Christmas Memories Part I

One of the most special parts about Christmas is the fact that all the times of old are brought back through traditions. Whenever I come back home for the holidays, everywhere I turn there is some memory. In every part of my house something reminds me of a special time. As I drive around these streets that I have lived on for my entire life, I am reminded of moments that may not have even been captured on camera, and only exist in my mind. These memories become sweeter with time, and I am sure you too have been reminiscing of those great Christmas days. I would like to share some of the memories that stick out the clearest in my mind tonight.

1. I am not sure if this was one particular morning, or several mornings strung together, but I so distinctly remember as a child playing with my American Girl dolls in our basement with Jessie. Jess and I could play dolls literally all day, and when Christmas break came, we would most likely be found in the basement bundling up our dolls and setting up the dining table chairs like a sled. Our imaginations were very good, too. We always had really great husbands and our kids were always the cutest. This particular morning I remember it being really snowy and cold and Jessie and I must have gotten up really early to start playing. We were in dress up clothes and were about to go on a sleigh ride with our kids and husbands right before going to a Christmas pageant. We turned on the Christmas music to enhance our playtime, and then off we were. After a couple of hours, my dad called down the stairs telling us we were going to go to the bakery to get some donuts so we should go up and put on our boots and coats. Jessie and I always loved going to the Grandville Bakery. We always (and to this day still do) got the coffee cake donut and would warm it up when we got home. Going to the bakery was even more special because the snow was falling and the line at the bakery was always so long, but everyone would always say, “Merry Christmas!” And on this morning, it was no different. I remember driving there with my family and coming back while it was still morning to eat the donuts and then get right back to playing dolls.

2. When we were little, Jessie would always sleep in my bed with me on Christmas Eve. Reason? My window is right next to the chimney. After we would all watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” together, my dad would come up and read “Polar Express” to her and I. After he left, she and I would stay up for hours giggling and shaking with excitement for what the morning was going to bring. And without a doubt, every Christmas morning, Jessie would wake up at 5:45 and then get me up. My parents always had a rule that we could not get up until 6, so she would give us fifteen minutes to make sure we were ready to go downstairs. And during that time, her and I would sit on the top of the stairs and look down at all of the presents under the tree and ask, “Are you ready yet?” To this day the answer still is, “Wait for your dad to get his tea.” And when he got his tea, we would run down the stairs. We could first open our stockings, and when that was over, we would always go into the kitchen to get hot chocolate and my mom’s casserole that she only bakes for Christmas morning. It always took us a good 2 ½ hours to open gifts, and when it was over, we would pack up the car and go down the road to my grandparent’s house. I always remember being so thrilled to get over there as soon as possible to show my grandparents and Kelly the gifts I got. Whenever we got there, my grandparents, Kelly and great grandparents were always waiting. There was always a fire going, and always coffee and breakfast waiting. Jessie and I would always play in that huge house, waiting for my uncle and aunt to get there so we could open up more gifts. And whenever we did open gifts there, we always went down in the huge basement. This basement had the biggest old fashioned fire place, a jukebox, and those old fashioned machine games that you have to pay a quarter in order to play. My grandma would always tell my grandpa to turn off the game, and somewhere in between playing the machine games with my dad and helping put more wood into the fire, my grandma would play “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” on the jukebox and another beautiful Christmas would continue. I miss those days.

3. When I was in fifth grade I had the best Christmas party ever. My mom was my teacher, and everyone knows that the day before Christmas break is basically party day at school. My mom planned the best fifth grade party that I will never forget. Our class had to dress up for it and parents brought in meatballs, sausages, vegetables and dip, little desserts, and punch. I remember everyone being stoked for it. Not only was that day our big party, but it was also the day we were going to put on our Christmas play for the parents and other classes. This play our class worked on for a while, and we all had awesome elf costumes and sang great songs. That morning as Jessie, my mom, and I were leaving for school, the roads were really icy and snowy. We somehow went off the road a bit and my dad had to come and get us to bring us to school. I remember thinking it was awesome that we were going to be an hour late and I got to miss math, and now my dad got to stay at school to wait for our play. The whole day was everything you would expect a child’s Christmas to be like. My classmates and I performed, my dad helped out in the classroom all day, we had this great ‘fancy’ fifth grade Christmas party and exchanged gifts, we watched a Christmas movie, and finally got to pack up to go home for 2 weeks of vacation. I remember that during this day my mom got a bunch of popcorn tins, movie passes, and pop as gifts from her students and my dad kept making the remark of how we were all going to settle down “for a long winter’s nap.”

4. Macaroni and cut up hot dogs always remind me of the one Saturday every December when I was in elementary school. On that Saturday we would have to meet at church to practice for a few hours for the church Christmas pageant. I always loved these Saturdays. They would always begin with a rehearsal, and then I think we got split up into groups according to age. Each group would go to a station. For some reason we always, always had to watch the Veggie Tale Christmas. If you weren’t watching that, then you were either playing some games, doing a Christmas craft, or goofing off somewhere where you shouldn’t be. But after all of that, before our parents picked us up, we would eat lunch. The lunch was always macaroni with cut up hot dogs. I hope every little kid gets to eat macaroni with cut up hot dogs after practicing for their church Christmas pageant; I really do.

5. Usually the week or so before Christmas my mom, dad, sister and I make the trip down to Indiana to have Christmas with my dad’s family. This always meant that the last Friday of school before break, we would come home, quickly pack and throw our stuff into the car, grab the Christmas music and start the snowy 4 ½ hour drive down to Indiana. It was always an icy drive down, and Jessie and I usually always fought for a good hour of the time about stuff like who was taking up more space or what song we were going to listen to next. After about 2 hours of driving we would stop to get dinner, and Jessie and I always chose to eat at McDonalds. Each time we would always get chicken mcnuggets with extra barbecue sauce. In between bites of nuggets, we would chat about what we wanted for Christmas and how excited we were to get to drink as much pop as we wanted while we were at my grandparents’ house. Every Christmas down there my grandma would make buckeyes and special chex mix. There was always Dr. Pepper in the fridge, and the house was always perfectly warm. So warm in fact that as a kid I would sweat so much because we would be running around the house playing crazy games with my cousins. And for some reason, I can still picture sitting on the little chair with my cousins and sister and watching Home Alone, eating the chex mix and drinking can after can of Dr. Pepper while our parents and my grandparents laughed and talked about the more adult topics.