With Christmas just around the corner I thought this would be appropriate. What from your childhood Christmases do you remember the most? When I was growing up in the 1950's, my mother had the tall Christmas lights, that once they go warmed up, would bubble and light the tall stem on them. You don't see them around anymore.
I have 4 strings of the bubble lights, you can find them just about any place that sells decorations, they made a comeback about 10 years ago. We never had them when I was a kid but hubby remembered them on their tree so we have them too now. I remember how my Dad taught me to lay the silver tinsel on the branches one strip at a time. My mother used the cannon ball method so we didn't let her do that part of the tree decorating.
I remember "going around on the Wren" every St. Stephen's Day (day after Christmas Day). This is a tradition we have from older days where a wren bird would be killed and brought around from door to door whereupon money would be collected for his funeral. We did not kill a wren, rather we substitute it with a moneybox neatly decorated with tinsel and wrapping paper. When we arrived upon a door step we would sing the following song: "The wren, the wren, The king of all birds, St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze, Up with the kettle and down with the pan, Will you give us some money to bury the wren? We chased the wren from rock to rock, We chased him into a public shop, We dipped his head in a bottle of beer, And we wish you all a Happy New Year!" We would set off on our bicycles just before noon and cycle around about a two mile area. There was no adult supervision. We would come back after a few hours with moneyboxes and bellies full from treats. It was such a fun and social tradition but unfortunately it doesn't happen around here anymore
I have so many fond memories from my childhood, but I have one particular memory that always comes to my mind. Every boxing day we used to travel just over an hour to my Aunt and Uncles house. Coming from an all German background, they followed traditon and put lit candles on their tree. I remember it always looked so beautiful, but I was always terrified that it would catch their Christmas tree on fire! They often left that room with the candles unattended and it scared me so bad!
My aunt and uncle, who lived about a half-mile from us and had no children, always had a big tree with the most gorgeous (to a child's eye) decorations. We would go to their house sometime the week before Christmas and have a pre-Christmas with them. Aunt Billi had gingerbread men all decorated, complete with icing buttons, face, and even a bow tie! Uncle Dutch would ask my sisters and me what we wanted for Christmas, and gosh! At least one of our wishes were under their tree. I think that perhaps daddy and uncle Dutch put their heads together shortly after Thanksgiving, and decided about the presents.
My favorite memory is Mom, my sister Lisa and I sitting around the kitchen table poking cloves into oranges. Then Mom would hang them with ribbons. She had good old Christmas carols on the Hi-Fi sung by Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and on top of the HUGE console stereo was a bowl of nuts (my dad loved to sit and crack nuts and nibble while he watched 60 minutes). I remember the smell of the oranges, the warmth of our little house and the snow outside the windows. It seemed late because it was dark but was probably only 4:30 or 5:00
Our first tree. Dh cut down in the timber.Had no $$$$ for decoration. So popped corn-strung it with cranberries. Made bows. Had to trim that tree down 3-4 times. I also loved the bubble lights. Have looked for them around here-none to be found.
Waiting with anticipation for my brothers to come out of the woods with the freshly cut Christmas trees. One for us, one for my grandmother and at least 2 for the church. This was usually just a couple of days before Christmas, if not on Christmas Eve. Talk about the excitement of getting it decorated just in time for Santa.
My favorite memory is of my daughter. We had a huge doll house built for her when she was about 3 years old. She woke us up at 3 am all excited that Santa had come. So we had Christmas at that time in the morning. While she played we took naps. When we woke up she was sound asleep in the doll house.
When my son was little, he's 44 now, we used to get the Sears and Roebuck and JC Pennys Christmas catalogs. They would usually come in early Sept. and he would pour through them almost every day. We gave him a pencil and he would circle what he wanted. Then we would order what we wanted him to have. Our Christmas shopping would all be done, wrapped and hidden by Halloween! He never caught on to what was going on with the catalogs until they stopped putting the catalogs out!
My oldest is now 47 and she used to do the same thing with the Sears and Montgomery Wards catalogs. She left one at Gramma's house and had one at our house, each with different things circled. One year she went through the Sears catalog and added up the price of all the toys just to see how much they would all cost. Her wish lists seemed to get smaller after that. If you do any online shopping you can find them several places. https://www.google.com/search?client=ub ... 8&oe=utf-8
My family always had a special fancy dinner on Christmas eve. We would dress up and be on our best behavior. Afterwards we would go to our little neighborhood church for the beautiful Christmas eve service. At the end, the lights would go dim, and the congregation would light candles and sing Silent Night. I loved that! When we came home, Mom and Dad would allow us to choose one small gift to open before bedtime. Those were the days!
I have told this story before but it's so dear to me. I love it. I like to share it. When my daughter was little we used to put a slipper outside the door the night before Christmas eve, the 23rd. We did that for years. Each year, don't ya know, Santa left a little special gift in her slipper when she looked the next morning. We did that until she moved into her own home. My hubby and I drove to her house to check if she did it in her own home. She did. We left a special gift in it every year. We did this until the last year that we had her. Oh, those memories are so so special and still fun to talk about. It was fun. We never talked to her about who left those little gifts at her house when she lived alone. It was cute. She had to have known it was us....
my best Christmas memory is of my last cruise while in the Navy. We had anchored at Naples Italy for the Holidays. I have been to the Med. 5 times before that cruise and always wanted to go to Rome but could never afford it. That year I was able to save up enough money to afford the USO's 2 day tour of Rome. It happened to include a tour of the Vatican and a seat at the midnight Christmas Mass. We were only about 20 ft. from Pope John Paul II. I had gifts for my wife and her Mom and Dad that I was able to get blessed by the Pope. That was a very special Christmas even if I was away from home.
We all used to go to Grandmother's house and take treats...her house was very small and we were packed in there. I loved it when Grandpa used to butter me a piece of bread and sprinkle sugar on it...I didn't realize it at the time but they were very poor. Then all of the children would sit on the steps going upstairs and play "WHO HAS THE BUTTON"...you had to guess which hand the person in front of the group had the button in. The good old days...
