Therese Horstketter
The following article was written by Therese Horsketter, a Public Service Associate for the Manitowoc Public Library.
Happy Winter!!!
The holidays are here, and this year, I, for one, am especially happy to see them come around!
It’s been a rough 2023. Our family has suffered several losses this year and the holidays will definitely not be the same. Medical issues have also taken a toll in new ways. However, nothing we can’t live with. We’re fortunate. And I know so many families with these same heartbreaks and more. So, we all go on and try our best.
To be honest, this is not the way I pictured starting a holiday article. But, like many families, these things are the first things in our minds, especially during this time of year. We always manage to remember good times, and laugh, and, of course, cry a little. It’s a hard part of life, and yet, at the same time, it’s a great part of life.
For some reason this year, one of the first holiday memories I had was when we were all getting out of the car at my grandmother’s house when I was younger. My mother had made a cake and was carrying it in an old metal domed cake pan with the little sliding locks on the base. Well, apparently not all of those locks had been fastened and the cake very nicely slid off the base as it separated from the cover. The cake landed on top of a snowbank. But, my mom, unfazed as far as I could tell, gently scooped it off the snow—miraculously still intact! We took it inside and enjoyed it.
I remember a time when I was working at a local hospital and preparing several turkeys for a group buffet close to Thanksgiving. Yep, I cooked them with the necks, and giblets, and everything still neatly tucked-away inside the gobblers. Luckily, another more turkey-acquainted cook realized the items were missing partway through the cooking cycle and we completed the cooking with empty birds.
Have you seen the episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond” where his wife Debra, out of sheer frustration, is hugging a raw turkey as if it was a child? As she crosses the kitchen, Debra loses control of it and tries to hang onto it by its wings, but loses that battle. She picks it up off the floor, throws it into the open oven, slams the door and walks out of the room! One of my favorite TV moments!
Personally, I’ve prepared gravy in which you could stand a spoon upright and watched a blender erupt when someone hit a button before the cover had been secured. The insides of that blender decorated a good part of the kitchen—along with the person that pressed the button!
We’ve never had a pet damage or “magically disappear” any part of a meal, but we’ve had a kitten climb up the Christmas tree. She liked to sleep under it and threw up “a present” underneath it once, as well. She liked to jump through large plants, so I think she thought she was a jungle cat. She also broke a special glass ornament, which our son repurposed into a frame that we can still hang on our tree.
I hope we’ll manage visits with lots of family this year. We have so many little ones again—and they’re one of the best parts of the holidays! We had to cancel our big Christmas Day get-together in 2020, and we’ve yet to get back to it. I miss it, and we’ll see if someone decides to take it on. On the other hand, I love it when it’s just me, my husband, and our son spending a quiet day together.
In the end, every holiday is what you want to make of it.
Working at the library, I love the different feeling in the air as we get closer to the holidays.
We have so many visitors coming in to see the Evergleam Trees—regular patrons, former local folks who make a point of stopping-in while they’re up visiting family, and visitors from all around the state. And from further away, too.
I love the glow the Evergleams add to our building, inside and out, and the warmth it adds to the holiday spirit. In truth, the library feels so empty after they are gone.
I know this has really been a mix of happy and sad, but the holidays are like that for most people I know.
We acknowledge our losses and our trials, but overall, we find good things to remember and enjoy during the holiday season.
