Saturday December 24th 2011
It's Christmas Eve...I am now my parents...
Helen D. Kiel (1940-1979) Damon Kiel Jr. (1934-
From Birmingham, AL and on through Bessemer, AL we hit the road and headed down Route Highway 69 to the Kiel Settlement located in Coffeville, AL. Our family has gathered there for over 100 years to celebrate the Christmas Holiday. I can only believe this ritual began because once we had the Freedom to celebrate and gather as a family...we did.
I was once a child looking at my cousins who were my same age and some younger for as long as I can remember. I went from childhood to pre-pubesence watching my parents, grandparents, great grandfather and a host of great aunts and uncles and their cousins e.g. cud'n Earlene (whom I miss) scurry around to handle food, its preparation and the business that brought the Kiel Family Christmas Celebration to LIFE.
Funny thing is as I have grown older ...so has EVERYONE else. Grand parents, great aunts and great uncles have passed on and have been replaced by my parents and their peer group within the family. I watch us prepare for tomorrow's Christmas Day dinner and I realize I am now my parent's age with my own son who is 9 and the cycle of love, life and Kiel Settlement Christmas Holiday Dinners continue...for at least another 100 years we hope !
(Site of the Kiel Settlement ...with new construction...My uncle Travis' home built for retirement and migration from Los Angeles back to Coffeville, AL; his birthplace)
We remember...Henry Kiel Sr. (son of Mark Kiel, a slave, and the first one to carry the Kiel name), Big Ma, (Carrie W. Kiel, my grandmother); Big Daddy, (Damon Kiel Sr., my grand daddy); Cud'n Earlene, Aunt Pearl, Aunt Sissy, Cud'n Rollie, Cud's Anita and Cud'n Blondina (sisters...I believe); Cud'n Ernest and Cud'n Charlie (two brothers), Uncle Arthur, Aunt Luvern and the list goes on...
Kiel Family Cemetery...
write, produce and direct
Danna
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