Our Christmas Stories
Kathy,
What great memories. You dad sounds so much like me...Mom had ten kids but seven were grown by the time the last three came but we were so poor and then, of course, she was sick for so long. But, I always go way overboard for my kids and grandkids. It is important that they are happy so I can relate to how your father felt.
Great memories...even the past out father...
Kathy, what coal mining town was your dad from? Mine was from Sugar Notch, near Wilkes Barre. Small world.
Albert Schweitzer
Christmas Memory Melange
As a child of a military man I spent Christmases in many different places as I was growing up. In Italy, I learned that Italians celebrate Christmas as the birth of Christ. The gift giving is done on January 6, Epiphany, when the three kings arrived bringing gifts to the baby Jesus. In England, I have celebrated their Christmas which Is Boxing Day, December 26. It's a meal with individual noise makers at each plate. One year, my Mother and I were on a bus tour of Stratford on Avon for Boxing Day. From Dutch friends, I have learned about Sinter Klaus day, December 5th. Gifts are usually food and small items. My friends presented me with cheese in the shape of my initials. I have attended the Kris Kringle Mart in Nuremburg Germany as a young teenager. This wonderful mart is throughout the month of December and vendors sell ornaments, foods and other items to the public. In France, I experienced a Joyeux Noelle a simple time of gift giving.
Once when living in Fairfax, Virginia I remember my father building a wooden frame in the shape of a Christmas tree. We covered it with aluminum foil and then stapled the big lights on the frame. My Dad hung it on the side of the house. That frame moved with us from place to place for many years and then was conveniently left behind one time when we moved. He always enjoyed decorating the outside of the house with lights and making wreaths from the trimming from the live trees we would have.
I remember my Father becoming grumpy each year when we put up the tree. He was always grumpy because he would not test the lights before putting them on the tree and they would be a failure once he got all the lights on the tree so off they would have to come. We always had real trees. We would troop to the Christmas tree farm and walk all over looking for the right tree. This was a laborious process as my Mother was very particular about the tree. It had to have a flat spot to sit up against the wall. There would have to be several open areas for her Italian blown glass ornaments. She preferred Scotch Pine trees. We would have to spend a lot of time walking over Christmas tree farms to find the right tree. One year when living in Germany she selected a tree that was too tall for the apartment that we were living in! My Dad had to cut three feet off the top of the tree to get it to fit in the apartment.
My Mother has a wonderful wooden crèche that she purchased when my Dad was stationed in Naples, Italy. Through the years additional figures have been purchased when my Dad traveled in foreign countries. It has always held a place of honor on the buffet in the dining room. Later in life my Mother started collecting Snow Village ceramic buildings. This collection and the crèche take up a closet in her duplex.
Through the years my Mother has given us an ornament each year for Christmas. When we left home we had enough ornaments to begin decorating our own trees. I love ornaments and for many years I have been adding to my collection. I have wooden ornaments that a friend purchased for me at the Kris Kringle Mart in Nuremberg. I have wool ornaments that I bought from Native peoples in Alaska. Over the years I have accumulated a number of bird ornaments as bird watching became my passion.
I have strong memories about food at Christmas. My Mother always baked sugar cookies at Christmas. She would always make cheese straws at Christmas. There was always the Chex Mix that she made at Christmas. Here in Texas they call it "Trash". There were fruitcake cookies that she made. I made them this year and my Mother is enjoying them while she visits. She has not memory of making these cookies when I was a child. There was always Turkey Tetrazini after Christmas made with the leftover turkey. When I became a teenager my father began making Pecan Divinity and Gingerbread Houses at Christmas. He made it a tradition to make a Gingerbread House for his departmental Christmas parties. They would auction them off and the funds raised went to the Navy Relief fund. This year I will attempt to make Pecan Divinity, I have found a microwave recipe.
Christmas Eve was always a time to open the out of town gifts that had arrived. My grandmother was notorious for tying her packaging with lots of strings before mailing. We would always have to have a pair of scissors to open her packages and distribute the gifts under the tree. There was always a Hickory Farms Beef Stick package from my Aunt and Uncle. Once all the out of town gifts were unwrapped and put under the tree we were allowed to open one gift before bed.
I remember the Christmas I realized that Santa had help from my parents. My parents had gone next door for egg nog with the neighbors. As they closed the door the bells on the felt Christmas door ornament that my Grandmother had made jingled. My brother woke up and immediately came to my room telling me that he had heard Santa. We went downstairs to find all of our gifts from Santa and proceeded to unwrap all of our gifts without any concern that our parents weren't in the house. My parents came through the front door to find a sea of wrapping paper and their children enjoying all the gifts. I got wise about Santa's helpers as my Mom was carrying a doll with a dress she had made for it.
I've had years where I haven't decorated my living space for Christmas. And there have been years when I had a twenty foot tree because I had a house with cathedral ceilings. I've had live trees and artificial trees. This year I find myself decorating my house and my tree. I've been able to enjoy ornaments that I have kept in storage for ten years. I'm baking cookies and making candy this year, the first in quite some time.
Cindi B
Cindy,
I get my grandchildren ornaments from all the places that I travel too. This year they got ornaments from New Zealand and also when we stopped off in Australia and then Singapore. I have them from England, Germany, the Middle East (yep they have Christmas in some of the countries), and China...I love the wooden ornaments the most.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful memories.
Sorry I didn't email his but here goes.
It was December 1964 my Birthday the 20th I turned ten. I have tears in my eyes now cause this will be the very last time I saw my mother alive.
My parents took me and a friend to Bill Inapps my favorite place. I had the fried Perch basket. My friend has grilled cheese. We ate. My mama didn't look good or thru a yen yr old I didn't know any different. She had her head down most of the time. We went home. My friend was picked up. I went to the basement fell asleep. The next day Ibthought mama was at work. I was at school. Went home to my neighbor to lunch like everyday. Went back to school. This went in for two days. Mama didn't come home. We my brother and Inslept at the neighbor. Then Dad brought Grandma to our house the third day to stay with us. I knew something was up. But what I didn't know. I was getting scared. It was about seven Am oin December 23rd. The Rabbi came and covered the mirrors. I said why? Again no one said a word!!!
My moms sisters came, my Dads sisters came, all of a sudden Dr Gould came, took me and my brother in our bedroom and boom he told us our mother had died. Out came a big syringe! My dad told him to sedate me!!! I was out for what seemed like days. This was the fourth day of Hanukkah that year. Maybe that is why I don't likeCarla the holiday.
I still to this day don't have closure of saying goodbye to my mother even after 51 years. I wonder to this day what she would look like, what her personality would be like, would she live me,
I winder what closure is! I raised myself.
So holiday's to me are just days.
Carla
Carla,
You and I both lost so much at such a young age and during Christmas. I've always hated December and like you, I wonder about my mom. I have to say that being raised by my sister was good but she wasn't my mother and I didn't have the relationship with her that I had with my mother so, as you can imagine, I lacked the learning about parenting that comes from being around our parents.
Thanks so much for sharing.
