Memories

Wrapping my head around having to work this Yule and having Christmas off and spending it in a house with around 20 or so people that are all family.  Now in the land of 'NORMAL' this would not be an issue, but in the land of severe manic depressive plus social anxiety it is like having over a hundred people in a 10 X 10 room. 
This is the first year of no grandparents and I am missing all of mine a lot.  I was shopping with Faith and we were looking at all the different cheeses and it hit me, we won't be getting our cheese this year.  My Nanny and Poppa (Dad's parents) gave us cheese as part of our gift.  I got so sad then I started thinking of all the Christmas we never got to have with my Mom's Dad he passed when I was 5 or 6 yrs old and I know he would have loved seeing us all each year we grew up. I miss my Grandmother sleeping over in Susan's bed and being there with us for all the Christmas' that I can remember.  I remember I bought her creamed corn for her stocking one year LOL. There are so many memories with my sisters and my cousins, my Aunts and Uncles.  Nanny's sugar cookies with the wild icing and silver balls you weren't suppose to eat lol  I loved Christmas' as a child.  OH and the Icelandic Prune cake not sure who made it but surprising it was awesomely good!  I think one of Mom's family members in Winnipeg sent it to Grandma, but that could be wrong.  I use to be the 1st or 2nd to be awake, a toss up between me and my Dad lol Nanny always made us pj's every year that usually matched and we opened them after Christmas eve church services then went to bed after Dad set up the camera on the tripod so Santa could take pictures of the tree after he put the presents and stockings under the tree!  We were surprised every single year!  I wonder if Sandy remembers the year we were so sure our parents were Santa and we were in our room and HEARD the sound of sleigh bells!!  We dove under the covers and went right to sleep we didn't want him to miss our house!! Oh the memories I have are wonderful and what every child should have, we were so lucky.  I hope I have given my boys memories that were that wonderful!

So I will go there on the 25th with my meager gifts and my broccoli and both my son's and a camera with extra batteries and try to remember to take pictures of everyone and each family and my parents with all the grands and great grand kids, it sounds like another year of good memories.

My sister Sandy's Tribute to our Grandfather

Papa’s legacy

My grandfather (Frank Senicar) was an amazing man. He was the patriarch of our family
I can’t speak to what life was like to be Frank’s child but I can speak to life as Frank’s grandchild and great grandchildren and great great grandchildren.

Family was the most important thing to him. He was always smiling, he was content with life. He accepted everyone for who they were, expectations were never beyond what each individual could attain. I can’t remember ever hearing him raise his voice at me,

My family had the luxury of growing up in the same town as our grandparents. This made for a different experience I believe. We would stop by and Papa would get home from work at the Cooperage, dressed in his work clothes, have a beer sit on the patio in the back. You were always greeted with a big hug and expected to sit on his lap and let him know what was new …did you have a boyfriend to which our response was usually Papa! After he retired he would pick us up in strawberry season and we would go strawberry picking together, an adventure that now I cherish but at the time wow did I wish he had better things to do because I hated strawberry picking. Through grades 6-8 my sisters’ and I would come for lunch at Nanny and Papa’s much to their delight, we would have cheese dreams, beet soup, waffles and ice cream & home made doughnuts. Often Papa was not there these days as he was driving for the cancer society, this got him out of the house and he was doing something to help others. We can only imagine the peace and tranquility he experienced each of these days on his trips to Hamilton. For those who knew my grandmother you can appreciate that Papa was the seen not heard person in the relationship and boy could she talk!!! Obviously this was the dominant trait to be passed on as there are only a few quiet soles within this family. He adored Nanny beyond what most relationships these days could even hope to attain. their love was special.

I was never embarrassed of my grandparents, I loved when they would stop by when I was working at Canadian Tire through high school and college they just wanted to know that I was well and they were so proud of me for pursuing my dream of being a nurse. For a couple that worked hard their entire lives all they wanted for their grandchildren was for us to live a good life and be happy.

Now for the legacy that Papa has left through the eyes of his great grandchildren:

· The man never had a job… he has been retired since I was 10yr old. They cannot understand his work experience in the tobacco fields or years in the Cooperage although for anyone that looked at his fingers ouch that might give them a clue.
· Wow what a memory… he knew every member of our family and what was important to them …somedays I can’t remember the names of my own children.
· Eat what you like and love….. years of table cream in his coffee, Nanny’s baking. We have grown up watching our fat intake and caloric intake…. maybe it is us that are doing it wrong.
· Driving into his mid 90’s
· Living in his own home until his stroke

We can only hope that Papa’s resiliency, compassion, strength and love are passed onto our children, because out of his 4 children,11 grandchildren, 25 great grandchildren and 2 great great grandchildren probability tells us that many of us will not come close to attaining this legacy.