Column: Pat Mulso, Preserving the Past

Did our recent snow fall help to get you in the Christmas spirit? Have you completed your Christmas decorating and at least started your Christmas shopping? Have you thought about what you love most about Christmas?

Do you have a favorite Christmas memory that always comes to mind as you think about Christmas? Hopefully as you think about these questions something comes to mind other than just a gift you received. Recently someone did something very nice for us at the museum and as I thanked the person he looked at me and said, “I figure God put us on the earth to not only receive, but to give service to others also.” What a kind and generous person.

His comments reminded me of one of my mother’s favorite sayings: “It is more blessed to give than receive.” When I was in second grade my dad was in a very serious car accident on Thanksgiving Day and was in the hospital for several weeks and though we didn’t get many Christmas presents from mom and dad, we were so happy to have my dad home from the hospital in time for Christmas.

It was a Christmas when many of our extended family and close friends came by to visit and help out my mom and dad until dad could get back to work. We were thankful to have dad home and to be together as a family. Our blessings were many and we were thankful for our family, our friends and for the celebration of the birth of Jesus.

Gifts can come and go, but memories will last a lifetime if you nurture them. This Christmas share something with your family that will be a lasting memory for them and for you. Maybe it will be about a family tradition, an experience from your past or maybe a story about something from their childhood they don’t remember, or maybe it is a gathering where you play games or talk and no one is excluded from joining in on the fellowship of family, a safe place for memories to develop and last a lifetime.

We had a great turnout for our Village Lights Stroll on the Friday after Thanksgiving and hope it will become a family tradition for many families as we continue to improve our exhibit and next year we will have hot chocolate available and marshmallows for roasting as part of the evening’s activities. The attendance for our Sunday Christmas gathering was wonderful. Many had the opportunity to visit with friends, have some refreshments and check out all the Christmas exhibits. We had one person count the correct number of Christmas Trees on exhibit in the museum this season. Stop out and see if you can find and count them all!

Remember to mark your calendars to make a visit to the museum between Dec. 22 and Feb. 12, 2012, as we host the traveling exhibit “Electrifying Minnesota,” which is made possible through the legacy funding. We were awarded a grant through the Minnesota State Historical Society to host the exhibit.

We will be hosting a four-hour defensive driving refresher class on from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Jan. 7, 2012. The cost is $19, and you must pre-register for the class. You may do so by calling the museum at 507-373-8003 or by stopping out during our regular business hours, Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

As the year comes to an end we encourage you to renew your annual museum membership and make a donation to the museum building fund. Your donations are tax deductible for any gift over $25. We appreciate all members who have already renewed. Consider buying a membership as a gift. Certificates are available in our museum gift shop.

The library will remain open this year during the holiday season, so if you need to escape the busy schedule of the season and want to do some research we invite you to stop in and visit the library during our regular business hours. We will be closed on Dec. 23 in observance of the Christmas holiday, but will be open the following Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Remember to drop a note to a shut-in or do something special for someone who least expects it and have a safe and happy holiday season.

 

Pat Mulso is the executive director of the Freeborn County Historical Museum in Albert Lea.