Christmas 2021

We are just home from our daughter’s house where we got to open gifts with our grandkids.  They are all teenagers now but on Christmas mornings they are like little kids.  I love that … and a million other things … about them.   Since I was a child (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth), it has been a tradition in our family that Santa brings a few new ornaments every Christmas Eve.   Once I reached 20 and no longer believed in Santa Clause, we continued the tradition, adding a few ornaments to the tree each year.  By now we have more ornaments that we could possibly put on one tree, so mostly we use what we call Santa’s ornaments, although we still use some of the dime store ornaments from our first few trees.  There is a box of glass bells we bought when we were first married that I use every year.  This year, my daughter’s family surprised us with an ornament from Maui that they bought went we all went there this summer.  Thus, another memory is added to the tree.

A few years ago, I made this video of some of our ornaments set to the tune of the Beach Boy’s Little Saint Nick.  It fits the bill as the more upbeat Christmas song I promised in yesterday’s post, Christmas Eve Again.

Merry Christmas, everyone !

Christmas Eve Again

Last weekend, we had dinner at our neighbor’s house.    They had Sirius XM on playing traditional Christmas music and it was just what I needed to get me in the mood for Christmas.   Oh, yes, I had put up our tree and the lighted wreath on the front door,  And ordered (on Amazon) gifts for the grandkids.  In my family we all buy stocking stuffers for each other now that we know Santa doesn’t do it and I’m done with that (almost).  But until I start playing my Christmas soundtrack in the car as I’m driving or or on earbuds as I’m working out, I can’t really find the Christmas spirit.

Mom’s Favorite Ornament

This is our second Christmas living in Utah.   Last year, we moved into our new house on December 19, so we didn’t put up a tree.  It was the first time in 76 years, I didn’t have a tree.  That was fine because we spent the holiday with our grandkids and their tree.   But this year, I was anxious to have a tree again.   This year.   In a year like no other, our tree, too, would be different.  In years past, I would  spend days carefully  placing the several hundred ornaments we’d accumulated over the years and reserving a spot in front of my favorite ornament to shine.   This year we have a new family member, a lovable but somewhat mischievous Tuxedo cat named Tyson that we rescued last year.  The first day I put up the tree (sans ornaments) I found Tyson IN the tree, a third of the way up.  A shout, a clap and a squirt from the water bottle seems to have taught him that this tree is not for climbing.  Still, I only decorated the top two-thirds of the tree, placing my favorite ornament higher than usual. Compromising with a cat comes easier at 76 than it would have at 50.

Christmas Eve with Dad

For the few days left before Christmas, I’m going to repost several of my favorites about childhood Christmas’ with my family.  This one is perhaps my favorite memory of my Dad.

When I search the dusty back shelves of my memories under Childhood with Dad, Christmas Eve is the fondest.   I don’t remember exactly how old I was when I started going out with Dad on Christmas Eve to pick up presents from our other relatives in the area, but I know it was after I stopped believing in Santa Claus.   My mother used to say that I believed in Santa Claus for so long that she was embarrassed to take me to Malley’s Department Store to see him, so I was probably older than you’d think. 

(Almost) Headed Home

Our Christmas stay with our grandkids is over (sigh) and we are (Almost) Headed Home. Almost because our flight from Salt Lake City is delayed over two hours. It has been snowing here on and off for two days and, on the way to the airport the car next to us went into a 720-spin on the slick road and almost hit us. But the snow here isn’t the reason for our delay. Lightning storms in Texas delayed the plane’s departure from Austin to Salt Lake. You should know that in spite of the fact that I am a Million Mile flyer … and that I find the window seat at 30,000 feet a great place to work or write … I hate airports, especially on busy flight days.   OK. If I had an airport to myself … and maybe a few hand-selected friends … it might be tolerable.  I’m just not fond of being crammed into uncomfortable seating at the gates with hundreds of travelers. Businessmen talking (loudly so we’ll all know how important they are), closing deals on their cell phones. Noisy kids and noisy parents trying in vain to keep them under control. Lonely souls telling their life stories to anyone who will listen.  The inevitable babbler with the annoying voice who can’t seem to stop talking even though she ran out of things to say ten years ago.

A Christmas Eve Past

At ten years old, had someone asked me what I liked better, Christmas or Christmas Eve, I wouldn’t even had to think. Christmas, of course. A mere six years later, Christmas was still the favorite, but Christmas Eve had gained a lot of ground. By sixteen, I’d learned to appreciate anticipation of Christmas Eve, my Mom’s happy Christmas mood, the smell of pies9 cooking in the oven and carols on the radio. And, of course, going out with my Dad to pick up gifts from our relatives homes was one of my favorite things of the year. And here I sit at seventy four, looking back nostalgically and I find that many of my favorite memories are of Christmas Eve. And in particular of one about 40 years ago.

Santa’s Ornaments

For as far back as I can remember (a lot of years, he said, still wondering where they went), every Christmas Santa’s Ornaments would appear on the family Christmas tree, waiting to be discovered by the kids in the morning. As I grew older and realized the several new ornaments each year were purchased by Mom or Dad, I still looked for the ornaments in the morning as if they were Santa’s. The two or three ornaments we’d find every Christmas were always special, never of the dozen balls-in-a-box variety … maybe crystal bells or a hand-blown Santa, and over the years they became family treasures.