Holiday Memories

Yikes - Thanksgiving has come and gone already.  As usual the family and some friends came to my house.   I LOVE cooking the Thanksgiving meal.  It gets hectic when it's time to serve but I still love it.  This year I cooked a 22 lb turkey that I got for free by shopping at Tom Thumb.  I am so very traditional.  I make Pepperidge Farm stuffing - the same that my mother and mother-in-law used to make and probably my grandmother.  I also make mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, green beans almondine, creamed onions and dinner rolls.  My mom always makes the pumpkin pies - the same way she has been making them since I was little.  This meal has not changed in the last 20 years that I have been cooking it!  Nothing fancy for us and that's the way we all like it.  I remember going to my grandparents house in Nutley, NJ for Thanksgiving every year along with my aunt and uncle and 2 cousins.  I am an only child and those cousins were the closest I had to a brother and sister.  I can visualize sitting at their dining room table eating just about the same meal that I just described.  One of the best parts was jumping into the newly raked piles of leaves in their front yard.  And the smell of burning leaves which you were allowed to do back then. 

The day after Thanksgiving is reserved for Christmas decorating.   Years ago my husband discovered a good sized empty space behind a bathroom, behind my closet and under our stairs (poor planning by the builder).  He cut a hole in my closet and put in a door and that is where we store all our Christmas trees and decorations.  The only drawback is that most of my clothes and shoes have to be removed and put on the bed until we can return the empty boxes back into the closet.  If I want to go to bed that night all the decorating has to be done in one day.  Around New Years we do the same thing but in reverse.

I see so many beautiful trees and decor ideas in magazines and on-line.  But my house?  How could it be anything but traditional!!  I have a large tree in my formal living room (aka play room for the grandkids).  I have some beautiful ornaments but the most treasured ones are the old ones.  I have the girls' first ornaments from 1976 and 1979 and ornaments that were given to us by our parents in the early years.  When I was little my grandmother put cute little ornaments on my gift packages.  I still have them.  Until a few years ago I still put them on my tree but since they are so old recently they have stayed in their container. 

I have a slim tree in my family room.  It is mainly decdorated with unbreakable ornaments.  The kids are old enough now that they don't touch the tree but I am very attached to the ornaments and will probably use them forever.

On the mantle in the family room I have a nativity set that Rich made for his mother when we were first married.  I remember finding the instructions in either Woman's Day or Family Circle Magazine.  He cut them out and carved them by hand.  She loved that set and kept it in her living room all year round.

When Rich was little his mother took him Christmas shopping in a local drug store in Orange, NJ that was owned by a family friend.  Rich picked out these figures and asked the owner how much they cost.  He asked Rich how much he had and was told 5 cents.  He said that was exactly what they cost and Rich purchased them for his mom.  I know, it sounds like a Leave It To Beaver story but trust me, I heard that story every year that his parents were alive!  His mom was SO proud of them and I still display them (on a high shelf!).  Notice that they spell the word Noel.

Rich's parents had a small stuffed Santa that was displayed in their living room window every year.  Unfortunately the sun came in that window and it is very faded (light orange now) but I still display it.

When I was growing up I had my favorite Aunt Betty.  She was one of my father's two sisters.  She loved to spoil me!  Two of my favorite Christmas items came from her when I was little.  The first is a large stuffed Santa.  After doing some research I discovered he was the Coco Cola Santa.   He has two left hands and is actually worth quite a bit these days.  Not that I will every part with him!  The second is a metal mechanical Santa bank.  He worked until just a few years ago.  I was very little when she gave these to me so they are over 50 years old!

When I was little I remember getting my parents up very early in the morning to open my presents.  I always got what I wanted and still believed in Santa until I was 12.  For some reason my favorite toy was a large chord organ which I enjoyed playing.  Not sure why since I have no musical talent!  After that we would go to see my Aunt Betty and Grandma O'Connor then on to my Aunt Eileen and Uncle Herm Ferber's house to see my cousins Donny and Terry.  Thanks to Facebook I have been in touch with Don whom I haven't seen in over 40 years!  After that we went to Grandma and Grampa Wills with my Aunt Marge and Uncle Ken and cousins Kathy and Kenny.  The best memory I have is the three of us in the front corner of the living room under the tree tearing open our presents in record time.  Unfortunately I don't remember exactly what most of those presents were except that Kenny always got Erector Sets.  Memory is a funny thing!

I have tried to keep traditions alive in my family.  When my girls were little I made them needlepoint stockings.  They still get filled every year.  I LOVE Christmas.  My favorite part is finding just the right presents for everyone and seeing the surprised looks on their faces every year.  I feel so blessed to still have my mom around for the holidays (91 years old).  She will spend the night with us and partake in all the festivities.  Including a prime rib dinner on Christmas Day.  She is like a little kid this time of year!

I wish happy memories and traditions for all my friends!