Give me some Holiday memories!
People stopping by via "latest" are most welcome!
Share your winter holiday memories, whether childhood. adult, anti-, or other.
Me? My childhood memories are of my older brother waking me at who-knows-what hour of the morning on Christmas Day. Things were likely different when we were a bit younger, but I remember the two of us ripping open our presents before our parents were even out of bed. This seems so alien compared to more recent experiences of semi-large groups of people opening gifts, one at time for the optimum photo opportunities, on Christmas Eve or morning.
Later, we would head over to our paternal grandparents home in the nearby village where my father grew up, to join our two aunts and uncles-by-marriage and our seven cousins for food and more gifts. Is it a Wisconsin thing? I remember the grown-ups all tilting their wrapped gifts to see if they'd 'gurgle'. *g*
Share your winter holiday memories, whether childhood. adult, anti-, or other.
Me? My childhood memories are of my older brother waking me at who-knows-what hour of the morning on Christmas Day. Things were likely different when we were a bit younger, but I remember the two of us ripping open our presents before our parents were even out of bed. This seems so alien compared to more recent experiences of semi-large groups of people opening gifts, one at time for the optimum photo opportunities, on Christmas Eve or morning.
Later, we would head over to our paternal grandparents home in the nearby village where my father grew up, to join our two aunts and uncles-by-marriage and our seven cousins for food and more gifts. Is it a Wisconsin thing? I remember the grown-ups all tilting their wrapped gifts to see if they'd 'gurgle'. *g*
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But maybe these are not the kind of memories you wanted to hear about?
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I remember the first Christmas without my mother. The doorbell rang, I opened it and there was Dad. Alone. I knew of course that he would be, but it would take a while longer for me to stop expecting to see Mom beside him.
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*snugs into the hugs*
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*adores your icon*
Having hardly ever had anybody but Mum and Dad around for Christmas Eve I am not accustomed to hordes of family and friends. I love them all dearly, but it is sufficient I see them on Christmas and Boxing Day and spend Christmas Eve (as you know the main day of celebration) on my own.
It has started snowing :)
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I have a bottle of Advocaat with me for the first time in years for Xmas....first time I've felt able to drink it since my Dad died....
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Oh yeah, one more memory...if he was really in the mood, daddy would do magic tricks...a self-taught magician he belonged to the Magic Circle and I remember him doing a great trick with a "washing line" of rope and brightly coloured silk scarves....Magical!!!..
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We made angels from sugar paper (I think you might call it Kraft paper) and paper doilies, cut out stars from cardboard and covered them in tinfoil, made paper chains to drape the tree instead of tinsel and best of all painted old flash cubes with airfix model paint and made them into gift-wrapped-present baubles! It was entirely 'hand-knitted' looking, but it was really good fun to do, brought us all together in the face of a minor calamity, and we continued to re-use these improvised decorations for years until they fell apart. Happy days...
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We always did presents first thing, though. We'd open presents and then my father would put the turkey in if we were hosting that year, and then we'd get breakfast. And then in the afternoon, we'd either go to my aunt and uncle's, or family would show up at our house--usually about twenty-five people total. There would be another round of gifts, and endless games of Euchre, and trays and trays of Christmas cookies. It was awesome. (Christmases now are actually pretty similar, except the gatherings are smaller and we usually wait until 8 to get up. :D)
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Yes, presents come first, with breakfast a distant second, lol.
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(Anonymous) 2012-12-22 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)The funny part is that my parents were generally awake when we were outside their door (probably woken by us--there were five of us, so even whispering we made a lot of noise), and so they'd be lying in bed listening to us. But they'd still make us wait. :D
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We ripped all our gifts open the moment the 'rents said we could dive in! But no one was allowed up til 6am.
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Christmas Eve I think there was always a church service, but aside from that I don't remember any socializing or special meals. It was always turkey with all the trimmings and two kinds of pie at Grandma's the next day, though!
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My saddest memory was being woken up a few days before Xmas when I was 12 to be told our childhood best friends had been killed in a terrible road accident on Kangaroo Island. There were 4 of them aged from 15 down to 4. Three of them were my brother in law's younger sisters and brother. I still remember that day every year.
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So sad about your friends' tragedy. That is surely a day impossible to forget.
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It's possible we had a "not before 6 am" rule in effect, too. My brother was in charge of setting his alarm clock, so I don't remember!