Post Your Favorite Christmas Memories

17 years ago

When I was little, Thanksgiving & Christmas were *always* at our grandparents' house:

Granny & Papa had 12 children, scattered from Texas to California to England, so their little house was the central point!

& being the early 60's, when 4 kids & a station wagon were the ideal, I had lots of cousins.

We kids usually had "dinner" (mid-day meal) at a picnic table in what we called the "park", a wooded area with persimmon & pecan trees & a fish pond.

It was heavenly.

We often had fresh cantaloupe & tomatoes from the garden along with our turkey & dressing & ham & green beans & cranberry sauce.

The Christmas Tree, where presents were opened, was held on Christmas Eve.

Every year, when the party was in full swing & we were distracted with the festivities, my father & my Uncle Nick would leave, saying they had to run by our house to feed the cow.

By the time they returned, it was late, & we went home.

& guess what???

*Santa* had been to our house!

The explanation was that our small town in Texas was one of Santa's first stops on his very long route.

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Comments (12)

pjtexgirl
17 years ago
Lights. You can't put up enough Christmas lights. I still love them!PJ
Jacquelyn8b
17 years ago
The Christmas of 1999.
My husband was working 7am to 7pm and I was off. The kids came downstairs, looked at all the presents and started to cry. They refused to open anything without daddy being there!
Our son snuck a call to the station, spoke to my husband's sergeant and got daddy sent him home for an hour to have Christmas with his family. It was the only time we were all together on Christmas morning.
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It's so long ago, it's probably an amalgamation of all my California memories. Anyway... I was 6 and it was going to be my sister's 2nd birthday. At that time, we lived in Montery, CA. We were going back to Tennessee to visit mom's family. Before we left, we'd gone north to cut our own tree at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range. As we drove up the rocky coast, we passed fields and fields of crops, orchards, vineyards. Stopping for lunch, likely Phil's fishmarket (as I remember the Mosslanding Power Plant stacks), in Mosslanding that had three inch thick crab sandwiches served, oddly enough, on white bread. Which, at that point, I only liked white bread (too bad, since I lived in the best sourdough country there is), which made it perfectly delicious! We got french fried artichoke hearts for the road and nibbled on them on all the way to the tree place. I don't remember picking it out or how it traveled back home, but I do remember watching in awe as they shot it down the that puts a net around it (now, I know it is a tree baler). That was totally righteous dude! Mom always liked to use those big tree lights, all different colors and we'd sit on the couch with all the lights off, Christmas music (Ray Coniff singers, Johnny Mathis) playing, the fire crackling, every night. I was sad to leave it all behind, but we were getting on a plane and it was only the second time I could remember doing it. The blue lights of the landing runway in Nashville were like a Christmas tree on the ground, and I felt like there was a red carpet being laid out for us. Gran and Stan had a funny Christmas tree. Mom called it the . It was white with only red ornaments. I liked it too. Susie got a doll as tall as she was! And we lost a shoe before we went back home. GranMrs made us all our bell ornaments. There were knitted and jingle bell in the middle. I don't remember too much about the presents, but I do remember that it was my first time to ever see real snow. Before, I'd only live in Maryland when I was a baby, but then Hawaii and California. I hated that Mark threw snowballs at my head, but other than that it was enjoyable. I remember the dark night and the lights on the Bay water as we drove home after touching down. When we arrived, daddy, who was overseas, had sent us a huge box wrapped in brown paper and the packages inside were so neatly wrapped in newspaper. I couldn't tell you for a million dollars what was in those packages, but that it was there waiting on us, Christmas was longer than I'd expected it, and it felt like a comfy hug over the miles.
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When I was little and Daddy was stationed in Indianapolis, Christmastime was always cold and snowy. A few days before Christmas Mom and Dad would pack all of us into the old Dodge and drive downtown. All the stores back then had big display windows along the sidewalks and for the holidays they had special displays. Some windows had the religious theme, with a Nativity that was real people. It was so exciting to see them bending over the manger and bringing gifts to the baby Jesus. Other windows had winter scenes with mirror ponds and little skaters on them. These scenes all had lots of interesting details, like a guy who had fallen on the "ice" and a dad lacing up his childrens skates, fires in tiny metal barrels and a band of people singing carols. Most of the scenes used doll sized people and were static. Some scenes had Santa's workshop or his sleigh being loaded with toys. We would walk from window to window, hanging on to Mom and Dad, pointing at each new display and yelling, "Look at that one Mommy", or "Daddy look over there!" My parents had the patience of Job to take five kids out on a frigid evening to walk two blocks at a snails pace, down and back, to look at window displays like that. And we didn't want to stay together either, the boys wanted to go into the stores, the girls wanted to go back to look at anything with horses in it. My parents must have felt like they were herding cats. Those were my most vivid memories of Christmas. Oh yeah, and the Christmas eve that my little brother ate a bottle of baby aspirin and we all had to go to the emergency room and watch him get his stomach pumped out through his nose. That one has stayed with me too. Ha! Cheryl
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We didn't have big birthdays either. But one stands out in my mind and still makes me tear up. I must have been 8 that year and my birthday gift was a new pair of school shoes. My mother picked out the most godawful blood red oxfords with argyle plaid laces. Man, those were ugly shoes. I wanted saddle oxfords like my older sisters had. My father's birthday was the day before mine so I never had my own cake. Every year mother made an angel food cake with white icing and that was the cake for both of us. I did get to pick the menu and it was always fried chicken. Sometimes I asked for fried chicken AND chicken and noodles. Now that meal would still make me forget I never had my own cake. Anyway, the year of the shoes, we were watching TV--a new novelty in our home. Back then we watched TV with all the lights off. Don't know if that was the norm, but that's what we did. I kept seeing those ugly shoes in the TV light and I just started crying. Very softly so nobody'd see me. But my dad did. He sat me on his lap and started telling me how neat me new shoes were. Well, I gave it my best try of acting happy about them. Then he got up, went out in the kitchen and was gone for a while. I was beginning to feel better about the shoes when he came in the living room with a bag from the drug store. He'd gone out, walked the 5 blocks downtown and to the only store open and bought me two new sets of paper dolls and a few other little things. I felt so guilty for being a baby about the shoes and somehow I just knew that was probably his lunch money for the week. It's not a happy memory, but that's how much daddy loved us. And that part is a happy memory.
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I guess I was about three years old when someone came to the door. It was Santa bearing gifts for us. I remember peeking through the spindles of the staircase in awe. My father kept asking the jolly old man who he was and I kept saying Santa. The story goes that my dad chased him through back yards and over fences trying to find out who it was. LOL I still remember the wicker stroller and little baby doll he brought me. Shirley, your story about the jungle bells reminds me how I would walk down the hall after the kids were in bed for a while and maybe even asleep and I would jingle some bells up and down the hall. I still have the bells, in fact they are now hanging on my back door and Georgy jingles them when she wants to go out. LOL
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natvtxn
17 years ago
When I was growing up, we always had our "tree" Christmas morning, before driving to Grandmother's.
One year we begged and peaded to have the "tree" on Christmas eve, like a neighbor did. That was such fun....until we got up the next morning to a "naked" tree.
Never again did we want to do that.

Christmas of 1989 my jewish step-granddaughters were visiting. Their mother explained that Santa went to Christian homes. If they just happened to be there he would bring gifts for them too. When I got up they were both sitting there in awe of the tree and gifts. They looked like little angels and had not touched a thing.
I played all excited that Santa had been there. I never dreamed one would be upset that someone had been in the house while we were sleeping. I don't remember now how we settled that, but eventually she forgot it and had a good time.
mikeandbarb
17 years ago
Oh Kathy, the poor girl but I'm sure she's over it now and laughs at the memory of it as you do.

LOL PJ, I'm with you but I love seeing OTHER peoples Christmas lights, shame on me for not hanging many out and forgetting to turn them on at night.

I don't have just one favorite Christmas cause I'm the type that loves having the family together and if we're all together I'm happy.

As a child I do however remember waiting for our package to arrive from our grandmother in Colo. every year without fail she'd wrap every package then place them in a large box for shipping to us and every year she would place a silver dollar inside, one for me and one for my sister, of course I spent mine on candy as fast as my little feet could take me two blocks up to Motts. Year's later and to this day I wish I still had those silver dollars but I know I made the little ol' ladies happy at Motts every year, cause one time I seen one of them take a dollar from her purse slip the silver dollar into her purse and place the dollar bill into the cash register.

One other special Christmas that I remember was the time my grandparents and cousin's came from Colo, for Christmas. We had a family reunion I was 9 / 10 LOL BD being the third day after christmas, this was the first time I remember all of us being together for christmas. The family had rented a hall and my cousin's being teenage boy's had the bright idea of taking some of the cars and parking them on the ramp that was in front of the doors blocking the door way, Well, you can guess what happened next, one of our uncle's came down and saw all the cars parked on the ramp and he yelled out and the boy's went flying everywhere trying to get out of the way, I know they rounded up all that was involved but what they did to them I don't know. I do remember all the one's who's cars were parked there had a scowl on their face.
olphart
17 years ago
Back-to-back, and exact opposite Christmases.

1969 Â I was sitting in the galley on the submarine I was serving on Christmas Eve when one of the officers asked me why I hadnÂt gone home for Christmas. I told him I didnÂt have any leave coming. He took care of that. I arrived at the house (in Houston) about 11pm that night surprising my wife and mom. My dad knew cause he had to pick me up at the airport.

The next year was memorable for an opposite reason. I never would have guessed I would be spending Christmas Eve eating watermelon and pineapple slices with chopsticks while watching a floorshow of Chinese acrobats, jugglers and other performers while eating a 9-course Chinese dinner. I was in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
PKponder TX Z7B
17 years ago
When I was about 10, a bit past the age of believing, I pretended to be asleep on Christmas Eve when my mom came in to check. I had found her stash of gifts in one of the barns a few days before. I heard her quietly slip out the back door and I peeked out the window at her opening the gate and walking up the path to the barn. I felt so smug because I was in on the big secret...I was the eldest with 2 younger brothers who still believed in Santa. I laid back down on the bed, thinking about all the toys I had seen in my sneaked peek of the gifts! Suddenly I heard a jingle of bells from outside, then another. The sound was coming from the front side of the house and my mom had gone out the back. I raced to the window, almost afraid to look out and I swear, high in the sky was Santa's sleigh. All I could see was lots of red lights, very high and in a configuration that I imagined to be Santa's sleigh! I could still hear the bells jingling!

Maybe I was dreaming, maybe something just wanted to keep me young and believing for a few more years!

Pam
Jacquelyn8b
17 years ago
I love all of your Christmas memories!

This may be the one my best friend remembers.
So far this week, her daughter (age 4) has opened all the gifts, and I mean ALL of them, after everyone had gone to sleep. She was helping her momma by sweeping the kitchen and "accidently" turned the stove on and lit the broom. Then she calmly walked out the back door as if she were carrying a ceremonial torch and tossed it into the pool!
Her coal-in-the-stocking move was letting the cat out so, "Fluffy can find Santa's spys."
Unfortunantly, Fluffy hasn't been seen since.
natvtxn
17 years ago
OMG! How funny, but I bet her mother doesn't think so.
mikeandbarb
17 years ago
OMG, Jac...
Your poor friend is in for a long busy road keeping up with her DD LOL.... Opening all the presents is funny, to bad they didn't have a video camera set up to cacth it all.
carrie751
17 years ago
For her own safety, maybe they should consider "locking" her in for the night. LOL Whew -------------- she is a challenge!!!
natvtxn
17 years ago
I just got off the phone with my DIL. Her mother's name is Donna. My granddaughter told Donna the reason Santa does not go to Donna's is because she doesn't have a "real" tree.
Well,.... DS and DIL bought an artificial tree this year. They had to come up with a plan so Jesse would not freak out. They explained that the tree turns real while santa is there.
Jacquelyn8b
17 years ago
Why not! Santa's magic knows no limits ;)

Post Your Favorite Christmas Memories

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