12 Days of Christmas Memories - Day 12

Who can forget Christmas Dinner at Denny's!

I would get excited every year to spend Christmas Dinner at Denny's restaurant for either some pancakes or a cheaply cooked steak. Mmmmmm

When I was a kid, my family was very poor.  We spent Christmas Day with our extended family and had a lunch with them all afternoon.  But when dinnertime came around, we didn't have the money (or kitchen) to cook a fancy Christmas dinner just for us.  So one Christmas my parents looked up the few restaurants in town that were open on Christmas.  We went to Denny's and ate out Christmas evening.  As a kid, I was totally stoked about getting to eat out and loved doing it every year.  I knew that when it was time to go, I could take one of my new toys to play with at the table.  I always got chocolate milk or a chocolate milkshake with my dinner. And I usually got pancakes, although in my older years I advanced to the T-bone steak and eggs :-)

Even when my family was more on their feet, I still begged to go to Denny's because it felt almost like a tradition.  I watched the scene change over the years.  The restaurant moved locations.  Every year the menu was different.  Every year the cook ran out of something and they had to take it off the menu.  Every year the staff got smaller and smaller, whcih made the food take longer and longer.  But we usually got nice people and would be glad to leave a big Christmas tip.

Even now that I'm 'all grown up' my husband and I still go.  We love going just to go and relax after a long day with family.  We usually invite people along, but most of them have other plans.  I can't imagine having Christmas and not going to Denny's that night.  If they ever left Tyler I would have to travel to Kilgore just to have christmas dinner!

This year I went with my husband and some of my family.  The waitress was not so great and the food took forever, and while I didn't get as much personal time with my family as I would have liked, it was nice that we were able to make it altogether because we never know when it will be the last time.  If Denny's were to move out of town....I'm pretty sure they wouldn't follow me to Kilgore just to eat there...

12 Days of Christmas Memories - Day 11

My Papaw always had the best Santa hats.  They usually had bells or special bands on it. His hats were always different in some way...and not the dinky dollar store Santa hats.

And I was always special enough to wear Papaw's hat...whichever one it was that year.  I'd run around the house in it and hide my toys in it.  Ilayed with the jingle bell on the end and played with any ribbons or strings attached to it.  Of course in order to wear it I had to behave, Papaw said.  I didn't care.  I was so proud that I was the one out of seven grandkids that got to wear the hat. 

When Papaw got sick he got a new Santa Hat with an adjustable band on the back and a fluffy white collar around the front.  He was the one to wear it that Christmas, although he did offer to me at the end of the day....since we both had bald heads.  He told me to hold onto it for now.

He died shortly after the New Year.  I keep his Santa Hat in my Christmas box, so that every year when I pull out the decorations, I pull it out too.  I haven't worn it since he died, but just know it's still in the box makes me feel a little better at Christmas time.  I know I should pass it on for someone else to enjoy, but I guess I'm too selfish to part with it and miss seeing it every year.

12 Days of Christmas Memories - Day 10

I could so be Santa Claus.....if I hadn't lost those 15 pounds.... lol

But on Christmas morning, I was the one who got to pass out the presents on Christmas morning at my house and at my grandparents'.  I was the one that got to dig under the tree and identify each present and make sure it got to the right 'pile' for each person.  It was fun getting to see the different shaped presents and styles of wrapping of each present.  I usually tried to guess what it was and if I knew what was in the box or bag I would giggle to myself when I handed it to that person.  Almost like "Tee hee I know what it is!"

We had a lot of grandkids in my family, and I never knew why I was the one to always pass out the presents.  Maybe they wanted to put me to work.  Maybe they enjoyed seeing me run around like a weirdo and laugh to themselves about it.  Maybe no one else would do it.  For whatever reason, I loved it and loved being the center of attention while doing it.

But now that I'm older, I don't want to be.  Maybe I'm becoming a recluse in my old age, but I like sitting out of the spotlight.  I usually try to make the now grandkids do it, but then realize none of them can read very well or have a very long attention span.  Then Jeremy or me usually has to kick in and help them out in order to get the presents done before the end of Christmas.  lol

12 Days of Christmas Memories - Day 9

For a few years in a row, my family decided they wanted to film us opening presents with our family.  I found some old VHS tapes in a box from '95 to '97 that showed myself, my sister and my mom opening presents together and then shows where we would go to my grandparent's or aunt's house to open presents with our extended family.

The morning would start at my house and have about an hour of opening presents.  The camera was shaky and the cat or dog always got in the way.  You always heard the 'camera man's' voice talking from behind the lens.  The camera would fade out and would reappear at someone else's house and zoom around the room to see who all was there.  They would tape every person opening presents or any animals running around.  There were even a few shots of the food tables included.

The camera changed hands often so there was always a different view of things.  Even the kids took turns carrying it around and trying to film things.  It made for very interesting tapes and was always fun to look back on. 

I finally pulled out the ones I have and dusted them off to watch them again.  I'm in the process now of converting them over to DVD so I can keep them longer.  They are definitely something worth holding on to.

12 Days of Christmas Memories - Day 8

Getting underwear.  Nuff said...

I remember as a kid you always got one of three presents each year - coloring books, underwear, or soap on a rope.

I don't know why it was my family's favorite thing to give but someone in the group always got underwear or soap on a rope when you got older.  It became so known that every Christmas when we gathered together, everyone kind of got the 'evil eye' look as if to silently ask which one of us was going to pen the underwear today.  With every present, someone in the background would yell "It's underwear!" in hopes that they were the ones opening it and not them.

The underwear and soaps varied every year with every person.  Some people got G-strings and some got old lady underwear.  Men were usually given floral scented soaps and women were given he-man cologne scents.  I'm not sure if we were backwards or just mislabeled the boxes...

I got the coloring books for a few years as a kid and even got the underwear one time when I was older.  They were old lady panties.  I think they were pink and green.

12 Days of Christmas Memories - Day 7

The seventh thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me....

lol

I have been known to associate the holiday season with stressed out/go crazy wrapping parties.  I have even planned (in previous years) to take a few days off before Christmas because my family or friends will get together wrap everything we have and try to get it to the right place.

My favorite memories are the one's at my mom and step dad's house.  It was usually me going out there when Jeremy was working, but once I got there, I walked into a minefield of toys, appliances, gadgets and who knows what else.  If Mom didn't hand you a present to wrap, you randomly picked one out of the pile to wrap and tag.  The tables were a mess and we usually only had one pair of scissors or pens between the four of use.  When we ran out of scotch tape, someone usually pulled out the double sided or duct tape while someone else ran to the store.  In the background were the sound of either Christmas music or some holiday special on TV, along with my step brothers yelling at each other or my sister wondering what's for dinner.  Then someone yells that we're out of boxes or curses that they cut the wrapping paper too short.  Scraps of paper covered the floor and table and usually stuck to your shoes.

The past few years I haven't been able to join in on these parties since I've been working more.  And each year the group lessens by one or two people.  I'm told this year it is just my mom and step dad wrapping presents at their house, trying to recruit people to come out and join them.  If I wasn't sitting at work answering calls about anti-biotics I would gladly head out there just to be part of the madness that has seemed to become so comfortable to me.

12 Days of Christmas Memories - Day 6

Who else puts their tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving?

Lol well my family sure did.  If it wasn't the very weekend after Thanksgiving then it was definitely the next one.  We never went more than a week into December without putting up our tree and having it fully decked out in ornaments, lights and that stringy tinsel crap that the cat would eat off of it.  Now that I'm older I admit it took me until 12/11 to get my tree up, while my sister had her tree up, decorated and with wrapped presents under it the day after Thanksgiving.  I realize I'm slipping.

As a kid I always loved decorating our Christmas tree.  I got excited to open the box of ornaments and unwrap the tissue paper from the ones that were breakable.  We always had a plastic tree, which I've always felt was a better choice.  Mom pulled the tree out of the closet and reshaped the branches so that it wouldn't look like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.  The first thing we put on were the lights since they were the hardest to get right.  When we got ready for the ornaments, we always had to put the round gold and red ball ornaments on first, but the same colors couldn't be too close together.  Then came the odd ball ornaments; the ones with our names on them or the ones given to us by other family members.

As a kid most of our ornaments were either from the thrift store or were ornaments me or my sister had made at school.  Through the years we acquired more 'normal' ones, but kept most of the originals. My favorite one was this wooden ornament that was shaped like....I'm not even sure....a skinny bear or something and he was painted green.  He has two string on his head and his feet that made him to jumping jacks when you pulled them.  I loved it as a kid but through the years he kind of started to lose pieces of himself, like a foot or a hand or an eye.  He's on my tree today, still looks as pitiful as ever, and makes my husband why we still even have him.

Every year my mom would buy my sister and I a new ornament that was 'ours' on the tree.  It became like a scrapbook because we could look back every year and remember when we got each one.  When we grew up, we took most of the ornaments with us, and mine still make it onto my tree every year.

On top of the childhood ornaments, my husband and I still continue to buy each other an ornament to add to the tree.  It gets harder every year since I've bought most of the super heroes one and even one that sings the "I Want a Hippopotamus" song.  But it's fun to try every year and find new ones.  And when we pull out the box and start putting up the tree, I pick up every one and say something like "remember when we were ____ and bought this one..." or "Oh we got this one _____ ."  He then usually rolls his eyes and nods at me since he always knows where the ornaments came from.  It doesn't really stop me from doing it every year.

12 Days of Christmas Memories - Day 5

As I'm getting ready to write the next post, I just finished sobbing over Look Who's Talking Now because at the end they manage to spend Christmas together after all. *sigh*

So another favorite Christmas memory are the cheesy Christmas specials that usually come on starting the week after Thanksgiving.  Sitcoms usually started airing their Christmas episodes and winter themed episodes.  I always looked forward to when ABC would air the Charlie Brown Christmas Special or How the Grinch Stole Christmas. They usually meant Christmas was right around the corner and other people had to admit it.

The Lifetime Network and ABC Family always played cheesy made-for-TV-movies that usually either had a happy ending or one of those sad ending that are supposed to make you feel happy.

Now that I'm older, I've started to make my own Christmas movie collection so I don't have to try and catch them somewhere else.  Movies like A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Santa Clause, I'll Be Home for Christmas, and even Home Alone 1 and 2.  I'm sure it's a bigger list but I can't think of them all right now.  Every time I pop one in the VCR or the DVD player, it always makes me feel like I'm home and that I should be wrapping or baking something.  The feeling that Christmas is here.

12 Days of Christmas Memories - Day 4

On the fourth day of memories....

My parents divorced when I was young, so I spent my childhood splitting holidays and weekends.  For Christmas, I always spent Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family and Christmas Day with my mom's side.  So as a child I grew accustomed to getting excited on Christmas Eve to get up and go to my grandmother's house and gather for lunch and presents.

We usually ate around lunch time since grandfather was normally asleep by 4pm.  Me and the cousins would run and play around the house and if we made too much noise, the grown ups would hand us a plastic bag and make up pick up pecans that had fallen off our grandparent's pecan trees.  They told us it would be fun, which was probably true until we were a few years older (I'm pretty sure that is the sole reason I hate pecans as an adult now).  When it was time to eat we always had a buffet of items such as pea salad, pinto beans, dressing and other items that I never touched.  Grandfather always said the blessing before carving the turkey and ham.  The kids would fill our plates and go to 'the kids table' and wait for the adults to finish eating.  Because once they finished eating, it was time for presents!

I spent many years growing up looking forward to this tradition.  Over the years we stopped picking up the pecans and brought more dishes to dinner, but it was always great to come back to their house, to the same kid's table and same living room with grandmother's 2 foot tree.

But after my grandfather passed away, the tradition kind of fell apart.  We didn't gather as much, and no one was made to pick up pecans.  Every Christmas Eve just became another day.

Now I'm a lot older, and I'm lucky if that side of my family even gathers together.  Everyone makes excuses, like dirty houses or busy schedules.  Some family members can't even control themselves long enough to make it through the day.  It's depressing really.  Now we're reduced to white elephant parties and cookie exchanges.  I'd give anything to feel the personal, family gatherings we used to have at the kids table on grandmother's patio or gathered around grandfather's broken old chair.

12 Days of Christmas Memories - Day 3

Christmas time always reminds me of charity, in some form or fashion.

When I was younger, the schools always had charity event like can food drives, toy drives, teddy bear fundraisers, clothing donations and such.  I was always glad to participate when I could because it made me feel like I was helping and actually being a part of something.

I realize now that the one teddy bear I donated or 5 can goods I brought might have only been a drop in the bucket yo these organizations.  But now that I am older, I realize I am in a position to help more and can do more about it.  So Jeremy and I have started the 'tradition' of selecting angels off of our local Salvation Army Angel tree, which features local children and seniors that are poor or disabled and are in need this Christmas.  The first few years we started off with one or two senior citizens.  This year we managed to buy for five angels off the tree.   Jeremy says it needs to go up every year, but I told him maybe we should maintain for a while  lol

Along with the Angel Tree, we've also done charities such as donating toys to the Azleway Home in Tyler, PATH Food Drive sponsored by Brookshires, donated teddy bears to the local Chilsren's Advocacy Center, and have even helped local families found with various donations and toys.

I feel pooped after all the helping, and feel kind of bad that some of the money I spent on other people won't get to be spent on my friends and family (So I am sorry if you got a cheap gift this year but we were broke now!  lol).  But I realized it is something Jeremy and I get pumped for starting in October/November.  We keep an eye out for the angel Tree and start looking on Craigslist.  We get our newsletters from different organizations and mark our calendars for drive due dates.  This is one of my favorite Christmas memories that I get to improve on every year :-)

12 Days of Christmas Memories - Day 2

Day 2

My next Christmas memory is gathering at my Mamaw and Papaw's house on Christmas Eve to hear my Papaw read "The Night Before Christmas" to the grandkids.

Every Christmas Eve my mom's side of the family would gather for a sort of a pre-Christmas celebration after I visited my dad's side of the family earlier that day.  The kids would yell and play and possibly break something.  The adults gathered together and shared stories of how hard it was to buy that certain toy this year.  But by the end of the night and before everyone was ready to go home, Papaw pulled out his trusty old book and would read us the story of "The Night Before Christmas" to us in his scratchy, Santa Claus-sounding voice.  He'd take his time and show us the pictures, like he'd been doing this kind of thing his whole life.  When he was through all the grandkids packed up and went home to wait for Santa, just like Papaw had said.

When I was 12 he was diagnosed with cancer and was told he didn't have much longer to be with us.  His last Christmas was in 1999 and we all did our best to make it a special one.  Somehow Papaw had lost his special book of "The Night Before Christmas" and Mom and I traveled to over 6 stores to find a replacement.  That Christmas Eve night I was the only grandkid that had made it out there for a visit, since everyone else was coming in the morning.  Before I left that night, Papaw took the time to read me the story one last time.  I was cranky and wanted to go home, but Mom insisted I sit and read with him.  Weak from cancer and radiation, he took his time and expressed feeling in every page he read.  When he was through, he wrote a not inside the front cover and gave the book to me to keep.  I hugged him good-bye and Mom and I went home.  He made it through Christmas, but he passed away shortly after the new year.  I never forgave myself for acting like such a brat and almost missing the chance to hear him read to me one last time.

Now I have the same book he read to me from in my Christmas box.  Every year I look inside and read where he wrote, "Merry Christmas, Stina - Love Paw-Paw, Christmas 1999".  While Jeremy and I don't have any children to read the story to, we always pull the book out and go through the pages and I tell the story of how my Papaw used to read it to me every year.  I'm pretty sure he knows it all by heart now, but he still lets me tell it.

12 Days of Christmas Memories - Day 1

Ok I'm a little behind on starting these, but the idea just came to me the other day when I was rambling some Christmas story to Jeremy that I'm sure he's head the past 5 Christmases we've been together.  lol  So I thought I would share them other and let someone else hear them for a change :-)

Hopefully these will not be long and boring to you, but I'll do my best.

Day 1

Ok the first one that comes to mind is a Christmas when I was probably six or seven years old.  My Uncle Jimmy was living with us at the time and was helping out to play Santa with my Mom and step dad.  On Christmas Eve we always went out to my Papaw's house as kind of like a pre-Christmas family get together.  This usually gave my mom time to either finish buying our presents or wrapping them in the back room and stuffing them in the car while my Uncle Jimmy kept me and my sister occupied.

We were finally driving home one Christmas Eve and it was getting late so I wanted to hurry up and go to bed.  My grandparents lived about 20 minutes away, so it wasn't a long drive even though it felt like it.  I remember driving down a dark country road on the outskirts of town and I was going on about getting ready for Santa by leaving cookies and making sure the door was unlocked for him (I know right) when my Uncle Jimmy pointed out the car window and said "Look there Stina!  It's Santa's sleigh!  He's in Texas already!  Don't you hear the bells?"  I immediately turned to look out the window and saw, what I know as today, was a plane flying across the sky with blinking tail lights.

Ok, as a child, I was super excited that my Uncle Jimmy had pointed that out to me since I wasn't quite old enough to doubt him.  I even stopped talking just to try and hear the bells 30,000 feet above me.  Even though I did turn around and say "I didn't know Santa's sleigh had lights too!" like a dummy.  As an adult now, I have to laugh at myself and how gullible I was.  But I'll always remember how Uncle Jimmy made me feel that night and how he tried to make my Christmas better.

As an aunt now I always wonder if I could pass that one off on my nieces and nephews :-)