Holiday Traditions 12.6.23

My mother really nailed it with her ornament selection for me in 2007. Shortly after we moved to Vermont in 1999, my husband, our two boys and I became addicted to skating and to pond hockey. I had always been an avid Philadelphia Flyers fan, but until moving to Vermont had never donned a pair of hockey skates. I have fond memories of skating on friends’ ponds during my youth growing up in Chester County, PA, but there were never impromptu hockey games then and my footwear consisted only of figure skates.

So, at the age of 44, I bought my first pair of hockey skates and threw myself into the sport. Our first major project on our new property was the excavation and construction of a pond! In addition, we spent many hours donating our time to getting the town rink up and running each year.

Although the skates on the ornament are figure skates, they are representative of the good times we had as a family playing pick-up ice hockey games on our pond and at the town rink. I remember a particular moment one night – frozen in time – donning my skates on the side of the town rink with temperatures hovering around zero degrees Fahrenheit – my breath freezing as it collided with the air – the rink lighting casting peculiar shadows across the ice – fingers and toes numb – knowing that as soon as I started skating a warmth would settle over me and all would be right with the world.

Daylight and nightfall

The sound of skates gripping ice

Graceful, gliding, free.

~ Lynn Thomas Amber