BS: Christmas memories

Subject: BS: Christmas memories
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 12:23 PM

I posted these remembrances on the kitchen table thread, and thought they might stir up memories for other Catters. If you are not a Christian, please except my belief at the end of the story. It is who I am. It is not meant in any way to question your beliefs. I offer this with good will to ALL Men (and Womenfolk, too.) Enjoy the season in whatever way is meaningful to you.

"T'was the Night Before Christmas"

T'was the night before Christmas and we'd already opened our presents. Forget the dancing sugar plums. If you ever wondered how Santa Clause could deliver presents to all the kids on earth in one night, he got a running start by bringing all the kids in the Midwest their presents early on Christmas Eve. In our house, Christmas Eve started the minute we finished wolfing down our supper. It was the one time of year when I was thankful that we had supper at 4 o'clock.

Before I was school age, Santa came to our house every Christmas Eve.
He didn't come down the chimney. If he had, he'd end up in our coal furnace and it wouldn't just be his suit that was red. He boldly walked through our front door. Not that I'd ever really seen him come into the house. But my Dad had.

After supper, Dad would hide behind the living room davenport, and Mom would herd my sisters and I down onto the basement stairs and then close the door behind us. For some unknown reason, Dad always got to hide behind the davenport, so that he could see Santa Clause when he came in.
As soon as the door was closed, Dad would quietly sidle out from behind the davenport and tiptoe across the room and into the bedroom where our presents were carefully hidden in our one closet. He'd quickly carry them into the living room and place them haphazardly under the Christmas tree. When the presents were all under the tree he would tiptoe across the living room floor and into the dining room and carefully open the front door. With a sigh of relief, he would softly stroll out to the front of the porch and pause for a moment. Coming back into the house Dad was Santa Clause. No need for a suit or cotton-ball beard. The only one who could see him was him. As he came striding across the front porch, he'd stomp the non-existent snow off of his non-existent boots and when he opened the front door he'd call out a "Ho, Ho, Ho!" in his best Santa-voice. Once inside the house, he'd make a lot off fuss in the living room, as if he was unloading presents from his sack. All the time, I was hunched breathlessly behind the basement door, visualizing his every move. When the presents were in place, Santa didn't have to stop and eat a plate full of cookies and drink a glass of milk on the way out. We never left anything for him. We didn't want Santa to stick around, once he'd delivered our presents. Besides, he would have preferred a cold Pabst Blue Ribbon, but that would have blown his cover. As Dad headed noisily out the front door he'd call over his shoulder, "Ho, Ho, Ho, and a Merry Christmas to all!" and stomp his way across the front porch only to pause there once again. Then, it was a matter of sneaking back into the house without our hearing him so that he could hide behind the davenport. Mom always gave him enough time by telling us that we couldn't come out until we were sure he was gone, or we'd scotch the whole thing.

Mom would cautiously open the door, and we'd all burst into the living room. Or, at least I would burst. I'd be full of excitement, and start grilling Dad about what he'd seen.

"Did you see him, dad?"
"Oh yeah: I peeked around the corner of the davenport when he was putting the presents under the tree," he answered.
"Did you see his reindeer?"
"Naw: I couldn't see them from behind the davenport, but I heard their bells when they took off."

That was enough for me. It never occurred to me to ask the really hard questions like :"If he had all that snow on his boots, how come he didn't track any into the house? Mom would have had a fit!" Or, "How come there aren't any tracks in the snow in our front yard?" By then, the only question I had was "Can we open the presents, now?"

When I got older and realized that Santa Clause was my Mom and Dad, and I had been lovingly duped: not just by Mom and Dad, but by my sisters, Christmas took on more meaning. One thing about Mom, though. She always made it clear that Christmas wasn't just about getting presents. The most important thing was that it was a time to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus. Those first few years, Santa Clause and the baby Jesus got along real well together, and I loved them both. It wasn't until I was four or five that I realized that only Jesus was real.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas memories
From: SINSULL
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 12:35 PM

We had a beautiful angel on top of our Christmas tree. She had a place for a light bulb behind her to light up a golden halo. Her hair was white and held in place by a golden crown. She came to me when Mom died. And in time, she melted. I kept her head with the crown with my Christmas decorations until even I realized that it was a bit weird. So she was trashed and I kept her crown.

Recently, it occurred to me that I might find a replacment on Ebay so that the grandchildren could have that special angel too. Apparently, she has gotten more special with age - $499 opening bid.

I wonder what I can get for her crown??????

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas memories
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 01:09 PM

We had several handblown class ornaments on our tree that I treasured. One was a trumpet with a little kazoo type reed in it that gave out an unholy buzz when you blew on it. Another was a smoking pipe (it didn't smoke...) I still have both of them, although I don't put them on our tree. I've seen cheesy imitations in recent years, but they look very mass-produced and they aren't hand blown. I doubt that you could buy ones like mine for any price.

Jerry

Thanks for the memories, Sinsull.

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas memories
From: ranger1
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 01:15 PM

My Uncle Nate and I made the angel that still holds the place of honor onthe top of my grandmother's Christmas tree when I was about four or five. Nate was home from his job with the US Forest Service and we were both a little bored and Nate decided that our tree neeeded a new topper. The two of us sat at Grammie's kitchen table, (me on Nate's lap, that's how I know I couldn't have been more than five at the time), carefully assembling our angel from stuff found around the house. For her body, we used a paper towel roll, her head was cotton batting from Grammie's sewing room, a some sequins became her eyes, nose and mouth, yellow yarn for her hair, some leftover fabric for her gown, two wings made out of pale blue copy paper, carefully cut out with the scissors in Nate's Swiss Army knife, spread with glue and then a dusting of gold glitter added, and her halo was a pipe cleaner. She's a little worse for wear these days, but she's still my Grammie's favorite ornament on the tree.

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas memories
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 01:27 PM

I have an old stuffed Mickey Mouse doll as the "angel" on the small tree in my office, which also includes ornaments with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, The Lone Ranger, Homer Simpson, Garfield and the Tazmanian Devil. The little kids love it. Me too. We have a beautiful tree decorated all in white crystal in our living room that Ruth decorates every year. We have all bases covered, the beauty and the beast. :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas memories
From: open mike
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 05:24 PM

i tried to post this earlier..and got "system busy" and
"problem loading page" message...luckily i copied it so now can re-post

in the not so distant past i acquired an ornament (all are gone now)
that was a blown glass pickle. it had a story along with it...it was to be added to the tree late christmas eve and the first to find it on christmas morning was supposed to get some special treat.

http://german.about.com/library/blgermyth11.htm
http://www.thepickleornament.com/

We used to have lights that would create bubbles from the heat of the bulb, and i found some modern ones like that. There were others ornaments with small rotating fan blades inside of them that turned from the heat.

Like those Swedish chimes that go around and ring bells from the heat of candles..and german candle-powered christmas carousels (I found a giant one on you tube recently...probably have posted to another thread, but here it is again...giant candle powered pyramid--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA0guR581N8

as a fire fighter, i am always amused at this question?

Why do we put a dead tree in the corner, lace it with faulty wiring,
stack paper and tissue paper under it, and invite our friends over to get drunk and light candles all around the house? (i think i got that from the comedian Gallagher.....)

But the best part i remember was getting together with cousins
and having large family gatherings...

we eventually had a tradition of drawing names out of a hat at our
thanksgiving dinner gathering so each one only need get one present.

one christmas we visited relatives in a rural area, and the house of the elderly aunt and uncle
was not decorated. i found a tumble weed in the country side and made a paper chain from construction paper to decorate it..

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas memories
From: Cats
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 06:05 PM

I collect Christmas tree hangers from all over the world and friends send them to me and bring them back for me so even if I can't be with everyone at Chrsitmas they are still all there. I also have ones that were bought to commemorate things.

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas memories
From: gnu
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 06:28 PM

I made a paper mache boot tree ornament at school when I was a tad. Awful looking thing.

Mum puts up lovely Xmas decorations on the fireplace and coffee table and in the kitchen.

Yesterday, I was doing the weekly sweeping and vacuuming and mopping and... there was the boot amid the coffee table decorations. Got a tear in me eye.

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas memories
From: Bert
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 07:46 PM

I was 9 and my older sister was 10. Due to a family merge (another story) we had acquired a younger sister aged five.

Dad and our new Mom had bought us each age appropriate jigsaw puzzles.
By the time that Christmas Morning was over we had each done not only our own puzzles but had traded them around and had each completed all of them.

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas memories
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 11:14 PM

I have a lot of neat memories, but the most special is our family gathering around the piano on Christmas Eve and singing Christmas carols. My mom and brother took turns at the piano and we all sang; There were our parents and five kids. And, now I know we have what is called blood harmony and I miss that a lot. We are far-flung now.

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas memories
From: Ed T
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 11:22 PM

During elementary school years, we had a parent-teacher-student Christmas social. We would recite Christmas poetry, and had a play or two. We all got to sit on Santa's lap (once he was my father) and all was given a bag of candy and nuts...with one blood orange.

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas memories
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 23 Dec 09 - 11:25 PM

My mother, my sisters and I used to go out caroling in our neighborhood, Kat. It had been so many years since I heard of anyone doing that that I was greatly surprised a couple of years ago when five or six teenagers and a couple of parents arrived at our front door and sanga carol when I opened it. They haven't done it since, but maybe one of these years I can gather some people together to do it. Ruth and I were going to go to a carol sing at a Veteran's Administration Building last Saturday, as we've done in the past, but we got snowed out. Barbara and Frank Shaw have been doing this for many, many years. We join them when we can. Yesterday, Ruth and I and my friend Rev. Ken Smith were going to do a Christmas service as a nursing home but it was cancelled because of widespread sickness. I don't know who was more dissapointed, us or them.

Jerry

Some memories are still in the making. As I wrote in a song, "The good old days are still to come."

Subject: RE: BS: Christmas memories
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Dec 09 - 01:40 AM

last year friends invited me to join their family christmas (my sister lives in Rio).

My friends are are multi-instrumentalists & singer/songwriters, the 4 daughters are all singers & musicians (21yo was heading out for a gig with her big band, & 10yo daughter & 10yo cousin both performed music they had written for piano & guitar respectively), her brother & sister were also musical - one is a music teacher, father is a singer - we had a great time singing carols around the piano.

sandra