My husband, myself, and our 1.8 children live in my parents' house. We're here for many reasons, but what they all boil down to is that it's easier - for everyone involved - for the time being. This means that most everything we do is done with our extended family also firmly in tow. Today, we decided to decorate our Christmas tree. Not a big deal, except that this year my mother is having a really hard time with 'the holidays', and I think it really speaks to what the husband was talking about on his blog.Recently, my parents sold their business of nearly 20 years, and my father returned to working for someone else. The financial adjustments have been major, and this year is the first time since I was just little wee that Christmas has been a squeeze. And while I think it's great, my parents are having a really hard time understanding that it IS ok not to spend four figures on Christmas presents. I was talking to my mom the other day about it, and she just doesn't see it as 'the holidays' unless she's out there spending money, buying gifts for people that they don't really need. Every year for the past five or so years, when asked for a list, I've responded with 'I don't need anything - honestly.' No one seems to understand this, and think I'm just trying to be a martyr about it all. I'm really not. I tried to explain that I can't remember a single gift from all the Christmases of my youth. Not a one. To me, this says that all of those thousands of dollars my parents spent on presents were a waste. Wouldn't that money be better spent on something we would all enjoy? Like food. :)
You know what I remember from Christmases past?
Writing a letter to Santa when I was 3, and leaving it out with my grandma's oatmeal cookies (the best in the world), a glass of gingerale, and an orange, and thinking how much my grandfather would enjoy eating them when I went to sleep.
Sitting on my grandpa's knee and listening to the story of the first Christmas.
Making gingerbread cookies with the red and green plastic cookie cutters that I still had up until our last move, when they got lost somewhere.
Getting to pick out a new dress and shiny shoes for the Christmas pageant at school. And then getting to SING in the pageant.
Buying Christmas stockings and filling them with rawhide treats for our little dog.
Decorating the tree when I was 8, feeling like total garbage, only to find out that I had scarlet fever. I was afraid that we would have to burn everything we owned like in 'the Velveteen Rabbit', and that I had ruined Christmas for everyone.
Sitting in my apartment alone, drinking whisky and painting, watching the rain fall outside my window.
Decorating our very first tree as a married couple with my husband, and starting a new tradition.
The only gifts that I will always remember and treasure? The buddha pendant that my husband got me, and the strength that it gave me to birth my daughter. Of all my possessions, that pendant, as little and seemingly unimportant a gift as it was, is one of the few things in this world I'm attached to. And as my children grow up, and we have Christmas after Christmas, I hope when they reflect back on all the holidays seasons of THEIR youth, they'll have fond memories, not of what they received, but of the great times we have as a family.
So, what are your Christmas memories?
5 comments:
:-) I love when you finish posts with a question. My answer is, of course, too long to fit in this ridiculously small box so I'll be posting my reply here on my blog instead.
I remember my parents using food stamps to buy us Christmas presents, and a very special red transister radio she picked up at the Joe Stortz second hand store. I remember ginerale and meat pie, with olives on the side. I remember Christmas at Sand Lake when I was 8 months pregnant for Karen, sleeping bags on the floor, no water etc. (probably one of the best Christmases). I remember making homemade gifts for the kids every year, living in the country with lots of snow, Mark and legos, Karen and the dolls she didn't want. I remember my mom and dad dancing on shiny hardwood floors, Oh Holy Night, and mom's Hudson's Bay coat. I remember German Christmas Eve and French Canadian Christmas Eve every year. I remember the night that Karen and Mark saw Santa Claus flying in the sky. And yes Mark...I remember boiling over the gravy once :) Now I am making wonderful new memories with my grandchildren...The best is yet to come. Yes indeed...It can come without bobbles and bows. Those are the Christmases I recall with fondness.
I remember trekking through the snow to pick out my own little tree. Josh and I did this until about 7 & 8 years old. I remember waking up Christmas morning to a few special gifts, but as with you, I rarely remember what those gifts were. My most memorable was in grade 6 when my Dad bought all of us skis. I remember fabulous dinners at Memere and Pepere’s, candied carrots and french green beans will always be my favourites. As with Mark, I always knew I’d get chocolate covered cherries every year, which I despised, but was always thankful for…haha…I remember stockings at Nana and Grandpa’s that always contained Mandarin oranges. I remember Walter Feifel dressing up as Santa and coming to our house, but I did not question why Santa had such a strong German accent. I remember my first and only experience with Christmas baking, which was not until I was a teenager and Auntie Robin invited me to share this special moment. I remember spending time with family and friends, and how Christmas became even more exciting once all the little ones were born. Now we can share all of our stories and traditions with them.
Thanks you guys for sharing your holiday memories with me. :) I look forward to making new ones with all of you!
I remember always getting what I asked for (as a little kid). And when I got older I remember never getting what I asked for, or getting someone else's idea of what I would like.
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