I have always been envious of families that have holiday traditions, many which have been passed down through the years from generation to generation, but, for me, what few Christmas traditions once existed, just like family members, they have dwindled down to zero.
Experts say that we really have no recall of events before the ages of three or four years old and sometimes even no earlier than seven years old. This is because our brains and memory capabilities don’t mature until age seven.
But, what if we argue that we ARE able to recall those joyous events like sitting on Santa’s lap and whispering in his ear about all the gifts we want him to bring, or the joy of unwrapping that doll or train set on Christmas morning (see Santa DID listen)?
Those party pooper researchers suggest that instead, what we really remember, is merely the old photos in the family album or memories from stories recounted through the years by family members.
I DO remember waking up on Christmas morning, then, still in my PJs, creeping down to the foot of my bed where my Christmas stocking awaited me to tear into it. My parents told me on Christmas Eve that after Santa finished off the milk and cookies we left for him, he put the presents under the tree and left my stocking at the end of my bed for me to explore while Mommy and Daddy slept in on Christmas morning. (A subtle hint … yes, even then I “got” it.)
Happily, I drifted off to sleep dreaming of what Santa would bring and in the morning, as I investigated my booty of goodies, there were the inevitable squeals of joy, thus waking up Mommy and Daddy so we all ended up getting up at the crack of dawn. I DO remember the stocking, filled with books, small games, knitted clothes for my dollies, and the perpetual big orange in the toe since Mom said when she was young “oranges were dear and considered a treat.”
I don’t have pictures taken with any of my Christmas stockings, but I vividly recall images of Christmas morning in my room.
I’m happy that I spent Thanksgiving weekend 2017 digitizing all the family photo albums and scrapbooks. Now a trip down Memory Lane awaits me with just a few mouse clicks, which allows those memories to come back to life when I am retelling them here in my blog.
Terri’s Challenge this week, like last week, is the topic of “Traditions” and even though I’ve shared some of these Christmas memories through the years in this blog, I thought I’d do a collection of vignettes from past Christmases for today’s post.
Visiting the Jolly Old Elf.
The family album is chock full of photos of me, beginning with the day I came home from the hospital, a treasure trove of images from black-and-white to Kodachrome.
This is my first visit with Santa – I was eight months old.
Yes, I was way too young to whisper my list of “wants” into Ol’ Santa’s ear, so it looks like it was just a photo op that time.
It would be 29 years (1985) before I would have my picture taken with Santa Claus again. We made a surprise trip to my grandmother’s house for Christmas 1985 and on Christmas Eve a neighbor and his son, dressed like Santa and an elf, respectively, came to visit. I got kissed under the mistletoe and my grandmother (“Nanny”) posed with Santa.
I wrote about that Christmas Eve here.
Back when I still “believed” …
… there were a few Christmas traditions.
Once I was old enough to make a list for Santa, I was given the Eaton’s Christmas catalog and told to pick out two items that I wanted. Yes, I was an only child – no, I was not spoiled. But only two items – really!? The game plan was one item would be bought by my parents; the other by my maternal grandparents. This was long before we had “sticky notes” and I know I studied that catalog and dog-eared the pages to winnow down my final two “wants” so Mom could help me write a letter to Santa.
Then, as Christmas neared, there was a trip to downtown Toronto to watch the Santa Claus Parade, then to see the holiday-inspired store windows with their animated displays in Eaton’s and Simpsons Department stores. We would have lunch, then I queued up with all the other kids at Eaton’s Toyland to visit Santa. I was eager to see the Jolly Old Elf to ensure he matched my face to the letter sent to him earlier.
Here I am waiting for Santa in his chair while he was on a break (hope he didn’t mind me taking liberties).
“O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree”
Over the years friends and/or coworkers and their families went to the tree farm to pick the perfect Christmas tree. Back in those days, they made a day of it, packing a lunch and thermoses of coffee and cocoa. They took along an axe or two and hauled their prize tree to the car and strapped it on top to head home. These fun family photos at the tree farm often became the annual Christmas card, long before posting a similar day’s event on social media.
Admittedly, it is difficult to have a tradition this fun when there are only three of you. Alas, our fir, pine or spruce tree was bought off a lot with not much fanfare. My parents decorated it and it remained bare beneath its branches until Santa’s arrival.
I recall how the scent of the tree filled the living room, but I also remember Mom complaining about the needles everywhere, or Dad grousing about filling the tree stand nightly. By Boxing Day, the tree, still with its clinging tinsel pieces was out at the end of the driveway for garbage pickup.
Baubles and baby dolls.
In the years that we had real trees, they seemed to grow bigger, just like me.
Back in the day, nothing was more fun than posing with your favorite new toy by the tree. This rocking horse was from my grandparents – it matched my bedroom suite, which I remember was gray with black speckles.
There was always a new doll to cuddle and coo over …
… and even a xylophone appeared under the tree one year. I’m sure my parents tired of hearing that noise pretty quickly. I DO remember this turquoise velvet dress in the above and below shots; my parents never used colored film until the mid-60s.
Soon those baby dolls became Barbie dolls and the “real deal” trees were no longer a mainstay of our holiday traditions.
My parents, although never enamored by current trends, bought an aluminum tree which was all the rage in the early 1960s. The popular look was rather stark … unicolor bulbs with a floodlight in the same color trained on the tree. Most trees sported green, red or blue bulb/light combos. There was nothing “Christmassy” nor traditional about aluminum trees.
This photo of Peppy and me was taken at Christmas 1965, the year before we moved to the States.
We gave the tree away before moving here and green artificial trees or ceramic trees became the norm after that.
Going to Grandma’s house.
It was the tradition, before we moved to the States, to go to my grandmother’s house for Christmas dinner. Nanny did not like cooking or baking, so my grandfather made all the meals. Most of the time we had ham.
Mmm good – Christmas goodies.
I could write endless paragraphs about Christmas cookies and treats through the years. I have already written a post before about Mom’s annual cookie-baking marathon; it is here.
Even though we were a small family, Mom started several weeks before Christmas with her holiday baking. The three of us each got two picks of favorite holiday goodies, plus Mom always baked more-traditional cookie must-haves like Scottish shortbread breakers and dainty shortbread butter cookies with a maraschino cherry on top. Mom baked mini tartlets filled with Damson Plum, Mincemeat and there were always family favorites, the Canadian-style butter tarts. The jars of None Such Mincemeat were infused with rum in mid-Summer and put into the fridge with a ratio of half-mincemeat filling and half rum. They were pretty potent by the time it was tart-making time. Just a whiff of the mincemeat tarts and you felt like you would keel over. Mom didn’t drink, but she sure did enjoy those tarts. 🙂
Mom’s motto about me was “once the baby of the household, always the baby” … so she always made candy cane cookies, beginning in kindergarten for my school chums until I was an adult. These cookies were a labor of love, braiding red dough and white dough and for which I heard for years that “my big mixing bowl is stained red from the red dye from YOUR candy cane cookies.” I finally bought her a new, large mixing bowl because of hearing that and handed it to her. Mom turned to me and said “I was kidding for goodness sake Linda!” That old mixing bowl exists, as does the big red stain.
For three weeks I’d come home from school (and later from work) and once changed from my work clothes, I looked forward to my plate of misfit cookies, i.e. the broken or misshapen ones. Such a deal! When I was older I told my mom that even if the cookies had no imperfections, it was her parental duty to break at least one or two from each batch just for me. Mom’s mission was to eat up the tart misfits and she was happy to do so.
After all the Christmas baking was done, Mom would put cookies on holiday paper plates and wrap them up with a note on top and when I got home I was the delivery girl – a plate to each of our elderly neighbors and also to the gas station owner who pumped our gas, cleaned the windshield and checked the oil (yes, long before self-serve). My father had friends at work, as did I, so cookies were piled on plates and taken in. The rest were for us – still plenty.
Many years later, my good friend Ann Marie is my treat angel, coming over to visit me every holiday, not just Christmas, bearing treats and always gifts. These were candy cane cookies from a few years ago, just the same as Mom made me for so many years.
We had another Christmas goodie tradition, a snack called “Nuts and Bolts” which was a variation of what most folks call “Chex Mix”. Mom made that mix up, a batch with a garlic seasoning for my father and another batch for Mom and me with just mild seasonings. We munched on “Nuts and Bolts” while watching Christmas specials. For many years, there was just one TV and I knew all about crooners like Perry Como and Andy Williams, everyone wearing ski sweaters with fake snow twinkling down in the background.
Holiday specials and music just for kiddos.
I’ve written before about the annual Christmas specials for kids and how I loved them.
My favorites were “Frosty the Snowman”, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” … I knew the words by heart. I was too young for “A Charlie Brown Christmas” or for any of the Peanuts character specials. As a kid, when those holiday specials were on, it was the only time, except Halloween, if it fell on a weeknight, that we did not sit down to a home-cooked meal. We had something quick, maybe a Swanson’s TV dinner, so dinner was over quickly, I could be done with homework and ready to watch those holiday shows. Here I am sitting next to the old TV set.
When I got older and we got a VCR, I taped those shows and still watched them faithfully every year.
Mom even bought me the boxed set which I still have.
Along with the kiddies’ Christmas specials I watched as a youngster, I had a collection of the vinyl 45s of those shows, like a red record for “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, a light blue one for “Frosty the Snowman”, a bright green one for “Jingle Bells” and a yellow one for “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”. I wasn’t old enough to have my own record player, so Mom played them during the holiday season on their record player.
Deck the Halls.
Once upon a time, I spent the day after Thanksgiving decorating the entire house. Even though it is a small house, it took all day to put out the holiday knickknacks, baubles, bells, bows and get multiple trees up. We amassed a lot of country Christmas décor as we often went to craft shows. It’s a small house, so all the year-round knickknacks had to be tucked away in a safe place while the seasonal decorations were out. On New Year’s Day, it took another entire day to put everything away. I’m sorry to say I have not put up any Christmas decorations since 2008. I am putting up one tree this year and will be writing about it and maybe there will be more decorations next year.
Even I was decked out for the holidays, as I wrote about last year during the Christmas season.
From the time I was very young until I was an adult, I have embraced the holiday season, wearing Christmas-inspired jewelry and clothing to work. I decorated my office and brought in candy for every holiday and my mom and I made bags of holiday seasonal treats for all the staff members, usually cookies. Sometimes we bought the tall Voortman’s gingerbread men and bagged them up with a Christmas message or poem and I put them on their desks to be there when they arrived.
In forging new traditions, one year I bought two Lenox Winter Greetings mugs – Mom loved anything with cardinals. But, after washing them she said “they’re too pretty to use; they’ll get tea and coffee stains on them and I can’t put bleach in them.” So, we never used them. Every Christmas season I open the cupboard door over the fridge and look up at them, but alas, some things are better left as is and memories not stirred up.
I think back on those holiday traditions – fun on many levels, some simple holiday rituals or niceties, extending the love to those we cared about. But now, all of those people, just like those traditions, are long gone. I know one day I will have drained the memory well … in this forum anyway. The memories will continue to play in my mind and the images will remain physically stored on a flash drive. In a couple of weeks, I plan to dredge up another dear-to-me memory and will share it on the 22nd.
Terri’s Challenge this week continues the topic of “Traditions” but she had no planned post this week for me to share with you.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
What a memorable walk down holiday memory lane, Linda. (It’s ok to link again to my post)…
Thank you for sharing your early traditions in photos. I saw you had a dog named Peppy! I recall reading a book about Peppy the puppy is second grade! I loved my Barbies! And yes, my grandparents had the 1960s requisite aluminum Christmas tree. Their color wheel was 4 colors! The aluminum trees remind me of A Charlie Brown Christmas, in which watching the TV show is one of our traditions!
I hope the weather is favorable for walks. Have a great week!
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Glad you liked my walk down holiday memory lane Terri. I had my post ready last week and was waiting to see if you had another post this week to link. I should have included the prior link and double-dipped! I will do that for year-end as I intend to do two year-end-type posts.
I know that aluminum trees are making a comeback; a friend of mine bought one from a vintage website a few years back and I saw they were selling them at Meijer, my grocery store, this year! They are a bit stark looking … but a four-color wheel … that is fancy! I wish I had a photo of ours lit up with the color wheel. I wonder if that is why we named our poodle Peppy? Now the origin of his name I don’t recall.
I have only watched one Charlie Brown holiday special and it was indeed the Christmas show.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer just celebrated its 60th anniversary on December 6th The weather has been great the last three days, today not so much as it is pouring raining. I am going to finally do my Christmas decorating today. You do the same!
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What a lovely trip down memory lane!
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Glad you enjoyed it Anne – I will have another post revisiting the past in a couple of weeks, though only one “vintage” pic of me … oops, did I say “vintage” and “me” in the same sentence?
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Vintage is better
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Vintage is better than adjectives I would use to describe myself.
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Anne, I heard a news story recently which mentioned an “elderly” person … that person in the story was 65!!! What??? Well people are eligible for a senior discount now at 55, but 65 is not elderly and “vintage” and “seasoned” are more appealing descriptions in my opinion.
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Your words are much better.
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Wow you certainly went a long way back to do this post Linda.
Cute kid. Great memories
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I did time travel Brian – 68 years, in which I divulged my age, which “ladies” aren’t supposed to do, but it is what it is, right? I went to a Christmas event yesterday(or tried to rather) and intended to get a picture of Santa and me to add to this post. I thought that would be fun. The event was so crowded, the line to see Santa so long and nowhere to park, so I left and I’ll table that to a “70-years-between-Santa-and-me” post instead. I am grateful for all the photos since there is no one left to share the memories with now. My parents took a lot of pics of me and believe me, as I reached those ugly duckling years, I would be hard pressed to find a cute picture then. 🙂
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My niece has photos of her boys with Santa from babies until they were in the late teens.
They whinged but I bet they will be happy to see them in their later life.
The woman across the road has whole family photo with Santa from the eldest as a baby until this year.
I don’t get the whole women and age thing 🙄
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You’re right Brian – those kids will appreciate seeing those photos when they are older. I can’t say I know anyone that has whole-family photos with Santa, but that’s a nice idea.
What is popular here is bigger pet stores have events where you can get your pet photographed with Santa. Sometimes, the donations from owners is given to pet charities. I like that idea. With everyone using smartphones now, the kids will have a lot more photos than you or I ever did when we were growing up. As to women and age – you can’t turn back the hands of time and why lie about it? So, I’ve always been truthful about my age.
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You have so many memories of Christmas Linda! Mine are all a blur.
I remember lots of snow but I hear now that a green Christmas is more common than a white one.
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I do have lots of memories Wayne … we were not rich, but as an only child the memories are rich as it did seem like the world revolved around me, my dollies and Christmas treats. I remember lots of snow too and somewhere in my blog I did a post about all the snow we had one year … it probably coincided with a big snowfall we were having here at the time. There was tobogganing, something I think you/I shared that we both did. I don’t think kids have toboggans now, more like those flying saucers, but they need a lot of snow. We have pouring rain out there now … if it were snow, I’d not be happy!
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when the temperatures hover around 0 is when trouble comes to visit.
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Oh Wayne, tonight and tomorrow will be brutal – we are dipping down to a “real feel” of -5F for tomorrow morning, with snow squalls and 40 mph wind gusts from now through Thursday. It is the coldest day since last Winter. (I personally didn’t remember it this cold last Winter to be honest and the last three days have been near 50F.) I thought of taking suet to the Park with me today, but it was already gusting to 20-23 mph and I knew it would likely blow away before they finished it. I open the package and take a spoon and chop it up for them so it is easy to eat. But they eat the peanuts first and just grudgingly nibble on the suet later.
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The cold is upon us……or maybe more so you and not “I”.
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Today we were mid-40s and the Magnolia bush in Marge’s yard is in bud, for the sixth or seventh time this year. There have been two bouts of near zero windchills this month and we are going in the Deep Freeze again this weekend. The weather is just crazy!
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You have a lot of great memories, with the tradition of the stocking at the foot of your bed. I have never heard that one. I only remember a few things as well from being a child at Christmas. Photos really help. I am not sure if I actually remember it or the photos showing me what happened. 🙂
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Glad you enjoyed the memories that I shared Sandra … I do have vivid recall of some things, like that stocking and that turquoise velvet dress with the lace trim. Well, we did not have a fireplace … I have one now, but an electric one and I used to hang stockings for my mom, bird and me on stocking hangers. My parents did the stocking at the foot of the bed mostly so I was occupied so they could sleep in … that didn’t necessarily work though. 🙂 Today I am going to decorate with a tree and a few Christmas knickknacks on this morning where it is pouring raining.
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Oh Linda, these are such precious memories. I love all your pictures. Many folks have said that when the main folks die (parents & grandparents) the holidays are just not the same. I have to agree. Cathy
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Thank you Cathy – I am glad you enjoyed seeing them. I am so grateful my parents took so many pictures that I can go back and reminisce or use them in my blog. It is sad that all those traditions die out when the older family members are no longer here. Today, since it is pouring raining, I am going to decorate for the first time since 2008 … I hope to put a little holiday magic here after all these years.
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Some memories are unforgettable and you’ve been blessed with an abundance of them, Linda. Your post was very heartwarming and those cardinal mugs are beautiful! I can see why your mother wanted to keep them from getting stained. I fondly remember looking forward to those Christmas specials, too, but my grandchildren don’t find them interesting enough to watch. My favorite part of the holidays is the decorating, simple, old-fashioned and nature-inspired. Your childhood memories are very sweet! 🎄 (By the way, I read recently that those aluminum trees are making a comeback.)
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Barbara, I am very lucky to have such nice memories from Christmas of yesteryear even though we were such a small family. I guess it helps since I was an only child too – not spoiled, but the holidays did center around me, especially picture-wise. Every year I look at those beautiful Christmas mugs. I think about using them, but decide against it … one day I will and make a post about it perhaps. My mom worried about staining them with tea … I equate that with the Erma Bombeck poem about “If I had my life to live over …” where she writes about not saving things, but using them. Now on this rainy day I am going to decorate and put a wee bit of Christmas cheer here.
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Just yesterday I overheard two women at a craft fair talking about some pretty napkins. One woman said she didn’t want to waste them and the other woman replied that using them wasn’t the same thing as wasting them. But I see your mom’s point, too, when I think of all the mugs I’ve had to dispose of because they got so stained they were too unpleasant to use any more.
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I think my mom got that mindset from my grandmother … she was always like that. Perhaps it is living through The Great Depression. My mom was old enough to remember that time, having been born in 1926. But I am like that too and look at those things I saved as I didn’t want to wear them out, get them dirty and thus have them forever …. that’s an interesting response of the other woman as things are wasted by not using them. I always liked that Erma Bombeck poem as it gave you lots of food for thought. My mom used to bleach the mugs. We both had cream in our hot beverage (she liked tea, coffee for me), but once a month, she put an inch of bleach in the cups, then filled the cup with hot water for about four hours to eliminate the stains. Then she washed them a few times before we used them. We did not then, nor now, have a dishwasher.
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I think I got that mindset from my mother, too. Whenever she gave me something of value she would tell me to take good care of it so I would have it forever because that was the only one I was going to get. Being a serious little kid I took her at her word and remain to this day overly cautious about protecting my belongings from harm. She was a child of the Great Depression, too. My mother remembered that her mother took the family’s sugar ration and divided it into four little sugar bowls, one for each member of the family. That way nobody could complain that someone else was taking more than their share.
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Our mothers taught us well Barbara and I do believe it was because they grew up during the Great Depression. My mother was not frivolous with money or possessions and she instilled that in me and with that mindset, you can understand even more why I was so devastated when I lost my mom’s sterling silver locket and her birthstone (amethyst) ring. I knew it was a loss for me as well as knowing Mom would be disappointed in me for not treating my possessions carefully and respectfully. That was clever of your mother to divvy out the sugar ration as she did. My grandmother, to her dying day, saved tinfoil to re-use it as much as she could and she always saved and re-used wrapping paper and ribbons/bows from gifts.
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The good news about memories is that you don’t have to downsize them. They don’t take up room and are always available to make you feel good!
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Yes that is a plus for sure! My brain’s RAM memory is pretty full right now, but that thankfully requires no big effort on my part. I am off to decorate a little … hope I remember how. Next year, if I can get more decluttering done, I intend to try to recreate what I once did … if I do, it will be up for a full month, that’s for sure. My mom was adamant that everything came down New Year’s Day as dusting was a nightmare. 🙂 (My solution, less dusting.)
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Loved your Christmas memories. It is a special season for little kids, and those memories are fun to revisit as an adult.
I kind of want an aluminum tree, for the first time in my life, but I’m unwilling to pay for what they’re getting for a decent one.
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Thank you JP – lots of memories having fun as a kid, but they waned as I got older. The aluminum trees are making a comeback and I think you mentioned you shop at Meijer so they did have them back in November which surprised me, (not a full-size tree though, but bigger than a table-topper tree). The tree branches would make black marks on your hands as you pulled each of the perfectly straight branches out of its paper sheath. That became the next thing my parents would grumble about … no more dropped needles or refilling the tree stand, but black stuff on your hand from touching the tree. 🙂
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My mother made those same candy cane cookies (but her little wreaths with green frosting dotted with Red Hots were my favorite). I love how you devoted a paragraph to mincemeat tarts, which only a small percentage of your readers will appreciate (delicious!) But for all of your reminiscing, I can’t get over the two-item Christmas list. Not really a “list”, and it didn’t create surprise that both items were pretty much spoken for. Safe to say most of my Christmas lists went largely unfulfilled because I was too greedy leafing through the Sears catalog. Finally, leaving the stocking at the foot of the bed was a really nice touch by your parents. I like the thought of waking up to a taste of Christmas before I’d be allowed to go downstairs.
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Those wreath cookies with the Red Hot decorations must have been very festive AND delicious Dave. The earliest memories of Christmas cookies I have were those candy cane cookies, as the rest I thought were delicious, but more for “adults” until I got older and appreciated them more. My mom prided herself on the tarts more than the cookies – yes they deserved a paragraph and she made them with a cream-cheese pastry dough, so even the dough was rich. Funny, she made mini tarts for the other types of tarts, but the mincemeat which were large tart tins. She did love them. Yes, I only got two picks, but I did get practical things as well as dolls or a toy. I loved the rocking horse, but probably didn’t covet it like I would a doll. I was all about dolls – my mom sewed them clothes, sometimes to match my clothes and she knit us matching sweaters too. I had enough in my stocking to entertain me while my folks slept in. A Golden Book could have had me engrossed for a while. 🙂
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Golden Books – another fond memory. Our daughter managed to hang onto a few of her dolls and will pass them on to her own daughters when they’re old enough to appreciate them.
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Oh that’s nice Dave. Those Golden Books were a great enjoyment for me. As an only child, I often had to keep myself occupied and self-entertained, so books were a big pastime and I know I had most of them memorized by the time I started school. My parents were both avid readers. My mom always said she wished she kept the Shirley Temple doll that someone gave her years before for me.
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Dave – I just watched this CBS news video and I wanted to share it with you. This is all about the spirit of the season. Bless this man. I wish I lived closer as I’d love to join the crowd. I know you will enjoy the organ playing:
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/south-dakotas-nora-store-hosts-decades-long-caroling-tradition/
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Ah, that was absolutely worth the watch, Linda. A wonderful “reason for the season” story. Small-town American needs more positive press like this. Thanks for thinking of me!
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You’re welcome. I knew you would enjoy it Dave, if not just for the feel-good nature of this slice of small-town America, but the beautiful organ as well. I remember how you liked the pipe organ at the Biltmore Estates.
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I loved reading about your holiday memories, Linda! We didn’t embrace the aluminum tree trend (a horrific idea to my German mother! 😆), but we also had a dog named “Peppy”. He was a Fox Terrier, though. Still, another similarity! (And, we got a miniature black poodle later on.)
The Christmas stocking at the foot of the bed was a clever idea. How wonderful that your mom was such a good baker and that your friend Ann Marie continues the tradition. And the mincemeat tarts sound delicious.
Those are beautiful mugs and I understand why you want to preserve them. On the flipside, Erma Bombeck had a point. Things are meant to be used and enjoyed. I need to take that advice as well, since we rarely use the “good” china, etc., except at Christmas time. Part of that is laziness, though, because they have to be washed by hand. 😆 Much easier to load the dishwasher!
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Thank you Debbie! I did not care for the aluminum tree at all, but I can remember going to my playmate’s houses and they all had them instead of real trees and everyone had different-colored bulbs and floodlights. How funny – another similarity for us! Peppy was my last dog I had.
My parents did that stocking at the end of the bed for years – in fact I was probably long past “believing” and my mom would still make me a stocking, although we never hung up Christmas stockings (no fireplace, until we moved here and there is an electric fireplace but it is for show and doesn’t generate heat).
Ann Marie had read my earlier blog post about the candy cane cookies and tried them out that year. They are a labor of love, between the red dye, the braiding and all the bother, but they are the cookie I will also associate the most with the holidays.
I told my mom we only used the mugs for a few weeks each year and they would be fine, but they were cream-colored inside, so we did not. I look at them every year, but there they are, with other mugs I collected with teddy bears on them and I just leave them there … not much sense really. Up in the cupboard over the fridge are the “good dishes” and “good glasses” and my mom wanted to do Spring and Fall cleaning and take everything down and wash it twice a year. I was lazy as well and protested “we never use them, so why do you want to wash them?” We never had a dishwasher and I don’t now. I remember too many holidays when my father invited friends from work for dinner and my mom would be slaving in the kitchen all day, we’d be cleaning up greasy pans and dirty dishes the entire evening and had to climb up and put all the fancy stuff away … I protested about that as well, but that time it fell on deaf ears.
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Miss Linda………………………….I enjoyed you “Traditions” blog…………………..you gave me the HINT to make some of those candy cane cookies which I haven’t made in a few years now………………….I loved ALL of your sties and pictures
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Ann Marie – I’m glad you enjoyed all my traditions, the story and pictures too – of course I had to mention you for all your season treats (and gifts) and I still had the photos of those cookies and Kolackys you brought that year. I know that any holiday baking is a lot of work, no matter whether it is cookies, tarts, cakes or pies.
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I love your old photos! Was Peppy a poodle, I forget if you mentioned that. I had poodles growing up. I remember a few things from when I was very young so I agree with you, I don’t think it’s all from photo albums. I loved the Eaton’s catalogue and then the Sears Wish Book, I used to pour over the pages for hours lol
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Thank you Susan! We are around the same age and grew up in the same area, so I’m thinking the Santa Claus Parade and the Eaton’s Christmas catalogue and Sears Wish Book would be memories you had growing up too. It was fun to pour over the pages of the catalogues. I can’t say I remember seeing ads for toys on television, but I could be wrong.
I distinctly remember that turquoise velvet dress and no color photos were taken until a few years later. And there were other things I remember like the rocking horse and the Tiger pajama bag in that picture. Yes, Peppy was a miniature poodle – we did not have him long – maybe a year. He ran away by digging a hole under the fence in the backyard and ate some poison. My parents had him euthanized and that was the end of dogs in our family.
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Oh no! I’m so sorry about Peppy. That’s so sad.
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Yes, it was traumatizing to me, only 9 years old. So my parents said no more pets for now – from then on it was just birds.
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It’s nice that you had traditional holiday rituals even with just the three of you. I liked your recollection of getting your stocking gifts early in the morning. We have a couple of those Lenox mugs just like yours. The cardinal and a chickadee. I hope you use them. They’re like any other mug and clean just fine.
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Thank you Eilene. My parents I believe used the stocking at the end of the bed so they did not have to get up as early Christmas morning and it worked well for me too. We never had a fireplace mantel to hang Christmas stockings from back then, so this was a good alternative choice. That’s good to know about the mugs Eilene – I think next year I’ll make a point to climb up in the cupboard and get them and use them. The chickadee is very cute – I remember seeing the mugs and dinnerware at Macy’s when we bought them.
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I really enjoyed reading about your childhood Christmas memories, Linda, and seeing your Christmas photos. I think a number of my childhood memories are based on photos that I’ve seen, but there are things, like you, that I remember that photos don’t tell — like the taste and smell of my grandmother’s chocolate cake and fried chicken, or the excitement of getting a doll or book that I wanted, or the warm feeling when the entire family was gathered together, or the alarm caused by the Abominable Snowman. I remember an aluminum Christmas tree as well, lit by a rotating four-color wheel, and the experience of sitting in darkness, mesmerized as the tree changed colors. All fun memories brought back by your inspiring post. 🙂
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Thank you for saying that Rebecca. I really enjoy writing the posts that look back as they are fond memories for me. I know I’ve read that certain smells or tastes can take you back in time, like your grandmother’s cooking would make you relive what you remember as a child. Back then we were excited by one toy or doll and that anticipation for and getting that gift was very memorable and not just from pictures in the family album. I can remember that turquoise velvet dress and beige tights I wore with it, yet I never had a color photo. I remember sitting in the dark with the silver tree as well, though we only had the one color. It was pretty as the floodlight was moving. Those memories will keep us young forever as we remember our youth.
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Love your memorable post. I so..so glan Linda! You sharing your tradition in photos. What a lovely trip down memory lane! 💓You have so many memories of Christmas Linda!
Thank you so much you sharing your all Christmas memories. I read your childhood memories & other post. Iam so glad!
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Thank you Raj – I am glad you liked the main post and also the links to the earlier posts as well. It is always nice to take a trip down Memory Lane … good for the soul.
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Most welcome,Linda! So interesting your memories sharing! ☺️
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I’m glad you liked them and found them interesting Raj.
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My pleasure! Yes, I find them interesting your’s memories. Iam enjoy it’s!
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When I was a child we had a silver tinsel tree, just like yours, with extra large round gold metallic glass balls. I have no pictures to remember it, just the memory is enough. The only tradition that my mom insisted on was that every one would receive a box of Thank You cards and all gifts, after opening of course, remained underneath the tree until a handwritten note was prepared by the receiver to the sender. If I had children, I would have wanted to keep that tradition.
Now I have an 18 inch silver tinsel tree with ten of my childhood vintage glass balls that I keep on the fake fireplace mantel all year round to humor myself.
Hoping that you were able to cheery up your home with a little bit of decorative joy! 🎄
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Thank you for sharing your childhood tradition TD. I like your Mom’s tradition of writing thank you notes as well. It is good to teach children manners at an earlier age. How nice you have your Christmas tree up year-around. A few years back, during the initial part of the pandemic, a UK blogger built himself an add-on TV room/man cave and that Christmas bought a tall tree that fit snugly into the corner. He decided to leave it up and decorate for each holiday and left it up an entire year.
I did decorate yesterday, only one small ceramic tree and four ceramic ornaments. I will be taking some photos and writing about that in a couple of weeks as Christmas nears.
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Oh I’m so happy to hear that!
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Linda, Are you prepared for the snow tonight and the 20 degree temperature the next few days? Stay safe and warm!
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Yes, I am TD – we actually had a cold spell last week, but this time it will be the coldest weather since last year and 40 mph winds and snow squalls. I will be ready to drip faucets and do small batches of laundry though the day to keep the pipes warm.
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Good idea on keeping the pipeline warm!
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Yes, I’m thinking of getting up in a few minutes to start dripping the tap – the real feel is brutal right now.
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Brutal definitely. Negative 11 was to coldest that I endured. At that time I had Miss Priss an 13lb miniature black schnauzer that kept a plowed potty spot by going out her doggie door, down the deck steps to the yard. The snow was 4 feet high, but she kept her path shoveled. She was smart and determined.
I hope you are staying warm inside for a few days!
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Yes, it was brutal this morning, but they say worse tomorrow morning, even though the winds are not as strong. I’ve had taps dripping all day long and I’ve done several small loads of laundry to keep the pipes warm. Negative 11 is awful. We had temps in the negative 20s a few years ago at Christmastime. It warmed up and I finally shut the tap off downstairs and the handle broke off … Christmas day, a holiday of course; so much for shutting it off. They have on-call plumbers at the company I use for emergencies, but I figured, I’d had it dripping for days, so a few more days wasn’t going to kill me. Your dog was smart. It would not be too inviting to go out brutal days like that if you’re a dog.
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Hi Linda. I read this post when I first saw it and put off commenting until I had more time… then I forgot as it got lost in my inbox.
Anyway… what a great collection of memories and photos! I really liked all the vintage fashions and hairdos. We never had one of those aluminum trees, but I remember admiring a few that friends and neighbors had.
My brothers and my Christmas stockings had an orange in the toe too. I wonder where that tradition came from?
I hope you are staying warm and enjoying the holiday season!
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Thank you Janis – I am glad you enjoyed reading about my memories and seeing the photos. I know we are about the same age, so maybe the orange “treat” is a tradition that originated with our parents who grew up in the Depression. I know my mom, who was born in 1926, grew up in the Depression and would tell me how food was rationed during that time, so oranges might have been something that my grandmother did as a treat for them. Really, nowadays if you gave a kid an orange in the toe of their stocking, they’d probably make a crack about it. It is very cold here right now – we had a “real feel” of -8 and 40 mph winds when I got up this morning. I went out to shovel and run the car and that was it and it will be the same weather tomorrow, then near 50 by the weekend! The weather is crazy. I finally decorated a little, first time since 2008, to add a little Christmas cheer here – hope your holiday season is going well.
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My family wasn’t big on traditions, which is probably why they are so important to me. For most of my childhood, my mother made stollen every Christmas as a nod to our German heritage. Before I reached my teens she decided it was too much trouble and stopped.🤷♀️
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I miss the traditions from long ago. I can see why you are interested in making traditions Linda. I always liked Christmas stollen. We used to buy one every year at a small German restaurant where the owner had been a pastry chef in a downtown Detroit hotel until he bought the restaurant. He also made wonderful tortes.
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What a cutie you were as a kid. Without that picture of you and Santa recently, I can’t tell if you are as cute then or now. 🤣 You have so many memories and I enjoyed reading about them Linda. You still have the tradition of the Boyd Bear Christmas Tree. What age were you when your mom start putting it out? Can’t wait to see your Christmas post!
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Thank you Diane – now I’m blushing. 🙂 I thought maybe I’ll wait until I am 70 and get my photo taken with Santa and say “seven decade later, here we are again!” I like doing flashbacks using earlier photos and I will have another post Sunday about all my bears … haven’t written it yet but that’s my plan to do that for Christmas. I can’t remember how old I was when my mom got me the Boyds Bear tree and I looked on eBay to see I could tell what year it debuted, I couldn’t tell though. I hope you like the post which which will feature all 52 of them!
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Can’t wait!
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🙂
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Linda, the pictures of you as a baby kid, and you kissing the Santa Clause are adorable!! So many traditions and fun times you had growing up and celebrating Christmas. When I was reading the part about all the cookies and treats your mom made, I felt like I needed to change into elastic pants. They sound delicious.
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Thank you Esther! So many photos of me were taken back in the day and I always had my Kodak Pocket Camera with me no matter where I went, so that was lucky to have it handy for the unexpected drop-in by Santa and his helper. That was a lot of fun that night. Those cookies and tarts Mom baked were a big part of the Christmas holidays. She went to town and it’s a wonder we weren’t as big as a house!
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So many wonderful traditions and memories. And does it really matter if they are enhanced by photos and family stories? We had Friday or Saturday nights with the family when we looked at slides and family movies and those are the only way I knew anything about my baby and toddler years. They’re precious!
I must admit that I’ve always hated the “they’re too pretty to use” thing. My mom complained about her mom doing it, yet she did it and passed it down to me.
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I’m glad that my mom sat down and explained who everyone was, as to my grandmother’s family (she had 8 siblings, so Mom had lots of cousins that I never met). That’s nice your folks had movies and slides so you got to see your baby and formative years photos too – a wonderful way to keep treasured memories intact. People snapping pictures on their phone now is nice, but back then processing was time consuming and expensive too, so less photos, but photos instead for more important events, or memorable vacations, rather than just every day.
I also wish I had not followed in my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother’s footsteps in the “they’re too pretty to use” category. You may recall a post I did about my mom sending her grandmother a box of chocolates every pay day and after she passed away, they discovered all the boxes in her trunk, all untouched. I really should change my tune about “preservation” of things and just use them now that I’m older.
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Our family never labeled photos and I haven’t seen pictures of extended family for years. Surely I still have living relatives in Michigan but when my uncle passed, they sent his cremation permission to me and then my older brother because there was no blood relative to sign.
Mom found some kitchen curtains she made to brighten up Grandma’s kitchen when she was very young. Never used. She always thought that Grandma didn’t think she was good enough for nice things. Really a shame. I try not to do that. My fiesta ware is an exception because my arthritic hands drop things. I only use it on holidays and I’m very careful.
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My mom was very disappointed her grandmother put the chocolates away unopened … it IS sad. I am going to change my ways in the new year about several things, among them about keeping things pristine and not using them, but I concede that old habits are difficult to break.
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