Saturday, we had a brunch at the church and a Christmas program. They called me several weeks ago and asked me to talk a little on Christmas traditions or memories or whatever.
When I start thinking of Christmas traditions, I always go back to memories of my childhood instead of what we are doing now. My first thought of Christmas is always of the wonderful Christmas Eve programs at the church – I miss those so much. It was so fun to go and watch the little children perform the story of Christmas and then to visit with Santa afterwards and get that infamous bag of peanuts, a couple of pieces of candy and an orange. It seems as a kid, we didn’t eat a lot of fruit – usually had tangerines around at Thanksgiving and an orange in our stocking (quite frequently, I’m sure that was the one that we had received the night before in our bag of candy from Santa).
We always went to the tree lot over near the Gann’s house to get our tree. That was always fun. I remember the old tree stand we had – it didn’t have anywhere to put water in, was more like a little wheel thing with spokes and dad would have to whittle down the trunk to fit into that little hole.
I think of the pillow cases that Mom made us. The pictures on it of a little boy and a little girl standing by a fireplace where the stockings hung. The words Twas the night before Christmas across the bottom. I remember how the first of December every year, she would put those on our pillows and we would get to sleep on them for the whole month. I was so glad when she had the lady make dolls out of pillowcases so I could get mine made into a doll to set out at Christmas. Since I’m probably a little old for a Christmas pillow case now but it is one thing I decided to make for my grand-daughters this year to pass that tradition along – not sure why I never made them for my own children.
I think of the brach's chocolate drops that dad would always buy - not sure if these are still around or not. The cherry and raspberry ones were the best. Course orange was good and lemon was okay. I remember us kids, scaping a piece of chocolate off the bottom to see what color was inside or sometimes taking a tiny bit out of the corner. When we got to the bottom of the bowl and almost out, the white ones seemed to improve in flavor. And Dad always had that can of hard candies around - some of them were so pretty with little flowers in the center that it seemed sad to eat them.
I remember Aunt Ora would always send Grandpa Carter (my grandpa that is) a box of See's chocolates at Christmas (that was back when you could only get them in California or big cities). We would go to his house and he would always let us choose just one piece - they were so delicious.
I remember when Grandpa Carter called us all excited because he had bought one of those new fangled artificial trees. We had to go up and see it. Oh my goodness – if any of you have never seen one of the first artificial trees, you really missed out. It looked like some kind of futuristic space tree – made of aluminum that looked like fringed tin foil. You didn’t put lights on this tree – no way, instead there was this light that sat on the floor and had a colored disk that turned in front of it. The disk was see through and was divided into 3 colors – kind of like cellophane so as this rotated, the tree would turn from red to green to yellow. Grandpa was pretty proud of that tree.
I think of Christmas dinners – turkey and ham. Mom always decorated the ham so pretty with pineapple slices and a cherry in the middle or sometimes she would cut criss crosses across the top of the ham and put a whole clove in the middle of each of them. Always her delicious raisin sauce – always Dad trying to sneak a piece of ham before it was time to eat. Always we had to eat right at 12:00.
We always got to open one present on Christmas eve which was a pair of pajamas or a new nightgown. That way, we looked presentable for those awful Christmas morning pictures – well, at least our clothes were decent.
So as I reminisce about Christmases long past and Christmases more recent I find that somethings have changed - like tamales for dinner instead of turkey means I don’t spend all Christmas day in the kitchen, artificial trees that look almost real can be put up extra early and left up to brighten new year’s eve, the family has grown and spread across 5 states so we can’t all gather at the farm as a family to celebrate the holidays. But one thing always stays the same for me - it’s a time to think of family and how blessed I have been in this life. And also to remember that first Christmas so long ago when our Savior humbled himself and came down to this earth to live and die for us that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father once again and be reunited with our dear Dad and others who have passed on before.
May you all have a wonderful Christmas and remember to include Christ in your celebration of his Birthday.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
You and my mom just want me to spend all day crying, huh?
This was so beautifully written, I almost felt like I was there, with you, as a child.
We do the Christmas eve present of jammies, too. I think its a great one (so the jammies look great for those early morning pictures!)
Have fun with your family.
Merry Christmas and we miss you!
Christmas was always so much fun when we were kids. I too miss those Christmas Eve programs. I guess that is why we tried to imitate that as much as possible with our own children.
Mom made each of us our own personal advent calendar. She would tie candy or gum on a strip of material and we would get to take one off everyday until Christmas.
Dad put up a row of lights around the eave of the house, big bright bulbs that outlined the roof. The tree had just a few lights on it because the lights were so much different than the lights are now. Mom did the tree in different colors and changed the decorations a few times. I remember an all blue tree- blue balls, and blue lights, and an all red tree with red lights and red balls, maybe she didn’t change them very often, but that is the way I remember it. We also put aluminum icicles on the tree, mom was very particular about how they looked, they needed to be put on a few at a time so they looked like they were real. This took a lot of work, but they shimmered and looked so pretty when we were done. Grandpa’s tree was really cool – regardless of what Lynda thinks. It looked neat from the street as the colors on the tree changed and he had a perfect window to showcase something so new-fangled.
Mom spent days making candy, Rosemary’s candy with nuts and some with coconut because Tom didn’t like nuts; Fudge; Divinity both white and cherry. She would make huge trays of candy and take it to all the neighbors and then on Christmas she would put a tray out for us to eat.
We weren’t supposed to go into the living room Christmas Eve, until they had us line up and go in one at a time, dad would film us walking in, being blinded by the light of the camera. Of course, sometimes you had to get a drink of water and in order to get a drink you had to go through the living room. You might even happen to accidentally look under the tree and see if Santa left any gifts unwrapped.
I hope that as the kids look back on Christmas they can remember bits and pieces of special years.
We love this great big family so much and are so grateful for parents who helped us discover the joys and wonders of this holiday season. In a Christmas letter we received it was summed up best "He came to pay a debt He didn't owe because we owed a debt we couldn't pay".
I can see that this love for Christmas is in the DNA make-up of all Carters! I just shared our traditions with my moms' group and it mostly revolves around food, food and more food. With Clint doing most of the planning and cooking! THere is a certain order in which things are conducted that makes Christmas last all day long - we will still be opening presents long after lunch and into dinner. The boys love making it last as long as possible. THanks for sharing! ENjoy your time in CO!
Yeah mom liked to change the color scheme of the tree. Do you remember the little white flocked ornaments with a little bit of red and white gingham on them? I only remember those because when John's Nana died, she had one of them and they let me have it. I love icicles too but they are such a mess (and definitely need to be hung on one at a time you can't just throw them) - especially on artificial trees. This year, however, I did find a box of glass icicles that look exactly like the real thing so was able to put them on my tree.
And in Pima, you did not "have" to go through the living room to get to the kitchen. Unless you're Polly. Don't forget the lemon divinity.
As mom and I were driving to the doctor for her shot, we started talking about Christmas memories. She told about the last real tree that they bought and how it was so dry they didn't dare light it. The next year for their anniversary they bought their first artificial tree with gingham ornaments and all the trimmings. She said it was out in Wenden, but she didn't remember what year that would have been. Funny how she told about the ornaments the same day Lynda mentioned them.
She mentioned the plate of covered candy and how we weren't supposed to eat any until Christmas Day. Then there was the year that Suzy peeked under the quilt in the corner of their bedroom and saw her present before Christmas.
Her tree this year is covered in crotched snowflakes that encircle pictures of all of the family members. It is a beautiful tree and full of so much love.
Post a Comment