Christmas Memories

I think for most families, Christmas traditions become habitual routines. I know they are in my family. Over the years of Terri and my marriage, our Christmas tradition has changed a little year to year, and very slowly over the course of time. I would bet it is the same way in most families. Every year since our marriage, we have spent Christmas Eve with Terri's parents and family. The early tradition was to meet in time for midnight candlelight service at the Lutheran church. Then we would go back to her parent's home for chili, boiled shrimp and oyster stew.

As we added small children to the mix, the tradition evolved to earlier services and the oyster stew was dropped. After eating, the tradition continues with opening presents to each other, all done one at a time rotating from youngest to oldest. These traditions serve to melt the entire memory into one, making specific Christmas memories more difficult to remember. But I do have a few.

The first comes from my childhood. One Christmas morning I awoke before the rest of the family and conducted a personal inspection of the presents under the tree. One gift from Santa to me was a rather large toy cannon. It had elevation and angle adjustments and it's spring loaded firing mechanism would fire a small plastic cannon shell 20-30 feet. I know this toy was later removed from the market because it had the ability to leave a large welt or even "put an eye out". My parents awoke that Christmas morning to their son reenacting the battle of the bulge in their living room.

Many years later, Terri and I bought our oldest daughter, Lyndy, and new bicycle for Christmas from Santa. Christmas Eve night, after the tradition with Terri's parents, we returned home to get the kids in bed and bring out the Santa presents. We probably retired to bed around 2 AM. The next morning we arose, prepared coffee and waited for the inevitable awaking of excited children. Nothing. At some point, we woke Lyndy and asked if she wanted to see what Santa brought her. "No, I already did" was her response. The Wilson's had been staying with us that Christmas, and apparently Lyndy and cousin Heather had checked the Santa gifts our early in the morning and went back to bed. Like father, like daughter.

Another memorable Christmas was the eve we returned home around 1 AM Christmas morning. Almost immediately our Carbon Monoxide detector sounded. Not knowing that our detector model would sound for high levels of CO or low batteries, we called the fire department who arrived in their pumper truck and checked the home for CO. The air was fine, but the batteries were low.

Then there was the year very early in our marriage when I gave Terri a handheld rechargeable vacuum for Christmas. That was the year I learned that good intentions count for nothing. I have never gifted her with household appliances since that year, regardless of how easy they would make her housework.

One of my better presents to Terri was the year that brother in law Lloyd and I gifted identical trips to Las Vegas, complete with airline tickets, condo and shows, to our wives. At first they did not know what we were giving them, as it was all bundled in a notebook. But the present and the trip became one of the more enjoyable times we have spent together as 2 couples.

As the fond memories have transitioned from sleepy children rising on Christmas morning to sleepy grandchildren rising, much has changed but much has also stayed the same. We still gather at Terri's parents on Christmas Eve, however this year Mary will not be able to cook due to her illness. Instead, Terri and sister in law, Lisa, will prepare the traditional fare. Christmas morning will find us at our daughter's home enjoying the Christmas with the grandchildren.