December is flying by and it’s time for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with Randy Seaver. Of course, this week’s challenge is holiday-related:
Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision. Here’s your chance to sit on Genea-Santa’s lap (virtually) and tell him your Christmas memories:
1) What are your most vivid memories of Christmas times past? People, Church, Presents, Santa Claus, Shopping, whatever.
To be honest, many Christmases seem to blend into one big memory, especially when my family followed the same customs every year.
1. Sometime in December after Santa arrived at the local department store, Mom took my brother and I to visit Santa. We got to give him our Christmas wish list and have our pictures taken. Visiting Santa meant Christmas Day wasn’t far off.
2. My dad always headed down to the warehouse area of Passaic’s 1st Ward as that is where all the freshly cut Christmas trees arrived in town. When I got old enough, I got to go with him to help pick out the tree. I don’t remember the trees being exceptionally tall – 6′ to 7′ I would guess as my father was able to put the tree topper ornament on without the use of a ladder. However, our tree always had to be nice and full. It was stored in the garage for a couple of days.
3. Christmas Eve brought on all the Santa excitement, as Dad, Mom, Nana, my brother and I all decorated the tree. It always went up on Christmas Eve, never a day early. We always had lots of tinsel and I distinctly remember Mom teaching us to put it on strand by strand by strand by strand. The tinsel part of decorating seemed endless.
I am the proud keeper of the Christmas ornaments and, although a number of the very old ones have gotten broken through the years, I still have one special ornament that I put on the tree every year. I actually have a photo of one of our trees in Passaic where the very same ornament can be seen, meaning that the ornament is at least 58 years old!
4. My most memorable Christmas gift was my brand new 2 wheeler pink and white bike that I got when I was seven. I really, really wanted to go try it out since there was no snow on the ground. However, that was not to be as I got a second, very unwanted gift that same Christmas morning – chicken pox!
5. When my son got to be old enough to understand about Santa Claus and his trips down the chimney to bring all the presents, I decided to provide “proof” that Santa had, indeed, arrived via the chimney.
I came up with the idea to use black chalk to trace the outline of “Santa’s” shoes, leaving soot, as he came out of the chimney. He even left a small gift for the little one right by the fireplace.
My son was quite amazed at the sight of footprints right on the hearth!
Those are just a few of many Christmas memories.
Happy Holidays to All!
Wow, I cannot imagine putting up the tree on Christmas Eve unless I cut it at a tree farm. Wouldn’t the needles be dry already? Love the idea of footprints of Santa on the hearth. Sorry you got chicken pox on Christmas. What misery!