Give me some Holiday memories!

[sid]

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*

Comments

[skieswideopen]

Oh, yes--early mornings on Christmas! Un my family, we weren't allowed to go downstairs to open our presents or even our stockings until my parents were up, and we weren't allowed to wake my parents until 7am. So what would usually happen is around 5am, my siblings and I would start creeping into each other's rooms to see if we were all awake, and 6:30 would find us huddled outside my parents' bedroom door whispering to each other to check whether it was 7 o'clock yet so we could knock.

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)

[sid]

I was reading your first paragraph to my SIL, and she said it sounded like a scene from a movie! :-D

Yes, presents come first, with breakfast a distant second, lol.

[(Anonymous)]

LOL!

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

[skieswideopen]

And I totally didn't notice that I'd been logged out.

[sid]

I've unscreened you. :-)