One nice thing is I got to go to Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village this year. I love going there – it is a lovely old historical village put together by Henry Ford that does an old-timey Christmas celebration. I always want to make it before Christmas but I haven’t been able to make it because of school and family parties. Holiday Nights is so festive – I would actually just prefer to do that than get any damn present. I am really tired of the holidays being all about gifts. I just want to get together with my family and do fun things together rather than exchange gifts. Truly, the highlight of my Christmas this year was Nerf gun war with my stepson and nephews on Christmas Day, and going to Holiday Nights.
I would also love to go to Christmas at Crossroads Village too. That is another old historical village closer to home. I love all that stuff – it makes you think about the true spirit of Christmas. Back in the day people didn’t exchange tons of gifts; if they celebrated Christmas at all it was more about getting together and sharing a fun experience – singing/making music, dancing, games, and of course eating. I want to get back to that kind of Christmas.
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This year my husband, me, my stepson, and his girlfriend went. We started out eating, ha. We decided to leave early and stop for some deep dish pizza before going to the Village – then we wouldn’t be hungry. Dinner was okay – not up to the usual standards but it filled our bellies.
We got to the Village early – thought the festivities started at 5:30pm but they actually started an hour later. But since we were early we didn’t have to wait in line to ride in an old Model-T car. We zoomed around the village – our old driver almost hit some pedestrians, hee hee. I don’t think they were too happy. Then me and my stepson tried ice skating – yeah, it took me longer to get my skates on then we spent on the ice. We each did one lap around the rink and called it good. I was afraid I was going to break something and end our fun for the night.
We stopped by the old Thomas Edison Menlo Park complex. I didn’t know but when Henry Ford brought over all the buildings, once they got ’em all set up again, they had a dedication ceremony and Edison was there. It was way back in the 1920s or 30s and it was broadcast all over the country by radio. The chair Edison sat in for the ceremony was nailed to floor and it has been kept in the same spot since then. It was a great story to hear and it made me so thankful that Ford preserved all this history. I feel like he passed moments in time through the generations, and I got to pass that down to my stepson, and even to my husband. I can’t describe the feeling I had standing in that old building, dimly lit by those old Edison lightbulbs – it was a sentimental gratefulness…hard to describe.
After that we went through all the old houses. I love going in those houses – in some the people are cooking over the fire and it smells awesome. It is like stepping back in time. Then there is music – an old colonial drum and fife band, carolers, a brass band, and in one house there was an old-time string band (one lady plays a dulcimer – I wanna’ learn to play!). They play all kinds of old songs and Christmas music. We stopped and listened to them for a while and we got to request the last songs – Rudolph, and What Child is This (that one made me cry). We wrapped up the evening with hot chocolate and fireworks.
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