Until I was about 4, "Mam" (my grandma) had Christmas at her old farmhouse. She lived right next door. There were coon hounds and my cousins running around, and the scent of "Pap"s cigar. We all had individual favors (china Santas) at our place at the table (or the kid's table in my case) I still have mine.
Mam had a large old-fashioned parlor with a huge pump organ in the corner. It had to have been 7 feet tall. She started the tradition of leaving her Christmas tree up until Easter, as she had done during WW2 so that my Uncle Ray could see the tree when he came home from the war. It was a huge tree bedecked with tinsel and crispy old-style garland. She never minded if I touched the ornaments.
Later on, about 1968, Mom took over the festivities. She would start off by baking cookies just after Thanksgiving. There were 7 of us at home, and we only got to sample the burnt cookies. She stored them in tins and by Christmas they were quite stale. She also made fruitcake, which looked gorgeous, and she wrapped them in brandy-soaked towels.
My dad was a Justice of the Peace, with his office in our basement! The Coke man gave Daddy a big cardboard Santa cut-out, which I still have altho he is rather shabby. The state troopers would bring bottles of booze and boxes of candy. We would poke our fingers in the bottoms to see what kind of chocolates they were. Occasionally one of the cops would handcuff me, but I was quite thin and able to squirm out of the restraints.
My eldest sister Connie had bought a nice Nativity set in town, where she was attending business school. I was fascinated by them. Usually I would break off at least one of their heads before the big day. (not on purpose) I still have the remains of this set, with their prices of .69˘ marked on the felt bottoms with grease pencil. Joseph has a much-glued head, and looks as if he is wearing a neck brace.
Dad would struggle to put up the Christmas lights on our house. They had to be green, for that was his favorite color. He was very clumsy, and dreaded this chore, but he did it anyway. Our house, which he had built, looked real nice.
He and the boys would chop us a tree from the deep woods beyond the cemetery behind our house, and there would be much fuss from Mom over how to trim the base so that the tree stood straight. Some years we would go out to the lots and buy a "real" tree. It had to be a straight and noble one, not sparse and not a ball. Mom decorated it. I did not touch our ornaments.
My sister Faye would read to me from a dog-eared "Night Before Christmas" Golden Book that my brother Rege had drawn beards upon all the people in it. I learned that poem off by heart.
My sister Janet was the quintessential hormonal teenager, always miserable. She would roll her curly hair in big soup cans to straighten it, looking like some alien creature in her pink quilted bathrobe.
My brother David, the oldest boy, was perpetually crabby and grumpy. I was terrified of him and tried to avoid him. He called us kids "animals" and perhaps he was right!
My brother Kevin would lip-synch (a term unheard of then) to Christmas records that we played on the big Hi-Fi console in the corner by the fireplace. We would wait until Rudolph and Charlie Brown's Christmas would come on the TV. Back then, the shows seemed to last forever.
As the years passed and our family grew, we eventually began the tradition of celebrating AFTER midnight Mass. Mom would bake bread all day, and to me, the usual view I had of her was the rear one, as she wiped up the green tile floors on her hands and knees. "Don't walk in here! I just scrubbed the floor!"
We would troop off to the church and I would inhale the liquor-tainted breath of those in attendance. It always took FOREVER. But then, we got to feast when we arrived back home. There would be ham sandwiches on homemade bread, potato salad, all the good stuff. And of course, stale cookies.
Mom would have a rosy glow from her two whiskey sours. My brothers would be all red-faced from sneaking beer. I would listen, my ear cocked to hear sleigh bells. And I did! My grandfather would go out to the barn and get the old bells, and jingle them under the window. That finally broke up the party. Then of course, Mom would scrub the floor again.
It would be hard to get to sleep with a bellyful of food, but somehow I'd manage. Then I'd awaken at 6am and creep down the stairs. It would be the only night that the Christmas tree would be left on, and the livingroom would have a greenish glow.
The formerly limp stockings on the mantle would be bulging, and there would be individual piles of gifts for all of us. I always wondered why Santa's writing looked like my Mom's. I'd get a game, a coloring book, crayons, pajamas, and a doll. To this day, my favorite smell is that of a new babydoll.
Then I would rush to my parent's room. "HE CAME! HE CAME!" And Mom would groan..."mmm-hmmm" and go back to sleep. Then I'd go back out into the livingroom. I believed in Santa till the ripe age of 9.
Now, Mom is 78. She lives in a condo since Daddy's accidental death in 1991. There are over 40 in my immediate family. We each have broken off into smaller groups, and occasionally Connie will have a party since she has the biggest house. David still calls us animals. There are still kids running around and dogs barking, but the faces I see are the ones of those gone missing, superimposed upon the scene at hand.
Just a few memories. What are yours? Love....Jill Posted by Rovelle W. Gratz (Member # 4404) on :
Jill, I love your Christmas story.
At my house I'm the one who only gets to eat the burnt cookies.
Do the cops still try to handcuff you? HaHa
A neighbor of mine used to collect deer poop or goat poop just before Christmas and Christmas Eve would put piles in the front yard.
Christmas Day he would go out to get the newspaper and come in complaining to his wife, so the kids could hear, that Santa's Reindeer pooped all over the front yard again. It reenforced the belief of some who had started to doubt the existence of the Jolly Old Guy.
Luckily, my oldest Son loves to help his Mom decorate the tree. I have one of those that you just unfold, with all the lights attached. I just set it up and they do the rest.
My Mother and Father were Bakers, so we had all kinds of goodies. I even got to eat the unburnt stuff before I got married and had kids.
Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
Jill, I love the way you wrote that. I felt like I was there . .
One of my few memories of Christmas was the 'wreath' decoration my parents had.
They did little decorating, a couple of strings of those huge bulbs on the tree and lots of tinsle, which my Mom had a love/hate relationship with.
But that wreath was huge and seemed so ornate to me. It was a very strange material, some sort of card board 'horns' arranged in a circular shape with the large ends out. An inner row and outer row and all spray painted silver, with a center flute containing a spray of tinsle and a red bow. I think it's still in the attic of the house which I sold this summer . . .
I remember always getting clothes every year so toys were a big deal to me...other gifts I recieved thru the years: A tall 'walking doll', a small, Singer sewing machine that I actually made Barbie doll clothes with, a pogo stick, roller skates, and when I was 10 I got my own small black and white TV.
Mama always taped the Christmas cards each year to the living room closet door.
The tree and all went up within 2 weeks of christmas and came down on New Year's day.
I was always made to watch the parades while Mama cooked, which my Dad and I tolerated until football games started and we always bet a dollar on each game who'd win. Until he passed away we still loved to watch football and NASCAR together.
The only thing out of the ordinary that my parents EVER did socially was to have a high school freind of my brothers over for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. His father was an abusive alcholic and ruined many holidays for their family. I was always thankful that we would have 'company' and he was the only 'company' I ever remember having at our table.
Every Christmas, since I was a kid, or I went there after I was grown, Mama ALWAYS cooked a big Christmas dinner and my favorite thing was always the simple fruit salad made with diced apples, oranges, bananas, coconut and raisins mixed with mayonaise. My oldest daughter still wants me to make 'grandma's' fruit salad for breakfast AND Christmas dinner, when she's home, as well as my Mom's delicious dressing.
Every year Mama cooked the same thing...a ham or Turkey. If my brother and his family were coming she did both. . . .black-eyed peas, whole sweet potatoes, which we skinned on our plate and smothered in butter, corn, green beans, boiled squash, fried okra, a huge pan of her fantastic dressing, rolls, and desert was the fruit salad, and a pumpkin pie. This was the only time she'd buy whip cream for a pie. There was always a plate of fresh cut veggies too . . .
I have never sat down to the table at my parents house that there was not a plate of fresh, raw cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, green onions, halopeno peppers, radishes and celery.
I still bake my sweet poatoes in their skin on a pan in the oven, or microwave. I rub mine in olive-oil first, but she used butter.
My son-in-law requires me to make a rich sauce of melted butter and brown sugar to pour over them after he skins them on his plate.
I still can't cook a meal and set a table with out a plate of fresh veggies.
My daughter and I still laugh over WHY we use a certain pan for this or particular dish for that, or WHY the silverware drawer is arranged the way it is . . .that's the way MY Mom did it, and HER Mom did it that way so now WE do it that way.... otherwise things seem 'out-of-place' or 'weird'...
When I was a kid, we never went to church for any reason or holiday. Funerals happened at the funeral home and/or graveside.
I remember gettin' in a huge argument with my parents when I was little because we did'nt go to church on Easter or Christmas like other people.
My parents finally started going to church in their late 60's.
My Dad got a new Christmas Wreath once. When I was about 18 and came home to visit from Texas...it was a grinning Santa face in a wreath of felt holly leaves and berries. It had a motion sensor and when you came to the front door he ho-hoed happily, dramatically and loudly. Several times thru the ensuing years, my Dad got aggrevated with the thing because sunlight reflecting off traffic at the nearby stop sign triggered it all the time, refracting thru the storm-door glass to the front door propped open. . . Daddy would get up from his ever favorite chair and growl as he marched toward Santa "I'm just gonna shut the thing off!" which made us all laugh because of the way he went from being content, to suddenly really angry, then sit down and be real content again.
There was never a day that my mom did'nt have the living room and patio cutains open and my Dad always opened the front door. I will always remember sunny, cold, brown-grassed Christmas and winter days thru the glass of the storm door....even on rainy gloomy days, it always created an open, airy positive feeling to me. I guess that's why I still can't stand to be in a room during the day with the curtains closed, or the front door closed.
My parents always had a fake tree, but I always get a real scotch pine because I love the smell of it. Now that I own my own home, I always want to get the kind you can plant after Christmas, tho' they are hard to find.
Posted by Rovelle W. Gratz (Member # 4404) on :
Sheila, you're making me hungry.
Those horn thingies were thread spools. I know because my Mother worked at Harvard something for a while and she used to bring the spools home to make stuff with.
Posted by Kimberly Zanetti (Member # 2546) on :
Jill...my word! How many brothers and sisters do you have?!?!Hahahaha - I just can't imagine. I'm an only child and not only is my daughter an only child but she doesn't even have any cousins. My husband's brother and sister both married people who already had children.
Sheila...I know what you mean about closed doors and windows. That's one of the reasons it's hard living here for me. When it's 115°, you can't even have the drapes open or everything will get baked from the sunlight. We go away a lot and that's the only thing that really bugs me about hotel rooms...having the door shut all the time.
Christmas...I have a lot of mixed feelings and memories about Christmas. My mother is the ultimate Christmas nut. She starts decorating just after Halloween and leaves it all up as long as possible. Her birthday is 12/14 so when I was little, one of her birthday presents was to be able to get the biggest tree she could find (we had a seperate "Christmas Tree" room a.k.a. her sewing room that had 14' ceilings).
I remember being allowed to open one gift before we went to bed on Christmas Eve. We never went to church when I was growing up but as I got older, I would often go to midnight mass with my great-aunt and her family just because I enjoyed how beautiful it all looked.
On Christmas morning, my mother was always the first one up and would drag my father and I out of bed. Being a fairly spoiled only child, I remember there being PILES of presents. My father always got new art books and then he'd spend all morning sitting there reading them. Drove my mother nuts because she could never get him to open his next gift because he was entranced by whatever book he was reading.
We used to have everyone from both sides of our families over for Christmas dinner which was good and bad. They all came to our house because my mother was a great cook. The bad part was that my father couldn't stand having a lot of people over. He always got really cranky and I remember my mother being very tense because of it. My father couldn't STAND his mother-in-law and I recall that by the end of dinner he was pretty much ready to kill her. :-)
1985 was my first Christmas in California, I was 19. I remember being just amazed that it was so warm (probably in the 50s or 60 in the evening) and it was so relaxed. My mom and I were there with her cousins and their friends. Everyone was having a great time, there was none of that family tension that I'd so strongly associated with the holidays which was a huge deal for me since by this point my parents were in the middle of a spectacularly nasty divorce.
This will be my 20th Christmas in California. In the meanwhile, I've "grown-up", met Clay, gotten married, had a child, moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Palm Springs here in the desert, bought a house, adopted a cat, a dog and made some very good friends.
Christmas Eve is the big time for us. It's the one night of the year when I know we'll all three be home together. We'll have some friends over for drinks and canapés early evening and then the three of us will open our presents while Clay and I split a bottle of good champagne. Santa is so busy that he drops our stuff off early and then does a fly-by after everyone goes to sleep and fills up the stockings. :-)
Christmas Day Clay will have to work so my best friend will come over (he lives next door) and we'll make a big italian dinner (manicotti probably) and either watch a movie or play scrabble. He and I have done that every year since 1989 with the exception of 2000 when we were in LA.
Posted by Kissymatina (Member # 2028) on :
Thanksgiving day, my mother would lug the tree out and insist on hanging every ornament she could find on it. She'd always get ****y when I asked "do we have to put ALL the ornamnets on it, can't we just make it pretty this year?"
The day after Thanksgiving, she'd start making cookies and roll or log things. My mother can not cook and her baking is worse. You weren't allowed to eat these cookies, they had to go in big plastic containers and go in the freezer cause they were for Christmas.
Sometime about mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve, the cookies would be remembered & reappear from the frozen tundra, stale beyond belief and harder than rocks.
Christmas morning we'd head to my grandparent's toting all those nasty cookies with us. Everytime I went to Pap's, my tradition was to walk on the curb like it was a balance beam, there was no sidewalk. My grandpap's living room always had a rather strange looking tree (swear that was grandma's trademark..how wierd of a tree can ya find?) and there was a huge stack of presents waiting us. He was always in his recliner watching the parade when we got there. My great-grandma always smelled that old lady smell that you didn't want on you and would always want a hug to kiss ya, while we try to wiggle away.
We'd have to wait for everyone to get there before they could start thinking about making potatoes and the rest of the meal. Us grandkids would be starving to the point of actually wanting to eat those stale cookies but we weren't allowed cause we had to wait for our dinner first. Then after we ate, it took 5 women about 2 hours to wash all the dishes before they could put them in the dishwasher before we were finally allowed near the presents.
I'm the oldest, so it was my responsibility to read the name tags & hand the presents to my cousins for distribution. Finally when everything was handed out, we were allowed to go to our "piles" and start opening. I swear I can still hear grandma "save that paper!" Anyone else have that???
After everything was opened and grandma did her run through the living room gathering paper, bows and boxes, we had to have the pict of all the grandkids. We'd stand there for hours it seemed waiting for her camera to warm up and having to wait while everyone took 20 pictures. "Did my flash go off?" followed by my mother trying to pawn those nasty cookies off on everyone.
Sometime when I was in my late teens, my grandparents changed. 1 day they were normal grandparents, the next they were really cool people. People my cousins & I could mess with. My grandma has always had to call about 5 names before she called the right one and we picked on her about it so 1 year we decided that everyone that came through the door needed a nametag. She was not happy but I can still see the tear in Pap's eye from laughing. I miss him.
Posted by Neil D. Butler (Member # 661) on :
I too come from a large Family, I have 5 sisters and an older brother, 4 of my sisters are older than me, and we see each other all the time. We get along just fine, which makes christmas extra special although rowdy at times... but always fun.
My son is 17 now, but a memory I have forever etched in my mind and his is..
When Colin was about 5 or 6 years old, on christmas eve he could'nt sleep, like all of us, so he came and crawled into bed with us. He was so excited, and talkative, he still is. We were having a grand yak, and all the while trying to settle him down, after what seemed like an eternity, our room lit up with a Bright red glow. Right way I said "Colin.. you'd better get to bed quick, there's rudolfs Nose lighting up the whole room. Well! I'm sure Colin levitated of the Bed and flew across the hall into his own room with out his feet touching the floor.
What had happened was that the Neighbours security light came on at the right time, they had the lights replaced with red floods, for christmas.
We still talk about that night, and he still asks what the red light was... and I tell him the truth , it was Santa!
Posted by Lotti Prokott (Member # 2684) on :
When my brothers and I were growing up, we never had a decorated tree until Christmas Eve. There was so much anticipation we could hardly stand it. We had to wait in a room while dad decorated the tree and placed the gifts underneath, then he called us with a small bell and here it was: the most beautiful tree, with real candles burning and Christmas music playing softly in the background. It was magical.
I still find it takes a lot out of the magic of Christmas when you're almost sick of the decorations before the day even comes up.
Posted by faye welsh (Member # 2524) on :
jill is right, we were a rowdy happy christmas bunch, we still are,though our lives have all been altered. i get overwhelmed with christmas, i always did. i still wrap my grown kids packages in santa paper and sign them,love, santa. they probably hate it, but i have few opportunities to really bug them:). we are in a new little home this year, my dream cottage;old fashioned, sturdy little house. i hope to open my doors to friends and family and not get too manic about the joy and love that is in my heart for everyone. by the way, my tree is already up. i love it early to enjoy it for as long as i can stretch out. this one time of year it is possible to see people smile. happy holidays to yinz. fiddles Posted by Suelynn Sedor (Member # 442) on :
You guys are really getting me in the mood.
There are five kids in my family and our cousins didn't live in the same town as us. We always made a special point of the whole extended family getting together, and I'm really glad we did. We usually had the Turkey dinner in the afternoon always on good china with real silverware. Once dishes were done we opened presents and ran amock while the adults played canasta.
We pretty much carry on the same tradition, but now it is us in the kitchen doing the dishes, and our kids spending fun times with their cousins. I hate all the work involved in preparing the meals and cleaning up after, this year I think we should do paper plates. I feel like we miss so much of the day with the kids being stuck in the kitchen. I don't want to change things though, I can't imagine my Mom and Dad not enjoying their grandkids and family on Christmas day.
I think I'll dig out my decorations now!!
:)Suelynn
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
Christmas is a very special time, with many traditions. This Christmas will be the thirtieth Christmas Janis & I spend together.
It's most always a three day event. It starts on Christmas eve with family gathering, Janis' brother and sisters and their families. We do Chinese food, always at a restaurant. Then its off to a Christmas eve service at a local chuch.
After the service its time to pile into the biggest vans and cars, as many people as possible in each vehicle for a cruise to look at the Christmas lights. Everyone oooohs and awes appropriately.
Then its back to the house for some games and much happy chatter in anticipation of the big day. The younger kids are allowed to stay up late but they start heading off to bed, one by one after a read aloud Christmas story by Grandad.
The stockings are filled with everyone beng secretive and sneaky of course. Then everyone is off to bed, and there's beds just about everywhere including out in my studio, the travel trailer, up in the attic and in the basement too.
Christmas morning starts early with the kids in the house raising the alarm regarding Santa's visit. (I'll remember to get some goat poop to pile in the front yard this year to make it more convincing)
Stockings are opened before breakfast as soon as everyone is up, but the massive pile of presents have to wait until everyone has finished, things are cleaned up and everyone is dressed in their finest for the big day.
Then the smallest child who can handle it is asked to had out the presents, one to everyone present before we all open our first present together. Clothes must be modelled, even underwear (over regular clothes) and everyone shows what they got. Cards are read aloud. especially funny ones.
Then everyone sits back as ALL the presents are dealt out and pandemonium ensues. Our small living room is overwelmed with torn wrtapping paper, ribbons and stacks of new presents. It takes a while, and the youngest present inevidably get the most number of presents. Its a noisy, joyful time. And lots of pictures are taken during the event.
Then its time for the big cleanup, with careful sorting to make sure nothing precious gets lost in the shuffle. Along with the cleanup its time to rearrange the furniture for the big meal which is starting to smell pretty delicious about this time.
Many hands bring in the spare chairs and extra tables, with 15 - 20 place settings as needed. The tables are heaped with wonderful food, turkey, stuffing, mountains of potatoes, brussel sprouts, vegatables, pickles, breads, Janis special holiday salad, and a hundred other things.
Everyone is seated and someone gives a special Christmas thanks. Then it's time for Grandma's Christmas toast and of course the required picture of everyone around the table. And then we enjoy the wonderful feast together.
After lunch everyone pitches in to clean up before its game time. Its open season on the many snacks and treats which are arranged throught the house. Folks try out their new presents, some go for an afternoon nap.
Its a laid back time from the meal forward. You can join in the actvities or just sit back and relax... whatever makes each happy. There's lots of kids and its a noisy place to be sure, but its also full of good cheer and love.
Christmas lasts at our house through boxing day with tons of leftovers and lots of fun. Then the company starts to clean up and gather their things, some even staying a day longer before their departure.
Its a happy time we look forward to each year. Once everyone goes Janis and I can hardly believe the silence and tranquility we are left with. We are always exhausted but thankful for the time we shared with our wonderful family.
This year of course will be extra special with a new grandchild due only days before Christmas. It's going to be fun!
-dan
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
A Chrome Christmas tree with a color wheel!
It is the memory that ushers me back to my childhood. I loved that chrome tree...and I intend to get one SOME day!
I'd sit in front of that bumper inspired beauty, adorned with various chrome and colored christmas ornaments. That magical color wheel had me awestruck as it reflected a million points of colorful, dancing lights throughout the chrome coated needles.
Mother nature couldn't come close to this industrial inspired beauty!
Chrome! One of the most beautiful and interesting finishes known to man. I'd stick my face up close to those mirror finished bulbs and watch my nose grow in a funhouse distorted metamorphosis.
I stood out in the freezing rain the other night putting up the outdoor Christmas lights for two hours. The tree was up the day after Thanksgiving and almost all the presents are bought and under the tree.
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