Ghosts of Christmas Past

     The other day my children were asking me how I celebrated Christmas when I was a child.  It was fun sharing those memories with my children and I wanted to record those precious memories that I hold dear to my heart. 

This pic was taken about 1979.  I am I the middle.
My sister is to the left of me and my brother
is to the right of me.

     We always had to dress up on Christmas Eve.  I remember having my hair up in curlers, putting
on a dress and trying to stretch up tights over my legs.  I was no a girly girl so I loathed getting all dolled up.  But once everyone was dressed up it did seem nice.  My father was no longer in the picture and my mother was an only child so we didn't have the pleasure of having aunts, uncles, or cousins coming over joining in on the holiday fun.  However, my grandparents, Nonnie and Grandpa, would come over bringing in gifts that would break Santa's back.  They would enter our door, stomping the snow off their feet, also dressed up, with beautiful packages of bows and ribbons stuffed in bags that hung off their arms.  My sister, brother and I would happily relieve them from the packages and run to the tree to place them under it.  We would look to see whose gift is whose and try to guess what is in each box.  Soon the tree would be overfilling with presents.  The dreaded part would be waiting for the adults to finish talking and visiting so us children could open the presents. 

This was taken about 1983.  I am in the middle. 
My brother is to the left of me.  My sister is to the right of me.
A friend of my mom dressed up as Santa to surprise us.

     Soon the time was upon us for gifts to be opened.  We gathered in a circle around the living room, my mom and Nonnie would sit on the couch, my Grandpa would sit in a rocking recliner chair, and two of us children would sit in these green swivel rocking chairs.  The other child was granted the position of Santa and got the privilege of passing out the presents one at time.  Usually my grandpa would choose which child got to be Santa.  The adults would try to pick and choose which present the "Santa" should hand out first.  Us, kids, were eager to give out our school made decorations as gifts to other family members as we were to receive gifts from them. 

     One by one the gifts would be passed out.  We had to stop and sing Jingle Bells as each person opened their gift.  It made the night last longer.  The custom would be if the person didn't open the gift after the song was sang (the shorter version of the song) then the gift was given back to the giver.  Of course no one returned the gift as it was just in jest.  But it did make the opening of the present seem frantic and quick.  Slowly the pile of presents under the tree began to shrink down in size until there were none left.  Over the years my sister and I got into this competition of who would open the last gift.  She would even hide some gifts under the couch and then afterwards pull them out to be the last person to open a gift.  I caught on and I would start hiding them too.  One year we both had 3 to 4 gifts hidden and we both would think we had the last one until she would pull out a gift and then I would pull out a gift from hiding.  We laughed so hard thinking how clever we both were yet being outsmarted by each other.  I don't remember who opened the last gift but I remember the fun of it.

     We were then shuffled off to bed donning our new pajamas that we just received.  One year we each had matching Star War Pajamas.  Another  year I remember having the Dukes of Hazzard pajamas.  It was red with Daisy Duke in the middle with a horse.  My sister and I would go to our bedroom and my brother off to his room while the adults would stay up talking.  It always seemed hard to fall asleep but eventually sleep found us and the night drifted away. 

     The morning was always a magical moment.  One of us would wake up remembering that it was Christmas morning.  We would tip toe out to the living room to see if we were good children  by the gifts that are laid under the tree.  Smiles would come across our face as we see our artificial tree all light up with presents laid out all underneath it.  We would wake up the other siblings still trying to be quiet and sharing in the magical moment with just us siblings.  We knew we couldn't open up the presents without mom awake so we just examined the presents and took a peek in our stockings that were propped up on the couch.  Plastic candy canes filled with candy and smaller wrapped gifts spill out from the top of the stockings.  We would feel the toe of the red stocking with our names glittered on the top and feel a round object.  It was an orange.  We always knew there was an orange in the stockings.  Some of our gifts were left unwrapped and put out for show.  Sometimes it was a stuffed animal or a large toy.  We still waiting to play with it until mom woke up.  It was like some unspoken rule. 

     When we couldn't take the suspense anymore we would invade mom's room and all jump around on her bed trying to wake her up.  Her blood shot eyes from lack of sleep would try to open.  She would try to plead for a few more hours of sleep but to no avail.  We were persistent.  We managed to negotiate by letting her have a cup of coffee before we opened our gifts.  She would slip on her floor length robe and make her way to the kitchen for a bit of caffeine encouragement to start the day. 

     The time arrived for us to open our presents.  Our gifts are always placed in a certain area around the tree.  My spot was in front of the tree.  My sister Lisa's presents were located to the left of the tree and my brother Marc's gifts were to the right of the tree.  We all took our places in front of our sections ready to attack and rip up the wrappings.  Mom would listen to our ooh's and aaah's as each gift is opened.  Every gift is well loved.  We would pick up the remainders of the wrappings and throw away the boxes.  Our gifts were placed back under the tree in our same sections.  Then we went to dig through our stockings.  We would share what we each had and start sampling some of the tasty goodies we find. 

     Later on that day Nonnie and Grandpa would come over to see what Santa has given to us.  We would show off all our surprises to them.  Our gifts would stay out under the tree for the remainder of the week as we would play with them on and off.  It was fun to keep seeing them under the tree during winter break from school. 

Early 80's.  I was to the right and my sister is to the left.

Probably 1980.  My brother shows off his new Muppet drum set.

Probably 1984.  My brother shows off a toy tool kit he received. 
The metal yellow stove and microwave in the background was one of
my gifts that year.  I can still feel the creek of the metal hinges and the
grind of it as I would open and close the oven door. 

     I am very blessed to have wonderful memories of Christmas past.  Few gifts stand out in my memory of what I received, many I have forgot about.  But the important ones, the ones of having family close by and the Christmas magic will stay in my heart forever.       

Holiday Traditions

     Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without those fun holiday traditions.  Every family has their own unique tradition to make their Christmas special.  I wanted to remember some of those traditions from yesteryears and those new traditions that have developed into my family now. 

     *  Singing Jingle Bells while opening every gift:  While as a child, in our family gift exchange on Christmas Eve, we would elect a "Santa" or someone to help pass out the gifts.  The elect person would then have to wear the Santa hat.  The "Santa" didn't pass out the gifts all at once.  No.  He would pick a gift and hand it to the certain person.  The person would read who the gift is from.  Sometimes clues were written on the package to help the person guess what is inside.  A brief moment of silence passes then the family (which usually consisted of our mom, my sister, my brother, my grandmother Nonnie and my grandpa) would start singing Jingle Bells.  The person holding the gift would rapidly tear into the wrapped package.  Legend has it that if you didn't open the gift by the time the song was over with the person whom the gift is from gets to have the gift back.  No one ever took their gift back but it was just the excitement of it all that hurried the unwrapper up. 
     After the gift is opened we would oooh and aaahh over the present.  The person would proudly show off their gift like a prized treasure.  Some gifts would spark a story of someone to tell and some gifts would bring out laughter.  It would take about 2 hours, give or take, to get through all of the Christmas Eve gift exchange.  It didn't matter.  We were family and time was not on our minds.  It was about spending time with each other and enjoying the company of family. 
     I remember spending a Christmas time with another family and they passed out all the gifts and then everyone digs in.  It went by so fast.  It was hard to see what everyone received between all the colored holiday paper flying about.  Don't get me wrong.  It was still nice and delightful but it wasn't the same.  When you are used to having Christmas a certain way the change feels ackward.

     *  The Manger:  I loved it when my mom would pull out the manger.  It had a huge door that pulled down and it revealed the cast of characters in Christmas.  There was Mary, Joseph, Angels, 3 Wise Men, donkey, sheep, cow, a shepard and the manger, complete with baby Jesus and a bright star that hooked up on top of the stable.  We were told that baby Jesus could not be placed in the manger until Christmas morning.  My mom would tuck him away in a cupboard until that time.  The manger still looked bare especially to a child playing with it.  I found a small Garfield toy and placed that in the manger until Christmas morning.  My mom was shocked to see Garfield in the manager.  She would take him out only to find out later that one of her three children placed the Garfield back into the manger.  To this day when I look at manger scenes I look into the manger.  When I see baby Jesus in there I still think He shouldn't be there until Christmas morning. 

     *  Placement of the gifts:  On Christmas morning my sister, brother and I knew exactly where to look for our gifts.  Our tree was always in front of the large picture window.  The gifts on the right side of the tree were for my brothers.  The gifts on the left side of the tree were for my sister and the gifts right in the middle were for me.  The gifts were still labeled with our names but we knew exactly where to look for them.  Gifts that would be for the whole family or gifts we made at school for our mom would be placed on the back side of the tree.  Those where usually discoved after us kids unwrapped our presents. 
     I started to do that with my own children.  When we had 2 children they each had half a tree.  At 3 children it was left, right, and center.  With 4 I tried doing left, right, front and back.  Unfortunally the child who had the back of the tree had a hard time getting to their presents since the tree was against the wall or window.  When child #5 and #6 entered our lives I stopped trying to make them a side of the tree.  I would spread all the gifts all around the tree.  Now they have to find their gifts under the tree and take it to a section of the room which they claim is their space to open their gifts.

     *  The Pickle in the tree:  I first learned about the tradition of the pickle in the tree from taking a German class in the 10th grade in high school.  Basically, the child who finds the pickle ornament in the Christmas tree receives an extra gift from Santa Claus.  I told my mom about it and I ended up getting a pickle ornament in my stocking that following Christmas.  For a while finding the pickle was just for bragging rights.  Now that I have my own family it has turned into a mission on searching for that pickle. 
     I usually purchase a family gift, like a family game, a movie, or snacks, for the pickle gift.  The one who finds the pickle gets to open up the family present.  Our children will wake up super early on Christmas morning not only to see the presents under the tree but to start searching for the pickle.  I will declare "pickle search" a few hours after they unwrapped their regular gifts.  It is fun watching the excitment on their faces and they search between the branches, high and low, looking for a silly glass pickle ornament. 

     *  The Stockings:  We had our own red stockings waiting for us on Christmas morning.  I came to learn to expect the little things, candy, a few trinkets, a gift or two that is wrapped like a music cassette tape or jewerly and in the toe part, an orange.  Opening the stocking was just as exciting as the regular gifts themselves.  My sister, brother and I would sit in a circle and dump out our stockings to reveal what we had hidden inside them. 
     An unexpected tradition started to unfold from the stocking as I had a family of my own.  In 2 days we would go from my husband's dads, then to my mom's, then to his mom's, then to my step-dad's family.  It became very overwhelming.  We really didn't have time to visit as we were always on the go.  One Christmas our 2 children didn't have time to even open their stockings.  I told my husband they would open the stockings when we returned home.  By the time we got home it was late and the kids were sleeping.  The next day they were so busy playing with the toys, and us from recovering the hectic 2 days, that we forgot about the stockings sitting nicely on the table in the corner.  It wasn't until 3 days AFTER Christmas that they finally had time to open their stockings.  The year after that it was busy again that they didn't open the stockings until the next day.  It's wasn't as bad as the one year but it still wasn't good. 
     My husband and I sat down and decided we needed to adjust our Christmas so we weren't in a rush packing everything in the two days.  With more children coming into our family we needed to make things easier.  It took a few years to work out the kinks to our plan but in doing so created a new tradition. 
     The stockings are still filled up by Christmas morning but we set them off to the side and we don't open them until later on in the evening.  In doing so it makes the Christmas spirit last longer for the children.  They have something to look forward to as the night settles over the land.  They can see wrapped presents and candy canes sticking out from the top but they know not to peek in.  They like the wait and the anticipation of seeing what they get. 

     *  Sibiling Exchange:  This is a tradition I started with my family a few years back.  With our family getting larger (5 kids when I started this tradition, now at 6 children) I want to teach them about the joy of giving with the sibiling exchange.  They each draw a name and they cannot say who they have.  Then they have to buy a small gift usually around $5 for the person they drew.  On Christmas Eve we gather in the living room and they have to guess who had them in order to open the present.  If they didn't guess correctly then the next oldest or youngest sibiling gets to guess.  If they guess correctly they get to open the gift right away.  It is fun to see what crazy gifts they buy for each other and to see the joys of watching the other sibilings open the gifts. 

     No matter what traditions you have in your household it is about togetherness and family time.  It is the special family moments that have been passed down from generation to generation.  Some may be added and some traditions have ended altogether.  It doesn't matter what gifts were bought or what is served at the Christmas dinner.  It is to cherish the memories that are being made at that moment. 

A Morbid Christmas

     As I sit and reminisce about the times of Christmas past I recall one memory that wasn't so merry.  Most families, when it comes time to trimming the Christmas tree, will play holiday music or have a holiday show playing on the TV in the background.  That was certainly not the case at our household one Christmas. 

     The year was probably 1987 or 1988.  I must of been 10 or 11 years old.  My sister and brother rented movies from American Video to watch while we helped our mother decorate the tree.  My mom popped us up some popcorn and fixed kool-aid to drink.  Afterwards she hauled out box after box of Christmas lights, tinsel and ornaments out of the basement.  During this time we were already engrossed with what was on tv.  Our mom unraveled the lights and started to string them around the tree.  She pulled out the different colored tinsel and wound that around our artificial tree happily humming to herself and not really paying attention to what was on the television set. 

     A loud torturous scream caught our mother's attention.  "This is NOT a Christmas show!"  she bellowed. 

     My sibilings and I would quickly shush our mom not taking our glance away from the TV.  We sat there   numbingly dishing popcorn into our mouths in anticipation of what was going to happen next.  We were watching the horror/slasher movie Truth or Dare.  It wasn't a huge hit of a movie but it was certainly odd to say the least.

     In a nutshell, the main character catches his wife cheating and he mentally loses it.  He starts playing Truth or Dare with people he comes in contact with, and some people were just from his imagination.  Some of the dares were cutting his chest open, taking his eyeball out with a nail, cutting off his tongue.  Another guy was dared to put a grenade in his mouth and blow his head off.  I don't remember exactly how it ended but it was just a gory movie.  It wasn't even that scary, just bloody.

     My mom was appalled that we were watching a movie like that.  She tried to get us to put something else on but we didn't listen.  We eventually pulled ourselves away from watching the movie to help put on the ornaments but our ears were still in tune with the television.  My mom couldn't believe that here we were, decorating the Christmas tree, with a slasher movie going on.

     For the next couple years it turned into a tradition of having a horror movie on in the background while we decorate the tree.  After moving out of the house and having a family of my own I have put that tradition to rest.  A part of me still wants to see a horror movie while I decorate our tree but I know it isn't best for my children to see.  I don't know if it was the movie I liked so much or the bonding moments I had with my sibilings and our mom.  I do know that the memory of it still puts a smile on my face.