I don't understand this, because my mom loved to take pictures.
But, for some unknown reason, we have none taken at Christmas time.
My earliest memories are of Christmas at school.
I remember sitting quietly on my knees at my school desk holding my useful gift of a pair of gloves while the other children excitedly played with their toys they received.
I remember singing in the choir in the Christmas program. We sang The Night Before Christmas while children on stage acted the story out. I can still see it vividly in my mind.
In the fifth grade I received a doll that walked. I remember taking it to school and demonstrating her to the class.
I remember the mixed nuts we would get every year at Christmas time. They were placed in a large bowl and we would crack them and eat them. The english walnuts were my favorite.
And the candy I remember the most were the chocolate balls. Mom displayed them in her white milk glass candy dish with a lid on it. I think everyone had one of these candy dishes.
We went up into the woods and cut down our tree.
And the icicles on the trees! A tree wasn't decorated if it wasn't covered from top to bottom with icicles. I remember my Aunt Gracie's Christmas trees. The icicles hung so perfectly on her tree, as if each icicle was placed on exactly one by one. In my child's eyes, her tree was so beautiful. And she had this large pine cone that she stood upright, it was the largest pine cone I had ever seen.
We opened our gifts on Christmas Eve at our house when I was a child. We now open them on Christmas morning.
After I married and had children, Mom and Dad would come out on Christmas morning with the presents and watch as the children opened them. Mom loved her grandchildren and she loved Christmas. She would wear an old Santa hat on her head. It was kind of tattered, the jingle bells on the side were pinned on and the ball on the end was made of clumped up tissue paper.
Mom wearing her Santa hat, with my youngest son David, who is now 20.
I still have her Santa hat. It is displayed on top of my entertainment system.
And I remember being an angel in the church play and reciting these lines:
Luke chapter 2 verses 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14
And the angel said unto them, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
Merry Christmas to everyone!
Hold onto your memories and traditions and tell your children and grandchildren of the baby Jesus's birth.
I don't have many memories of Christmas as a child. But Christmas now is not the same without Mom because she always enjoyed it so much. I do remember the Christmas trees, though. We always had a real tree, and I remember the lights that looked like little lanterns and bubbled. Mom always hung wreaths in the windows with a light that looked like a candle. The one think I remember about Aunt Gracie's tree and Aunt Irma's tree was that they put angel hair on them.
ReplyDeleteYes, I remember those bubbling lights, too. I was going to write about them, but forgot. They're making them again and we have some.
ReplyDeleteI love traditions. And I like hearing of everyone else's too.
ReplyDeleteA Christmas tree isn't a Christmas tree without icicles. Love them. Except on the floor.
Thanks for sharing your Christmas memories with us!
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR TO THE BLACKBERRY PATCH!! I hope that you had a good Christmas yesterday. I sure did! I love Christmas traditions. My mother had an old Father Christmas ornament. I'm pretty sure that it came over from England with her grandfather. It went onto the tree every year & has been put back together several times. My youngest brother has it now & is carrying on the tradition.
ReplyDeleteHi Janet, you made a comment about what a big table I had in the picture on my blog. Actually it is 2 tables pushed together and we have even outgrown that. Not seen in the picture is 4 of our grandchildren sitting at a card table off to the side. If our family keeps growning I don't know what we'll do at the holidays.
ReplyDeleteJanet-I sooo enjoyed your memories of Christmas past. I remember getting a set of hankies at school one year-when everyone else seemed to get something special. Your Mom's hat is precious.
ReplyDeleteAwww, such precious Christmas memories. Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to say hello. It means alot and I love meeting new folks. I totally LOVE your state. I visited there 3 year ago this summer and went through WV on our wat to meeting to Virginia. We chose to drive instead of taking a paid for air line ticket. It was such pretty country and EVERYBODY seemed to have their porches all fixed up and most houses stilkl had porches. I would move therew in a heart beat. I dream of hiking the Appy trail. If I had known of such things when I was younger, I am tooooo old now.
ReplyDeleteShanda