Thanks for the memories
Our family consisted of 4 girls, a set of parents with a healthy marriage, and numerous pets over the years. Tradition was big.
When we were young mom and dad did the Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving. It was their day together, and they were gone all day.
Some time before Christmas we would go on a "color drive" and look at all the lights. On the drive we sang Christmas carols and took turns picking a song, youngest to oldest. My baby sister didn’t know many to begin with and she picked the ABC's every time for a couple of years. My mom's favorite is "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear". As kids we didn't know the words to that one right away, but we tried.
Decorating started with the search for the perfect tree. We all went out as a family to pick it out. The next day we decorated it. Dad helped with the lights, but didn't do much after that. We got to pick 5 ornaments out of our own stuff to put on the tree. Grandma sent us a new one every year until we were 18. Mom did the rest. Including the rest of the house.
Being Catholic we had to have a nativity scene. Mary and Joseph started out at one end of the living room and every day we took turns moving them closer to the manger. Baby Jesus miraculously appeared at the manger with them when we got home after mass Christmas Eve. The three wise men were the same and didn't get to the manger until Epiphany after being moved around the living room.
We sang Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus and went to put on our pj's. Every other year Santa came early and we had new pj's and slippers waiting for us on our beds. Dad got his coffee and we sat down to open presents. They were opened one at a time, youngest to oldest. Mom made a list of who got what from whom for the thank you cards. Then we decided on a time to get up the next morning to see what else Santa left.
In the morning we had to wait for everyone to get up before we could go downstairs. Dad would sneak down and make sure Santa had been there, and after the ok it was a free for all. My sister and I would usually have snuck down already and checked it all out. It helped us learn which stairs squeaked and where for sneaking in and out when we were older. Hehehe.
Then we had our family breakfast and wrote our thank you cards. That had to done before we could play with our toys. From there it was a quite day. My dad's not a big football fan, but he might have watched some after we were done with the parade. We had Christmas dinner, but no real tradition there.
All in all, very good memories. I am very fortunate to have the family I do. I wouldn't change a thing. I wish you all much love, peace, and happy memories.
Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. ~Hamilton Wright Mabie
When we were young mom and dad did the Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving. It was their day together, and they were gone all day.
Some time before Christmas we would go on a "color drive" and look at all the lights. On the drive we sang Christmas carols and took turns picking a song, youngest to oldest. My baby sister didn’t know many to begin with and she picked the ABC's every time for a couple of years. My mom's favorite is "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear". As kids we didn't know the words to that one right away, but we tried.
Decorating started with the search for the perfect tree. We all went out as a family to pick it out. The next day we decorated it. Dad helped with the lights, but didn't do much after that. We got to pick 5 ornaments out of our own stuff to put on the tree. Grandma sent us a new one every year until we were 18. Mom did the rest. Including the rest of the house.
Being Catholic we had to have a nativity scene. Mary and Joseph started out at one end of the living room and every day we took turns moving them closer to the manger. Baby Jesus miraculously appeared at the manger with them when we got home after mass Christmas Eve. The three wise men were the same and didn't get to the manger until Epiphany after being moved around the living room.
We sang Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus and went to put on our pj's. Every other year Santa came early and we had new pj's and slippers waiting for us on our beds. Dad got his coffee and we sat down to open presents. They were opened one at a time, youngest to oldest. Mom made a list of who got what from whom for the thank you cards. Then we decided on a time to get up the next morning to see what else Santa left.
In the morning we had to wait for everyone to get up before we could go downstairs. Dad would sneak down and make sure Santa had been there, and after the ok it was a free for all. My sister and I would usually have snuck down already and checked it all out. It helped us learn which stairs squeaked and where for sneaking in and out when we were older. Hehehe.
Then we had our family breakfast and wrote our thank you cards. That had to done before we could play with our toys. From there it was a quite day. My dad's not a big football fan, but he might have watched some after we were done with the parade. We had Christmas dinner, but no real tradition there.
All in all, very good memories. I am very fortunate to have the family I do. I wouldn't change a thing. I wish you all much love, peace, and happy memories.
Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. ~Hamilton Wright Mabie
posted by alwaysd | 12:49 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home