Childhood Holiday Memories?

[katiemakeup]

I grew up in Cols, Oh and the thing to do was to go to downtown Lazarus Dept store and see Santa and Mr. Tree. The store window displays were beautiful- very Dickensish and you could follow the Christmas path up the elevators to Sanat Land. In the waiting room, there was Mr. Tree welcoming you to Santa Land- A tree in which a person sat inside and he would talk to you. He also had a huge tounge that he stuck out in which you could shake hands! Funny!

Santa always left gifts out, he never wrapped them, but our family gifts were wrapped. (Later on, Santa also forgot to take the price tags off as Santa was too tired.) Our stockings were always on our bedroom doorknobs or bedposts to keep us amused if we woke up during the night...And we always went out to eat Chinese Christmas eve. Oh and watching all the Charlie Brown, Seasame Street, Rudolph tv specials.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We always went to Freese's Department Store in Bangor ME when I was little -- a big, multi-story downtown type of store with lots of lights and decorations and excitement, especially for a four year old. My cousin and I would always be taken to see Santa, and were always a bit intimidated by the experience -- but for some reason my strongest memory of the place was the smell of the in-store hair salon, which always reeked of perm solution. And because of that, I always associate that odor with Christmas!

My mother was another one who "forgot" to remove the price tags from presents, and that's what tipped me off on the whole Santa myth. When I was about six I asked her "I thought elves made all the toys -- so how come Santa gets all our stuff at Mammoth Mart?"

Ma took a deep puff on her cigarette. "Times are tough, and elves get paid a lot," she replied, "so Santa's gotta save money this year!"

I was going to ask her next how Santa managed to get in our house since we didnt have a fireplace -- just a stovepipe in the kitchen -- but she gave me a look that told me I was getting into dangerous territory....

 

[Elaina]

You know the funny thing is, my mom, bless her mental heart, tried to make Christmas happy for everyone (they generaly weren't), and to this day I really can't stand Christmas. If not for my son, with all my family out of state, I'd be content to be a Scrooge.

My dad usually was home. He was a truck driver, and didn't always make it back for the other holidays, but he got home Christmas Eve by 4 or so, and Christmas off. Xmas Eve was all about board games, and my parents and siblings having to play with me (I was 8 and 9 years younger then the ones at home) and just loved it. My mom spent hours and hours wrapping presents, she would go so far as to cut tags off that couldn't be removed, and now gives me a hard time that by the time I was 3 I noticed I never got anything from my parents for Christmas, had apparently a heartwrenching scene, and so, I always had a gift from them after that.

Once they moved out, my mom got her nursing degree, and my dad and I were usually the only ones there. So it turned into a joke between me and my dad that I had to watch all three Mad Max movies with him after we went to dinner (which was either Denny's or Golden Corrall). The year Star Wars came out on VHS I forced those to be included in it too.

To this day, Xmas Eve begins at 4 with Star Wars episode 4 (Christmas is NOT about 1-3) and wraps up about the same time I do the presents for the kid with Beyond Thunderdome. We generally order pizza, but only because my son and I often go out for breakfast on Christmas day since either I or my husband has/had to work.