Boxes

Time to put away all of the Christmas decorations -- Christmas in a box.  When I look at the photos in July, it will seem so long ago.

I read an article one time about how buying things can't compare to making memories, that is, doing things and going places.  We've kind of gone over this before in the blog, that for instance, I can't remember my birthday presents very well but I can remember a lot of details about our trips to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland.

The house where we stayed most of the times was a Lincoln construction.  In other words, a foundation with an A-frame roof.  There was no garage but plenty of parking in the driveway.  On the lowest level was a bathroom and a couple of bedrooms, plus a large recreation room.  On the main floor was a kitchen, dining area, living room and bathroom.  On the top level was three bedrooms and no bathroom, a definite disadvantage.

But the house was cozy and roomy and had a wonderful deck off the main floor.  It was not "lake front" but we had lake access, a small windy little pathway through some woods to the dock and a small clearing where there was a fish cleaning table.  In the morning before the boats stirred up the lake, you could see the huge boulders that lay under the dock.

The rocks in this part of Maryland were flecked with a lot of purples.  People used the rocks as their yard in a lot of cases.  I brought one home, a small one, to serve as a memory and it sits in a special spot in our yard even today. 

One other time, we somehow won a weekend in Deep Creek and we stayed at a motel on the water's edge.  Other times we stayed at an old motel that still offered a lot of amenities.  At that time they had small cabins dotting the property that you could rent.  The room doors in the back opened onto a huge deck that spanned the whole structure.  There were walkways and of course, the lake.  Down the street was a great deli that we often visited for quick grocery purchases.

The four and a half hour drive to Deep Creek went pretty fast, and yet we were always surprised that so few Ohioans visited there.  We scanned license plates in the parking lots of various places we visited, as well as the lot at the motel when we stayed there.  There were Maryland, West Virginia, and Washington DC plates mostly, but very few from Ohio. 

When we visited there, one of the neatest places was a sanctuary on the lake, a section of land jutting out and rimmed with carefully tended evergreens.  It belonged to the Catholic Church and it was a retreat.  From our dock at the Lincoln house, we could see the tip of it especially when it was really clear.  It was sold and huge expensive houses were built on the land.  They built roadways into it where there had only been just the one. 

Other changes are that more really expensive houses have been built and they are rented out for large family gatherings, such as what you might find on the Carolina coast. 

So all of that for just a few weeks spent in another state.  Lots of memories.  If you are able to go places, do it.  You don't have to run it into the ground.  One of the reasons why I remember so much is that we don't travel very much.  When we do, it's quite the occasion.

So Christmas is in the boxes, ready to go to the attic.  But the memories of this Christmas are stored in my head.  God Bless You, and please, be careful and stay warm.  We're in for some really bad weather.