones bullwhip Matt took in trade for a knife (BTW, it’s harder than it looks in the movies). Cousins who love getting together to bless complete strangers end up blessing themselves in the process, my brother and I get to witness the chain unbroken for three generations. It was, as it was fifty years ago, finally time to head home, but I did so a very thankful man tonight. As the Psalm says, “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.” (133:1) How good? Very good!