If you did celebrate Dec. 25th as a child, what is your fondest memory?

I think mine is when I was 8 years old and I really, really wanted a two wheeler of my own!
I always had to use "the boys" bikes or a girl's bike that was much to large for me.
I'm second to the youngest and I always and forever got the hand-me-downs. :(

But that year I just wanted a bicycle that fit me!

So, Christmas morning we came down stairs and the doors to the living room are closed as usual
on Christmas morning and we go to church and then walk home (all 9 of us) and then have a big
breakfast and then it's finally time to go in the living room. It was always very exciting and
dramatic waiting for those doors to open (we didn't get much during the year) and there was a
large gift covered by a sheet with a big red bow on it. I was told to take the sheet off and
there was a blue bicycle with a bell and tassels on the handles and it was soooo beautiful to me!! :D

I think that was one of my best Christmas memories!

How about you? Any memories you want to share? Good or bad. Hugs given out liberally.

It had tassels too.

:D

because I didn't get those Cha-Cha heels!

What are those? :shrug:

How did you knock over the tree? Freaked out?

I'll bet she felt bad she didn't get what you wanted. :(

Here you go!! :P


Cha Cha Heels for Christmas!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iTSxiT2YWQ

I wish Divine was still with us :cry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iTSxiT2YWQ

The kind with a skate key and you wore them on your shoes.

I was so into skating, and the weather that Christmas Day was a balmy 74 degrees in Oklahoma City.

Felt it was just perfect because I could actually go out skating in the middle of winter! (1965)

That sounds like a great day and a great memory! :D

I think my roller skates were hand-me-downs. They were adjustable after all! :P

But I was very proud to have 'the key' on a string around my neck just the same!

Mom raised my brother and I alone with no child support in the 1950s after Dad split when we were very young. And she always saw we had a nice Christmas. I too was probably about 7 or 8 when I woke up Christmas Eve while Mom fumbled with the presents in the closet while pulling them down to put under the tree. I never have forgotten that; I woke up and watched but said nothing, because I guess by then I knew the truth all along, and why ruin her fun? Mom is gone now, but she will always be Santa Claus.

:hug:

I'll bet it had to be tough on your Mom in the 50's!

You were sweet to let her have her fun! :hug:

The fun is in the giving. ;)

But I bet you had fun opening those presents too!

she was pregnant with my baby sister, and she and I sat up most of the night assembling the first model of the Barbie Dream House which was cardboard, tab A into Slot B which was a gift for my middle sister and we made ourselves sick we laughed so hard at ourselves trying to build that silly thing. It took mass quantities of milk and cookies, and German Chocolate Cake to get us through that evening; we were pretty punch drunk.

This began a long tradition of me playing Santa with my mom for my younger sisters.

We also did a LOT of baking together starting that same Christmas. I still love to bake a good cake for Christmas. We always made jam cake with brown sugar caramel frosting, German Chocolate Cake and usually a fresh coconut cake. Lots of company and big dinners to take food to, so we had lots of desserts on hand. My grandmother made a chocolate cake made with ground Brazil nuts and 7minute frosting, and my other grandmother being of Norwegian extraction made all those awesome pressed cookies full of butter; and pulled taffy, and caramel corn and beautiful marzipan. My great aunt was the candy queen, fudge, divinity etc with and without nuts. My dad's sister and/or their mother (the brazil nut cake baker) were masters of the country ham.

But back to the baking. . . our local TV station showed the Laurel & Hardy "Babes in Toyland" several times during the season and we would usually be baking when it was on. Or decorating the tree, or polishing the silver, or wrapping presents. If not that movie, then Christmas music on the record player.


I have a chocolate pound cake in my freezer already.

my mom and I had worked the graveyard shift Christmas Eve (I was 14) and my step dad's parents were coming in for Christmas day.

Mother hadn't done ANY decorating and we still needed a tree

at 6AM Christmas Morning

:banghead:

so picture this in your mind, two females (one quite young and one quite overweight) in short nurse's uniforms (it was 1969) climbing the fence of a Christmas tree lot and STEALING a tree on Christmas morning

it's amazing I'm not MUCH more neurotic than I am ......

:rofl:

:P Too funny! Your Mom sounds like she was a lot of fun! :D

I wouldn't say we had a 'Norman Rockwell' upbringing but they tried.

We went without a lot of the basics actually. To many kids and bills, don't cha know?

We walked to church because we couldn't afford a car and we didn't even have a TV!

;)

no Mother wasn't fun, she was nutz

My older brother got a regulation football. My white one was way cooler.

;)

Sounds like it made you happy! :D

We all rode them that afternoon, anyway. That was a good year.

I was picturing you all riding those bikes in the snow together!

That's awesome! That must be a very special memory for you! ;)

kinda made me cry thinking about it. But, thats ok. It is a good memory. :hug:

I don't remember how old I was, but probably around 6 or 7...

I'd had a panda bear which I'd lost...

And that year...after several years of having asked for a new one...there he was, under the tree!

I ran over, grabbed him, and didn't let go of him the whole day!

I still have him, BTW...

He's right here in my study, in the window seat!

:bounce: :bounce:

I'll bet you hung on to him that day and after that! It's wonderful you still have him!! :D

I had a lot of dolls given to me over the years and they were very special to me, each with
it's own name and then when I was twelve my Dad packed them up and gave them away and
I was heart broken over it. It still bothers me. I'm glad you still have your panda bear! :hug:

Because it was the same every year. My brother and I would share the same bed on Christmas Eve, I don't know why, but we did. I remember my brother had this fish tank that reflected on the wall and he always would fall asleep before me, so I'd spend hours looking at that thing trying to sleep.

When I finally did, morning came quickly and the first sound of Christmas was the noise of my grandparents outside. Every year, without fail, I'd jump to my feet and run to my brother's bedroom window, looking down on them as they unloaded the gifts from the trunk of their Buick. That's when I knew Christmas was officially here, so I'd wake my brother up and we'd bolt down the hall to the top of the stairs, where we'd see grandma and grandpa enter the house, inevitably kicking the snow off their shoes. They'd smile and we'd be giddy with excitement, asking to come down. But, as it was every year, mom would tell us to wait as they got their coffee and made sure all the gifts were there. Even though that took maybe 5 minutes tops, it felt like an eternity. Then my mom would yell for us to come down and we'd fly down the stairs and toward the gifts. When I believed in Santa, the first thing I would check would be the plate and milk I left out for Santa and his reindeer. Milk and cookies for Santa, carrots and celery for the reindeer.

My brother moved out and then grandpa died. Soon it was just my mom, dad, my aunt, grandma and me opening gifts on Christmas morning, then grandma died too and my aunt got married. The last few Christmases it's just been mom, dad and myself. No more hearing the animated voice of grandpa, or watching out the window as the two pulled gifts from the back of their car. :( But at least I have those memories, which I'll always cherish. :)

That's beautiful and you describe it so well, that I can 'see' it, as if I was there. ;)
I don't remember checking to see if the cookies were gone but I do remember the stockings
full of fruit (filler! LOL) and little toys hung on our bedposts though. Usually just goofy stuff,
nothing expensive but always interesting. My Mom had a knack for that! ;) It sounds like
your parents and grandparents kept that wonder and excitement alive for you too!

Here's to warm memories of yesteryear!

Nollaig shona duit!

mostly to do with the tree. That wonderful scent. The decorating process. The decorations themselves. Gathering around it as a family. That's the thing I've missed the most since I went off to college. We still gather as a family, but my parents have gotten lazy and stopped putting up a tree. :(

That, and some of the goofy things we've done with presents over the years... the two that stick in my mind the most both involve bottles of alcoholic beverages, oddly enough. And my family doesn't drink much. :)

The first one I can think of was when we bought a nice bottle of wine for my dad... we couldn't decide how to diguise it. No matter what we did, the shape was too obvious. So my stepbrother made a little cardboard cone and some cardboard fins and made it look like a rocket.

My dad was a wee bit confused until he finally opened it.

The other one was the present I gave to my stepbrother last year. He's a bit of a beer afficianado, and he also enjoys cooking. So I found these big beer bottle-shaped containers full of a beer bread mix. Just add beer, and you can make the bread. I figured with his knowlege of different beers he could make some interesting different kinds. So I didn't bother to hide the shape. I just wrapped them up as is. Even left a bottle opener around the neck of one of the bottles. Right up until he opened them, he thought he was getting beer. :)

The best part: I bought them a few days before I got his christmas list. And right next to each other on his list were: Interesting beers and cooking stuff.

the smell of the tree and the cinnamon everywhere and the decorating and the smell
of furniture polish to make the house presentable for my aunts and uncles... ooh!
And mincemeat stewing! Oh, now you've reminded me of all the smells of the holidays!

You know your stepbrother well and gave him something he really wanted! ;)

That 'trick' gift on your Dad is funny! I love gifts like that!
They don't appear to be what they seem... it adds to the fun of it all! :D

My sister made our gifts into a game of clue one year! We had to follow
her clues and hunt for our gifts from her. That was a lot of fun too!

When I was little my mom used to make these christmas bread things... similar in consistancy to hot cross buns, but they had various candied fruits in them. I don't know if she stopped because they're hard to make, or if it's because they're unhealthy as heck. :) But we've managed to get a new christmas tradition the last few years... for christmas dinner (which we usually have on the 24th, that way we can relax and have leftovers on the day itself) we have a leg of lamb. We cut little slits in the outside and put a garlic clove inside each one... tastes SO good.

And then the next day we use the leftovers to make MLTs. Mutton, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. :) It's great when the mutton is nice and lean, and the tomato is ripe. They're so perky, I love that.

Why don't you and your stepbrother buy a tree and deliver it and decorate it for your parents?
Surprise them! Maybe they're just tired of all the work it entails. My Dad got like that later
on in his life and he opted for a live table tree for awhile. He loved the smell of pine at that
time of year. It does smell really good in the house!

what with me just moving about 1,257 miles away (according to google maps)... :)

This year we're having Christmas at my brother's house, he just moved near here a few months before I did. My parents and little sister are flying up, we're not sure if my stepbrother can make it or not but we're hoping. (And if my stepsister can make it, we're hoping she doesn't bring her boyfriend with her. :evilgrin: ) I'll be driving, it's about a 6 hour trip between my house and his. I just gotta start working on learning how to drive stick... because that's the car that'll be available to me.

Although the only tickets my parents could get had them leaving my brother's house on Christmas day itself, so we just might end up doing everything a day or two early... and then I might be able to con my brother and his family into coming and having a second celebration over here. :) Or possibly at my uncle's house, which is about a 2 hour drive from here, and about a 5 hour trip from my brother's house. If I don't trust myself to drive stick by then, I might be able to just find some way to get TO my brother's house, then if he's coming back to have more celebrations over here I could come back with his family. It's weird suddenly having all these options... before it was just my immediate family nearby. Now I've got relatives peppered around the area.

*edit* Huh... looking at google maps, it looks like the best way to get between here and my brother's place would involve crossing right through where my uncle lives. And it's a slightly shorter trip there than I thought, only about an hour and a half.

Once you learn to get it to move out of 1st gear, the rest should be easy! ;)

It's all in the 'feel' and the timing. Just remember...

1st gear is for starting out -up to 5 - 10 miles an hour;

Shift to 2nd gear when approaching 20 mph;

Go to 3rd at 25 to 30 mph and then

shift to 4th at 35 to 40 mph, for street cruising with stop lights.

5th gear is for the highway, when you won't have to make as many stops

and down shift to 4th and then 3rd and then 2nd when approaching a red light

and then to neutral and use the brakes to cruise to a stop. ;)

Start again in 1st, BEFORE the light turns green again! ;)

I hope you get everyone together at the same time! Sounds like fun!

:D

I've got shifting down pat. But the stopping and starting thing... well. We've got hills here. Lots of hills. So if I have to stop on a hill... that might not be pretty.

I've been keeping my eyes open for a hill that I can practice on that doesn't get much use, so I won't have to worry about other cars or anything. :)

then just use the brakes! If you have the shifting down pat, then that should be a piece of cake!

If you're on a hill and you need to stop, don't worry about the other cars!

They have brakes and you have brake lights and you'd be pulling over to the side anyway! :P

You'll be fine... but keep practicing because it sounds like you have a long drive ahead

of you and you want to be 'on your game' in that scenario!

Have a safe trip and keep us posted when the time arrives!

I think I was 13.It's too long, personal, and painful to detail here but I gave her a perfectly ordinary gift, paid for with my babysitting wages. She was surprised and touched, and it was the year that I learned that giving really is better than receiving.

Giving is so much better than receiving, that's for sure. I love giving presents
because I love seeing the expressions on the faces of the receivers. ;) It's fun!
I gave a coffee cup to my Dad one year with money I earned babysitting and he kept
it until the day he died. It said, "World's Best Dad!" and he used it at work too!
That made me feel so special! And now I have it back on my shelf.

"My daughter thinks I'm the best, and what more could I ask for?"

have a good memory of when the cat knocked over the tree. It was a real one so there was sugar water and resin everywhere. I think we got the toboggan that year.

Getting our first big tv was another standout memory.

Best XMAS meal? The year the turkey had been frozen-thawed-frozen and was rubbery and inedible. So we had a veggie meal that year. LOL

They love to climb them and tear up the ornaments, don't they? :P

Getting THE TV is always a biggie or it was for us too and I think

my older brother got the toboggan. Rubber turkey doesn't sound good

but I'll bet the cook never heard the end of it! :rofl:

Great memories! They're all good... at least the good one's are.

:P

my grandfather loved Christmas and would have bought us everything if my mother would have let him. He delighted in all our activities and interests...and he would have loved DU. I can see him now two finger typing on the internets blasting Shrub to hell and back!

He sounds like he was a lot of fun from your description

and he probably spoiled you! Good! :P

It would have been cool if he could've been here at DU!

thing. He loved new stuff, and exchanging ideas and learning always learning. He bought us books and yep he spoiled us to death.

He was a man of many talents and several careers, and well loved by many.

Especially you! :hug:

every year for as long as i can remember my sister and i would wake up in the middle of the night and go through our stockings together (santa always left them outside our doors)

we didn't get along well when we were kids but christmas was a truce of sorts and we'd do the stockings just the two of us

no matter where we've lived since we've grown up, we both stay with dad on christmas eve and still open our stockings in the middle of the night

That's great and I'm amazed that you both still open your stockings in the middle of the night together!

That is fantastic! (It's actually fantastic that you still get stockings!) :rofl:

I don't get along with all my sisters either but we still do the same traditions on that day.

The same kinds of food and pretty much similar tree decorations too. ;)

while Silent Night played on the stereo.


Christmas Eve mass was always a very powerful experience, too, particularly the manger on the altar and the choir singing.

I never actually attended one until I was much older, in my teen years. My Mom didn't like us going to mass unless it was a Sunday
so, we didn't go back then as a family. But a very large group of my friends would go together and it was such a beautiful experience and service. The total candle light and the poinsettia's and the choir singing... Just beautiful!

http://members.eunet.at/f.toescher/Weihnachten/Adeste_fidelis.HTM">Adeste Fideles

Adeste fideles, laetit triumphants,
venite, venite in Bethlehem!
Natum videte regem angelorum:
venite adoremus, venite adoremus,
venite adoremus Dominum!

Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine gestant
puellae viscera,
natum videte regem angelorum
venite adoremus, venite adoremus,
venite adoremus Dominum!

Cantet nunc "lo!" chorus angelorum
cantet nunc aula caelestium.
Gloria excelsis Deo!
Venite adoremus, venite adoremus,
venite adoremus Dominum!

Ergo qui natus, die hodierna
Jesu, tibi sit Gloria;
Patris aeterni, Verbum caro factum!
Venite adoremus, venite adoremus,
venite adoremus Dominum!

I'm no longer a practicing Catholic, but I miss the music and the mystery of Christmas Eve and other holiday services the most.

the whole neighborhood got together and burned down all the Jews' houses. then we had ham. good times.

(oh wait, sorry, we were the Jews. my bad. damn Stockholm Syndrome.)