Thoughts on Campfires

Throughout our childhoods, both Hubby’s and my families went camping from time to time. Hubby’s family went far more than my family. We had a farm so it was hard to get away from the chores with the milk cow and chickens. So when my family went, it was a huge deal.
The biggest fun of camping is gathering around the campfire at night. People have likely been doing that for many millennia, talking and laughing around the fire, watching the stars pop out as the sky grows dark. Family and friends gather around a blazing fire that mesmerizes everyone and invokes storytelling. I’ve heard many back-in-the-old-days stories while sitting around the campfire. Childhood memories of even the oldest campers are brought out as the darkness surrounds the circle of fire-lighted faces. A lot of family history has been passed along in this setting. It’s a tradition as old as humankind.
When Hubby and I camp, we have campfires every night. Hubby helped a friend thin his wooded acreage and in return, the friend let him stack the wood for use during our annual camping trips. We have enough split firewood to last us for several years. It’s dry and ready for burning.
We have the usual fare of s’mores although I don’t like them much. We tried a new Danish campfire tradition of bread roasted on the big end of a stick. After it’s done, it slides off the stick. The hole in the middle is filled with honey or jelly and eaten. YUM! Fire-roasted bread. I think we should try filling some with Nutella this year.
Lots of friends and family drop by when the fire is burning. We cook a few s’mores or bread-on-a-stick treats and share stories. We reconnect with friends we haven’t seen in a while. We hear new jokes or talk about the strange weather. We often look up, hoping to see the northern lights giving a show. We look for constellations and the North Star. We listen to the sounds of the forest at night. Occasionally bats fly over and snack on the insects drawn by the light of the fire. It’s a magical time.
Someday our firewood supply will be gone and so will some of the people gathered around them. But the memories will linger and be treasured always.