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| Happy Christmas Season memories. Do you see my grandson looking for Santa behind the mailbox? |
Top Ten Tuesday:
Happy Memories from Christmas Seasons Past
These memories are not in chronological order. I am just writing them down as they come to me.
1. One year we bought an artificial Christmas Tree which had a motor which rotated the tree around in a circle endlessly. What were we thinking? I think the idea was to be able to see all the decorated sides of the tree (no back and front). Our cat, Demi, loved to get into the tree and would ride the tree round and round. I can still picture her tucked back in the branches as she floated by.
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| This is not the rotating tree, but the cat in the photo is the one who liked to go for rides on it. |
2. When I was a middle grade kid, my parents moved the family to Africa and we lived very near the equator. My mother still insisted on doing Christmas traditions as if we lived at home. One day she insisted we walk around the neighborhood, singing Christmas carols . When we got to one door and started to sing, the homeowner stopped us and insisted we sing the song correctly: 𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮I'm dreaming of a GREEN Christmas, just like the ones I've always known. With the palm trees swaying...." I can't sing White Christmas without thinking of this version.
3. We had a very dignified, standoffish cat, Ichi. He rarely hung out with us in his earlier days, preferring his own company. But the day we set up the Christmas decorations each year, he would always be underfoot. When we'd bring the 8 foot ladder into the house, to change out our wall-hanging, he'd take it as an opportunity to play king of the mountain, climbing to the top of the ladder and refusing to relinquish his spot even if our younger cat teased him and tried to dethrone him.
4. We hang up the Christmas stockings on the fireplace mantle and use them as decorations all December. One year I thought I'd get a jump on stuffing the stockings (helping Santa out!) by putting chocolate candies in them early. I didn't even think about how the stocking got warm (hot) as we had fires on those December evenings. Everyone had melted chocolate in their stocking on Christmas morning. 😕
5. We have a tradition to read two books every year, even now that my daughters are grown, they still want to us to read them when they come over: The Worst Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson and The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Miracle Christmas Dog by Dave Barry.
6. My husband, Don, grew up in Eastern Oregon. I grew up on the west side of the state. I wasn't used to COLD and SNOWY Christmas days. When we were first married, we spent Christmas with his parents and the next day planned to drive over the mountains to spend the rest of the holiday with my family. But when we woke up, the world had transformed into a snowy landscape with freezing temperatures. Our car wouldn't start. It was too cold. We tried to get it going by using a hair dryer on it.
7. My daughters love Star Wars and Yoda. One year they couldn't stop laughing at the midnight church service when we sang We Three Kings. One verse has an especially Yoda-like sounding phrase. And it really sets them off: "Frankincense to offer have I." That verse is followed by the fourth verse, which is all about death and dying. They can't stop laughing at the absurdity of this verse in light of the it being a Christmas carol!
[Verse 4]
Myrrh is mine
Its bitter perfume breathes
A life of gathering gloom
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying
Sealed in the stone cold tomb
8. Speaking of church, our daughter was in charge of the Christmas play at church two years in a row. It was a a completely unrehearsed event. She just guided the children with her voice and according to what headgear they chose to wear. Our grandson, her youngest, was the donkey. She asked him to go sit by the manger, and he did. It was so precious. A little donkey boy sitting in adoration the whole rest of the service.
9. Horsing around with my daughter and grandsons with the filters on her phone. We all became reindeer, or elves, or Santa. Laughter abounded.
10. My father always read How the Grinch Stole Christmas to the assembled family on Christmas Eve. Now that Dad is gone, my nephew has picked up the mantle. I can't hear the story without smiling through my tears.
11. Our second daughter was born a week before Christmas. The day after her delivery the nurses at the hospital brought her dressed up in a Christmas stocking, ready to go home. The best Christmas present ever got.
