Victorian Christmas
I can still recall every Christmas eve, great Grandma would gather us around her,
Her eyes distant when she told of those Christmas's of old, as she drifted
in her rocker.
I must have been no more than four or five,
But I
still remember those stories she told till the day she died.
Candles glowing
from miles away,
Lovers gliding in one horse open sleighs.
Children
dressed in long nighties gather at Pa Pa's feet,
To hear Twas The Night
Before Christmas, before they went to sleep.
Then Ma Ma and Pa Pa laid the
presents beneath the tree aglow,
then sipped down hot chocolate by firelight
as they watched the falling snow.
Bring back those Christmas's of
old,
Like those displaced in ceramic mold.
Smiling folks passing to and
fro,
Juggling gifts, chugging through the snow.
Santa clanging a silver cow bell in-front of a warmly lit boutique,
Chestnuts roasting on an open
fire on the corner of a street.
How I long for a Victorian Christmas like
that of days of old,
When the simple things in life were more priceless than
silver or gold.
Great Grandma's gowns are still hanging in the attic, I try
them on sometimes,
Then I rummage through the dusty hope chest to see what I
can find.
Here's the book her Pa Pa read when she was a little girl,
Twas
The Night Before Christmas always gave her heart a thrill.
Here's the old porcelain doll she cherished with care,
Now dust and dirt smudge her dress and
hair.
The old photo album, I open to take a peek,
At a time when the world was generous and meek.
Great Grandma was a lovely girl in her younger
days,
Great Grandpa truly loved her, here's a poem to count the ways.
A
rose from her wedding day rest between the pages, pressed,.
Upon a picture of Great Grandma in her Victorian wedding dress.
Twas a Christmas eve, they exchanged their vows to make their love complete,
In a crystal garden with
snowflakes drifting to their feet.
What a sight that must have been in a
garden of candlelight,
I close the pages and hug the album tight, as it's
memories melt away the cold lonely night.
By Belinda
Smith
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