Cup O’ Joe – Home for the holidays

The term “Home for the Holidays” has a new meaning for my family this year. After too many years spent driving on Interstate 95 traveling home to Houlton to spend Christmas with my parents, Houlton is now my home once again.
    A bit of background is in order first. I grew up in Houlton, graduating in 1989 from Houlton High School. From there, it was on to the University of Maine at Presque Isle, where I obtained a degree in business administration in 1993. After graduation, I spent nearly four years working for The Star-Herald newspaper in Presque Isle, before the need to stretch my wings drew me away from The County.
For 12 years, I worked for The Courier-Gazette newspaper in Rockland, first covering news before switching over to the sports department. As wonderful as it was living on the coast, it never truly felt like “home.” Sure the winters were milder, but having grown up with “White Christmases” as an almost certainty, it seemed a bit surreal to spend Christmas watching it rain instead of snow.
For a couple of years I had tossed around the idea of moving back to Houlton, but the timing never seemed to be quite right. I remained in contact with Mark Putnam, managing editor for Northeast Publishing and Gloria Austin at The Houlton Pioneer Times over the years and when the chance came to return to my hometown paper in August, the time was right.
The decision to return home was not as difficult as one might think. Having two small children, my wife and I really liked the idea of raising our children in a close-knit community where you didn’t have to worry about letting your kids play in their own backyard.
Sure it meant giving up the many wonderful friends we had made in the Midcoast, but it also opened the door to reconnect with many former high school classmates who proudly call Houlton their home too.
The community has lots to offer for those who are looking for quality of life. Much has changed as well. With the advances in technology, no longer does Houlton seem so isolated from the rest of the state. Cell phones, e-mail, and the Internet have helped bridge that gap tremendously.
I will admit, it was a bit surreal at first. Here I was driving around town after 16 years away, but yet I knew exactly where I needed to go and how to get there. At times it almost felt like I was 18 again, cruising the loop from Key Bank to McDonald’s and back.
Walking around downtown in the morning, the smells of Sadie’s Bakery cooking fresh doughnuts still waft through the air. Movies at the Temple Theater bring back many fond memories from my youth. About the only thing missing during this holiday season was the M&M van driving around town blaring holiday music.
Growing up, Christmas was always about traditions. And since both of my parents came from large families, the get-togethers were often little more than organized chaos. We spent Christmas Eve first visiting with my mother’s family in Hodgdon. The house may have been small, but somehow we always managed to fit everyone in. There was the usual watching the kids open presents and plenty of adult conversations in the kitchen that I had no interest in or clue as to what they were actually talking about. The most vivid memory I recall, though, is the cooking of my Aunt Sally, who easily made the best homemade onion rings I have ever tasted.
After eating our fill, it was off to Bowdoin Street in Houlton to do more of the same with my father’s side of the family. My cousins on my father’s side of the family were all much older, and therefore had much cooler stuff for a young boy to check out. I remember checking out the record collection (yes records … you may have heard of them) of one of my cousins and staring in wonderment at the cover of the KISS Alive II album for what seemed like an eternity.
Christmas Day was different at our house too. Instead of leaving packages underneath the tree for my brother and I to tear into, the gifts were opened, out of the box and already set up as if they had been played with. To this day, my favorite Christmas memory was coming downstairs before the sun had risen to check out the loot Santa had left. Imagine a 7-year-old’s amazement to find a collection of Star Wars action figures doing battle with a toy Godzilla, while at the base of the tree sits the very same KISS Alive II album.
This Christmas will be the first in our new home and I am maybe more excited than my children if that is possible. I can already picture our girls bounding down the stairs and can almost hear the sounds as they rip into their packages.
It’s good to be home. Here’s hoping the holiday season finds you and your family in good cheer.
Joseph Cyr is a staff writer for The  Houlton Pioneer Times. He can be reached at pioneertimes@nepublish.com