A smell that said "home" like no other, a smell that welcomed all to the glowing promise of the ancient hearth. Breads and cookies that spread their scented glory throughout the rooms and struck me in the soul on the first step inside from the winter wind. As I waited for Bob Hope's Christmas show to start, I felt so distant from the wonder of the season seen through the eyes that I had when I was waist high.Īs I waited on the hanger deck, I thought of my childhood home and all the seasonal aromas in the house. Those Christmases were white and cold on the outside, but warm and glowing on the inside. Many seemed to run together to where I couldn't remember which Christmas had brought me the Hot Wheels set and which brought me the blue blazer.īut thanks to my mother, there were Christmases throughout my past, when the world around me was still so very new and I had found heroes who caught footballs and swung bats, heroes who I believed were just and fair and played for the love of the sport. I could remember so many of my mother's perfectly orchestrated Christmases, but not all distinctly and separately. Christmas was my mother's favorite holiday and she always pulled out all the stops and all her Hummel Christmas figurines were paraded out and displayed, depicting nativity scenes and Christmas characters, like Santa and Rudolph. I was thinking back on previous Christmases while waiting for the show to begin. RELATED | A holiday look back at Christmas in Louisville He came with singers and actors and beauty contest winners. He brought a bevy of beauties, with impossibly perfect bodies, with legs that never stopped, with perfect smiles and Big Hair. 24, and Bob Hope flew aboard my aircraft carrier. On this particular Christmas, my ship, the aircraft carrier, USS Midway, was just outside the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Iran, while Iran and Iraq were approaching their sixth year of war with each other. ![]() I was a young naval officer and I had been at sea nearly 100 days straight escorting U.S.-flagged tankers through the Persian Gulf in the largest convoy operation since WWII. ![]() But, I can't help remembering all the lessons she taught me - especially one regarding what Christmas is all about. It has been 15 Christmases since my mother passed.
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