I will be going to the home of my Mother for Christmas this year.   This has not happened, for about 38 years, since I first had a family of my own & always lived far away.   The circumstance under which I will be there are not the best but I feel young again looking forward to going.   (My Mom is awaiting surgery of a shoulder replacement.)   I insisted that I go and prepare Christmas dinner for my brothers, their wives, my nieces & nephews, their spouses & my great nieces & nephews.   It will be a great pleasure to see those faces of people I love, at Christmas.   I hope that one of those little ones will remember this Christmas fondly & their great Aunt Esther, when they are grown & have families of their own. THE CHRISTMAS I REMEMBER AS A CHILD I am 63 years old now but still I remember, when I was young, the wonderful Christmases with my family & extended family.   I say extended family because we were never only my immediate family celebrating Christmas.   Always Christmas happened at my Trahan Grandparent's home & all of the uncles, aunts & cousins were there.   We were a VERY large group but Grandma & Grandpa's little house somehow held us all.   Her kitchen seemed very big then because we were all in there, (That's where all of the "Good smells" were.), except on hot sunny days, when we children could play outside. (In Southwest Louisiana that was a lot Christmases.) When we had to stay inside, I remember that some of us girl cousins would sit under the kitchen table, playing our favorite games, which were to look at Grandma's button collection, (which she kept in a Mason jar), & also played with our two handed "yo-yos."   (They were made with a large button that had a string looped through both holes.)   In the oven would be a Canadian goose roasting, stuffed with apples, raisins, celery, bell pepper & onion, (Back then, I didn't know that 95% of my ancestors were from Canada & Acadia.), a little pigs stomach stuffed with all kinds of meats & seasonings, (It was called ??fauer??   Louisiana "Cousins" please help me with this one, if you remeember too?) & sweet potatoes. (Both white & red.)   On top of the stove, on each burner sat a pot.   One was a big pot of okra & shrimp gumbo, one was pork & sausage jambalaya, one held a beef roast stuffed with garlic & onion, (which gravy was made with the drippings) & the other one was the ever present pot of rice. Already cooked & sitting outside, in the kitchen screened-in "window safe," waiting to be warmed when there would a free burner, was corn mac-shoo & lima beans, (one with tomato & one without).   We would have, waiting for after dinner, what we called "Grandma pies," (they were made with a sweet dough & shaped in "half moons," with all kinds of preserves inside. Also, there were all kinds of cakes with jams & custards fillings that were iced with beaten egg white & sugar which was hard & crusty.     About the only thing purchased was 7up pop, flour, sugar, apples, raisins & wine.   Everything else was raised or grown at home or the fields of other relatives, who lived in an other part of Southwest Louisiana.   (In Crowley, (the Trahans) In Esther, (the Comeauxs), Leleau, (the Cormiers) and Cow Island, (the Broussards)   The shrimp were caught by uncles & the goose was hunted by Grandpa.     Grandma always served us kids first.   (I was the oldest of the 9 grandchildren so I was moved up with the adults when I turned 13.   That was a really an important Christmas for me, even if I did have to wait & eat later.   This was also the year that I was deemed old enough to attend Midnight Mass!!)   Grandma would make us a Christmas punch with 7UP & a little Mogan David wine to color it. (We thought, that was big stuff, having wine.)     We would get one gift from "Santa," one gift from Grandma & Grandpa & we would draw names with the rest of the family.   The "Santa" gift was under our tree at my home & the other gifts got opened after dinner, (which was our noon meal).   They were under Grandma & Grandpa's tree in their living room.   (Christmas was the only time that room got used, except for when the insurance man came to their house & collected the premium.   I'm sure he had to stay for coffee & Grandma Pie.)   We were not cheated of "socks on the fireplace," either.   We didn't have a fireplace, because we all lived in town & had natural gas heat, but Grandpa made us one with plywood & red brickwork patterned paper.   In our socks we got hard ribbon candy.     To me Christmas Day was MAGICAL!   There's no other word that I can think of that expresses my feeling for those Christmases.   I know now that we were very poor of "Want," but we had just enough of what we needed to go around.       I was truly blessed, having so many loving people around me.