Christmas 1959 to Christmas 2022 (some things old, some things new)
My first Christmas was Friday December 25,1959.
Wow, writing that date out makes me feel a little on the old side.
Some of my childhood Christmas memories include knowing the Night Before Christmas, word for word. Watching Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, The Little Drummer Boy and Charlie Brown's Christmas. Learning to sing "O Tannenbaum/O Christmas Tree". A wooden sleigh my grandma kept on a table in her apartment hallway that had small, wrapped gifts in it and one year we were able to choose a present to open. Grinding nuts for my Grandma's cookies that she only made at Christmas. Something she called Daytoda Pudding served with whipped cream on top. Ribbon candy. My mom's small Christmas village. Riding in the backseat of the car angling to get the best view of Christmas lights. Going to a lot to pick out a live, cut, Christmas tree. Having to wait until the following day to hang ornaments because the branches had to "settle". And we couldn't begin that until after one of the adults had time to string the lights. The finishing touch was adding tinsel. Christmas Eve we hung up an empty stocking. Went to bed with nothing but space under the tree. How could there be any gifts there since Santa didn't bring them until after we were all asleep? (And how did he deliver our presents since we didn't have a chimney for him to come down?
This is one of my childhood trees.
Christmas morning brought stockings filled with an orange, a large apple, loose candy, sometimes a big, fat peppermint stick and small wrapped surprises. Gifts under the tree. Somehow my grandma and grandpa South (my mom's parents who lived in Florida) always knew just what size pajamas I wore every year. Christmas afternoon was spent with family at my Grandma Ellis' house where we shared a meal with aunts and uncles and cousins and Papa John. We opened a gift from grandma too. Christmas as a child was a magical time.
Something new entered my life when I was in High School and began attending church. I learned that what Linus says in the Charlie Brown Christmas movie is from the Bible and that the baby born in a manger was real. Christmas is a celebration of Jesus' birth. Angels are real. Christmas carols were more beautiful now that they were put in context. There was Christmas Eve Candlelight service to attend.
Bill and I got married in 1977. I was 18 years old. Still a child in many ways. We had a tree with lights and ornaments and tinsel. I was introduced to mom Bondurant's Egg Nog and English Toffee which were as foreign to me as It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas, but they all became part of our family tradition. We attended Christmas Eve service. We hung empty stockings and went to bed with nothing but space under the tree. Trying to be sly and fill each other's stockings and place gifts under the tree unseen was an adventure. We opened stockings, then gifts at home Christmas morning. We went to his mom and dad's for dinner early afternoon. In the evening we visited my dad and stepmom, and my mom if she was in town.
Elizabeth and Sarah's first Christmas was 1980. All the old customs were carried on. The movies I watched as a child and the movies Bill introduced me to as an adult. Stockings. Gifts brought by Santa. We added reading the Christmas story to our traditions. Christmas got a little more magical seen through the eyes of our children.
Beth and Sarah were mobile and understood what was going on Christmas 1982. We were fighting to keep them in bed. We still had a lot to do before we could call it a night. Santa made a visit at about 8:00. The girls were terrified. The upside is they didn't get out of bed after he left and we were able to finish putting Christmas together and get a few hours of sleep. I have included proof they weren't scarred for life and later I thanked my brother for his visit.
The spring of 1983 our neighbors were telling us about some questions their sons asked them on their drive to Cleveland to have Easter Dinner with his family.
Child: Is Santa real?
Parent: (hesitating) "No."
"Is the Easter Bunny real?"
"No."
"Is the Tooth Fairy real?"
"No."
The interrogation ended with this question:
"Isn't anything for real?"
Bill and I talked when we got home. We compared the things we told our daughters about Santa and the Easter Bunny and God. They weren't old enough to need information about the Tooth Fairy and they weren't old enough to ask us questions about what was real and what wasn't. But that day would come. At three years old they trusted us and what we told them. We wanted them to always be able to trust us because we knew big, serious questions were inevitable. How would we respond if one of them, as a teenager, looked us in the eyes and said "You told me Santa was real. You told me the Easter Bunny was real. You told me the Tooth Fairy was real. And they aren't. How can I trust that what you have told me about God is real?"
After several discussions and much prayer, Santa lost his place in our family traditions. Some would say we "lost something" by evicting him, but for us, what we gained was much more valuable. We added baking and decorating a cake and singing "Happy Birthday Jesus" to our Christmas morning practices. We still hung empty stockings and went to bed with nothing but space under the tree. They still woke up up to find filled stockings hanging on the mantle and presents under the tree. (They also hunted eggs and a basket at Easter and we traded pulled teeth for a quarter. Unless it was a molar. Those were worth a dollar. And if it was a tooth they had to pull or the dentist would need to get involved and they got it out, it was worth five dollars.)
Tree 2022
My kids got it out.
My grandkids decorated it.
Grandma's Cookies and Daytoda Pudding:
Mom Bondurant's English Toffee and Egg Nog:
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