I've definitely cut out all unnecessary holiday fluff. Gone are the days when the presents under the tree are all done in coordinating paper. Nowadays, presents typically end up in a gift bag or a printed holiday box. Gone are the days of sending out Christmas cards. Sorry, but it's not like children change that much from year to year anyhow. :) And gone are the days of handmade gifts. Oh wait, those days never came around that much.
So this year, as I've tried to focus on what matters most, I've thought a lot about my childhood. The memories I have from my childhood Christmases are helping me to prioritize how I use my time so I can make sure my children don't grow-up into the Grinch who hates Christmas because Christmas turned their mom into Mrs. Grumpypants. Here are my favorite memories:
1. Singing Christmas carols (a capella) underneath the Christmas tree, using only the tree lights to see the words, with my sis PaulaShawn. (BTW, it's kinda weird that you took on your husband's first name. Most people hyphenate LAST names. Are you being the ultimate example of cohesiveness? Is that they key to connubial felicity?) We were probably 8 and 9 ish, and we didn't always get along back then (which is surprising because you can see that we never tease each other) so it was extra special to spend hours together signing off-key.
2. My mom would always bake cookies all day long on Christmas Eve. I don't think we ever ate anything other than cookies that entire day. Oh yum. (She's the best baker on Earth!) And then we would deliver them to all our friends and neighbors and drive around looking at all the lights. I LOVED doing that.
3. Staying up into the wee-hours waiting for Santa, also with PaulaShawn, when were trying to prove that Santa was not real. I think we must have been about 20 and 21 ish. We never did see him, but he did indeed come. How do I know? Because he left me a Cabbage Patch Kid and they were completely sold out in stores and this was back in the days before the internet, so there is no way my mom could have procured my beloved Clair Tansy.
4. A few holiday mishaps: I remember when the large bulb lights burned a hole in our carpet. And I remember when the hamster I got died the day after Christmas. But! My brave mother waited in the return-line at K-Mart (this was back in the days before Wal-mart. Sheesh I'm old) with the remains of the dearly departed hamster in a brown bag. I remember how stiff the cashier was as she accepted the bag from my mom. Ha! That should teach them not to sell diseased pets to sweet little children. I think it was just a short time later that K-Mart stopped selling animals. Coincidence? I think not.
So to sum it up, Christmas for me was all about family, family, family. The best memories weren't planned; they were spontaneous. It didn't matter if did a daily advent activity, it didn't matter if we brought the fanciest treats to our school parties. What mattered is that we got to spend time together. Do you see how our Christmas pasts can help the mom's of Christmas present? ( Also the mom's buying Christmas presents?) Writing this down has helped me shift focus immensely.
Please give me the gift of sharing your memories. What are your favorite moments from your childhood Christmases? I know you guys are going to give me the tingles!
11 comments:
My favorite Christmas memories.... Watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on tv (which, by the way, Steve and I watched this weekend- they're pretty discriminatory as far as 'special' people are concerned! Steven tried to explain to me that that is the point of the story, but I couldn't get off my soap-box about it), reading 'Twas the Night before Christmas to my siblings, sleeping in the same room and watching movies until we fall asleep (and my sister will never forgive me for not staying up and watching movies due to fatigue the year Steve and I were engaged) and Christmas dinner! My family has amazing cooks so holiday meals are my very, very favorite! Oh, and of course, Christmas music!
I love Christmas, the memories, the traditions!
Fav memories...going to my Uncle's on Christmas Eve with the entire family. The presents would be pouring out of the family room. We would have to sit in the hall to open gifts and eventually we would make it into the family room.
My nana would buy me new pj's, a movie and new sheets every year. Nothing like new jammies, climbing into fresh new sheets and watching a movie on Christmas Eve, to get ya to sleep. (We still do this in my house)
Going Christmas Caroling with all my friends. We would be out for hours.
My dad's amazing prime rib and egg nog. The best was all the off key singing he would do, while he was making it. Miss him!
As a kid we had a Christmas Eve tradition of making "Rice Krispie Trees" (green rice krispie treats that we would each shape into trees and decorate with candy) it's something I now do with my kids.
We would usually spend Christmas in our pjs just playing games, relaxing and just spending time together...oh and eating! My mom makes a smoked salmon cheese ball that is a Christmas favorite of mine!
My very favorite "Christmas Past" memories are with my own little - ok, ok, not so little :) family, just being together. I love my extended family, but nothing beats just staying at home in my jammies with my hubby and kids!
Gosh your Christmas memories sound a bit like mine, could it be because my mother grew up in your same house?
I loved going to look a Christmas lights. And we do that with our kids.
I loved home made goodies. And I don't do that with my kids (I do not posses the gift or talents of creative baking and patience to teach kids) but we love getting them.
My Husbands family always read by candle light as their Advent Calender and that is a tradition we have carried on.
Caroling, games and visiting family- need I say more.
Being with family is definitely the fond memory of my Christmases past, present and future. WE would all go to Grandma's house, aunts, uncles, cousins, everyone...We would have a delicious dinner and dessert, then would gather around the Christmas tree, and sing carols as we waited for Santa to come...And he did come while we were awake, and he delivered each child one gift which we were able to open that night, and then in the morning our other gifts would be there.
My mom who is also a wonderful baker, made tons of cookies,and we would deliver them to friends and neighbors. Such great traditions.
One of my favorite Christmas memories was the year my father had to live apart from our family for a year (for a 1-year job appointment, and they didn't want to re-locate our family to another state for just one year). My mom was home raising us 6 kids on her own. Someone most likely from our church decided we were a family in need of a little help for Christmas, which we probably were, so they did "The 12 Days of Christmas" to us, leaving an anonymous gift on our porch every evening for 12 days. Day #1 was a turkey! I'll never forget how cool it was to receive such amazing gifts and to be loved enough by a secret someone who was sensitive to our family's needs.
So on another year, our family did "The 12 Days of Christmas" to someone else. For the "5 Golden Rings" day, we made home made donuts with golden frosting. My little brother was carrying the box of them, and as we were running up to the porch to secretly drop them off, we heard him behind us thump and then say, "OH, Nooooo!" We turned around to see our beautiful donuts scattered on their lawn. We collected those and disposed of them, and ended up delivering store-bought donuts instead, with the recipients being none-the-wiser. It's one of those family memories that we still tease my brother about, and we all laugh together.
My other favorite memory was when I got up Christmas morning to find that our run-away cat had come home and she was under the Christmas tree. My mom tells me she was actually sad to see the cat again because she didn't like that cat, ha ha!
Oh, and my favorite family tradition growing up was wearing make-shift costumes and acting out the Nativity scene narrated from the scriptures. One year we were able to use my baby brother as Jesus, and one year I remember we used our pet rabbit as Jesus. It's all good family fun : )!
Jessops: I do hope that the poor treatment of Ruldoph and all those that were "different" was exaggerated, but we've definitely come a long way since then!
Edgerton's: new jammies AND new sheets?! I would never be getting out of bed, even for Christmas! What a great idea!
Missy: I love Christmas pj day. I'm a little sad that we'll have to get dressed this year. Hey--they should actually have pj day at church. That would be awesome!
Bakerfam: I love how you worded that: yes, you can always benefit from other people's baking skills!
LStevens: you must have some pretty darn good connections to get a visit from Santa while awake. I always knew you were important people!
JazznJenna: You are a great story-teller! I can picture it! I think I would have just brushed the dirt off and left the homemade donuts anyway! :)All that hard work wasted!
I second the vote on pjs at church on Christmas. Awesome!
And thanks for saying I'm a good story-teller...that means a lot coming from you : ).
Merry Christmas! (I just can't get enough of saying that!)
Santa really likes chocolate at our house, so we seem to recieve and consume a lot of it on Christmas! This is probably why Christmas day is always a big chocolatey haze (spent in pjs, of course!). Christmas Eve is always my favorite, because we stay up late watching the best movie ever, "It's a Wonderful Life". I'm more excited than ever for Christmas this year. I can't wait to come home :)
Ditto. You described my favorite Christmas memories. It's like we're the same person. Except for the hamster bit - I have no recollection of that at all. I hope I've outgrown my, "the holidays are about me me me!" and I'm more into what you said it's all about - family family family!
JazznJenna: Yes, let's put pj's at church to vote. I'm sure we'll get our way.
Caitlin: How's Hogwarts? I'm so happy that you get to go home! Do you think your skin will turn brown from eating so much chocolate over the holiday? Have some for me too, ok?
PaulaShawn(otherwise known as Frog. Or Pwog. Or Pepper. Or Snow White. Are you glad I just divulged all your nicknames to the internet and the entire world?): I can't believe you don't remember the hamster! They could make a Kid History video about that story!
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