Favorite Christmas Memories

I have a lot of happy childhood Christmas memories, and for that, I am grateful to my parents and grandparents for their efforts to make it that way.

Though it rarely snows on or even near Christmas (a weatherman once said we only ever have a 17% chance of that happening here in Ohio), I remember always wishing for snow. Thanks to the media I suppose we’re all conditioned to want that. Once you get your first taste of sled riding and making angels in the snow, not to mention SNOW DAYS, who wouldn’t want to wake up to that?

I can tell you who – my grandma. It’s not that she didn’t like snow I guess, but she never enjoyed wintery drives over to our house when it was our turn to have Christmas. Once she and my grandpa arrived she always had a stern look on her face and couldn’t wait to tell us all about the treacherous time they just had (btw, they only lived about an hour away, so it certainly could have been worse). I am grateful that they were always able to make the journey.

One year we were at their house (1981?) and the snow must have been coming down pretty hard because I remember having to stay overnight on Christmas day, which apparently wasn’t the plan, but worked out okay for all of us kids since we got pajamas as a gift anyway (something I definitely miss from my childhood).

I would be lying if I said we weren’t just a little spoiled when it came to the amount of Christmas presents we received because of having three sets of grandparents. However, they apparently worked out a system so that we weren’t just getting piles of toys from each one. My dad’s father and step-mom always bought us practical gifts like bedding, silverware, a lamp, and proof sets (coins). Those are the few things I remember, and of those, the only one I still have in my possession is the proof set. My dad’s mom and step-dad lived out of state, so I’m pretty sure we just got cash from them every year.

My mom’s parents were the absolute best as they always got us the perfect toys, like as if they had a personal line to Santa. Because there were three of us to buy for, sometimes the gifts were purchased in triplicate with only minor differences because of the sexes (like the wool hats we got one year). Often my sister and I received similar presents, but that certainly prevented fights unless we wanted to swap, which I don’t recall happening too often.

another year, another sweater....

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my uncle and his deep pockets. He’s still very generous often ordering us items off of our Amazon Wish List in addition to a check. I am grateful that he still flies across the country to visit us every Christmas. He either always has pretty good luck with his journey, or certainly never complains (but then he’s a seasoned traveler, so I’m sure he’s used to dealing with the ups and downs of travel).

Besides presents, food was definitely part of the Christmas celebration. My grandma, with her German heritage, made sure to bring us a pecan-covered kuchen (cake) every year which we had for breakfast, sometimes with donuts, or sometimes with bacon and eggs. I remember one year when the men (my dad and uncle) were put in charge of making breakfast. I’m pretty sure my uncle did most of the work, or at least gave all the orders since my dad rarely prepared any meals while I was growing up. Dinner was usually pasta shells stuffed with spinach and ground beef, a tradition which my sister still carries on to this day. Thanks sis! (and she always makes a pan without spinach for those who don’t care for the green stuff : ) 

Of course there were always Christmas cookies which we all helped to make using a midcentury cookie gun gizmo where you filled it with dough, selected one of the many disks with a Christmas shape in the middle which you placed on the end, and then squeezed the trigger to create a cookie in the shape of whatever you selected. I’m sure we also used cookie cutters, but the gun was so much faster and easier than rolling out dough over and over. Sometimes my mom and/or grandma made kolachkis and other various kinds of Christmas cookies. That’s certainly another thing I miss from my childhood.

In addition to the frenzy of unwrapping presents and stuffing ourselves with sugar and carbs, we also enjoyed watching those classic Rankin Bass Christmas specials – our favorite being “The Year Without a Santa Claus.” We loved the Meiser brothers: Heat Meiser (‘Hot Head’ to his brother) and Snow Meiser (Snowy to his friends).

Their mother was Mother Nature. How funny is that? Mrs. Claus and some of her elves apparently had to visit the trio to ask a favor, which, of course, didn’t go down well with the bickering brothers, much to our amusement. I saw a pair of the dolls (the kind that make noise when you push a button) in a grocery store recently and almost wish I had bought them had they not been so expensive ($20@).

We also enjoyed playing games at Christmas – sometimes the games we had just received as a present, or maybe another one from the shelf in our basement. I remember one year being invited to a party (NY’s eve I guess) at my grandma’s friend’s house and receiving prizes (stationery as I recall) for winning various games. That’s still one of my happiest memories. We also played a game where everyone has to bring an inexpensive gift that is passed left or right as a story is read out. I think most everyone ended up with at least one present, best as I recall. I remember playing this game during one of my first few Christmases after I got married. My sister-in-law in particular really enjoyed playing it, so I was happy to pass along a favorite family tradition.

Well, these are just a few of the fond memories I have of some of my childhood Christmases. I hope you all enjoyed reading them, and perhaps it made you nostalgic for your own Christmases of the past.

I hope you make more happy memories this year. God Bless and Happy Holidays everyone!