A Favorite Christmas Memory

14 years ago

My alltime favorite Christmas memory happened in the late 1940s. I was old enough to know about Santa, but of course was still excited about Christmas. And I had younger siblings who were still believers.

My Dad worked in a place where they rarely closed for holidays. He worked different shifts so for a lot of the years, his work on Christmas was on afternoons or midnights, which meant we had our usual morning celebration. No unions so if you took off work, it was automatic dismissal.

When the day came for him to have to work Christmas day, they told us kids that Santa might have to come late in the day. Then the magical night began.

At around 7pm Christmas Eve, we heard jingle bells outside, followed by hooves on the chimney. Mom got all 'nervous' saying Santa must have come early and we couldn't be found awake. She hurried us all into her bedroom, then went out to hide herself upstairs. Soon we heard all this hustle/bustle in the other room. Can you imagine the excitement we were all feeling (even me)?

Soon Mom and Dad made a big deal out of coming downstairs and letting us kids out to see what Santa had brought. Mom said he probably came early when he heard Dad had to work the next day.

Later I found out that Dad had used one of the toddlers push toys that was filled with metal bells. They went to a LOT of trouble to give us our special day.

Does anyone else have a favorite memory they'd like to share?

Shirley

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Comments (8)

pam_25f
14 years ago
An amazing, very touching story. It reveals so much love.
Georgysmom
14 years ago
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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gadgets
Original Author
14 years ago
georgysmom: That is such a cute story. Thanks for sharing. Sometimes when a current holiday isn't quite as good as I'd like it to be, I pull out my memories. It does the trick almost every time.

Shirley
jannie
14 years ago
All the Christmas mornings when I was a kid. We had a "sun room", glass enclosed heated room with doors that were closed and locked all December. Christmas morning the doors were open and inside was our tree, Lionel trains and all our presents!
Marilyn Sue
14 years ago
My favorite Christmas memory was looking forward to my new coloring book. My Mother knew I always loved to color and she continued the custom even after I was married. I still like to color today and have coloring books and crayons of my own.

Sue
jemdandy
14 years ago
One of the most memorable toys I got (1940s) was a Gilbet Erector Set - remember those? Before I opened the box, I had to promise mom that I'd pick up and store all the pieces after I played with it. It was the best toy ever. Electric service had not not yet reached our farmhouse, so my folks chose the erector set with a wind-up motor to power the movable constructions. As I recall, the spring motor was not very effective, but it did serve the puropse of proving if a contraption I created would actually work. I played with that set for about 3 years. Electric power did reach our house in 1947 and by then, I had aged a bit and moved on to other activies. But even then, that erector set was, on occasion, taken out of storage and used.
sjerin
14 years ago
These are such nice stories. I was convinced I heard Santa on the roof one year--I think I must have been 7 or 8.

Marilyn Sue--my 68-year-old cousin and I also like to color, as do my dd's!
gadgets
Original Author
14 years ago
Who knows, sjerin, maybe you really -did- hear Santa on the roof!!

Shirley

A Favorite Christmas Memory

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A Favorite Christmas Memory

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