Christmas Memories

I love this time of the year! I let the season of Christmas wash over and envelope me while I dive into preparations. I tend to reflect on Christmases past while I'm listening to Christmas music, signing Christmas cards, wrapping gifts and baking cookies.

Christmas was always a very busy time for my family, and I can see how my parents would become a bit stressed out during this time of year. When I was very young, we had four or five Christmas parties to attend over the course of two days. On Christmas Eve, we would all bundle up and drive out to my Aunt's house for my Dad's family's Christmas Party. This was one of the times during the year where all of the Aunts, Uncles and cousins (all 9 of us) would get together all at once to visit. There was a gift exchange and a TON of food. All of us cousins would have their own stocking, which was oversized and stuffed full. (For some reason...we always received underwear in there along with our little toys and games!) We would have lunch there, then open presents. When it got to be around dinner time, we would bundle up again and head to the Bieler Family party (my mom's mom's family). This party would be held at different houses each year. This was another big party. All of my Great-Aunts & Uncles and cousins would gather to celebrate the season with my Great-Grandpa. Great-Grandpa Bieler was a stout, round German with a huge heart. He LOVED Christmas. I think I must inherit that trait from him! He would have so many presents for us kids that it would put Santa Claus to shame! We would party well into the night...until around 10pm or so, when my family would once again bundle up and drive to church for our Christmas Eve service.

The Christmas Eve service was always the most beautiful service in my mind when I was a child. The entire church would be decorated for the season - there would be wreaths on the doors and on the walls, greenery was draped everywhere, the giant Christmas tree would be at the front of the church, red and pink poinsettias would surround the alter and pulpit, and the beautiful nativity scene would be surrounded by about 100 candles. It was breathtaking! At the end of the service, the entire congregation would hold lit candles and sing "Silent Night" with all of the electric lights switched off. I would stare at the nativity scene and hold my candle as we sang, pretending that I was really there at the stable, witnessing the newborn Jesus.

After church, we would drive home. By this time, it was nearing midnight. My brother and I would look out for Rudolph's red nose in the sky. I found out at a very early age that Santa was a myth (that's a story for another time), but I kept up appearances for my brother. I would point out a distant glowing red light (which was in actuality a light atop a radio tower) and tell him that it was Rudolph.

Once we got home, we were allowed to open one present. That present would always be new pyjamas. Always. Mom wanted us to have fresh, nice, new PJs for Christmas morning pictures!

The next morning, we would awaken to Christmas music playing from the stereo in the living room. That was the signal that it was ok to come out of our rooms for Christmas. The Christmast tree would be all aglow and wrapped presents would be spilling out from under the tree. Stockings were first...my brother and I would pull out trinket after trinket...ending with the traditional orange in the toe of the stocking. Mom would have homemade Swedish Tea Ring with butter for breakfast. She and dad would sip their coffee and munch on the tea ring while my brother and I took turns opening presents. I would annoy my brother by taking my time unwrapping my gifts. No tearing through the wrappings like an animal for me! I would meticulously open the paper wrappings where they were taped!

After our presents were all opened, we would get cleaned up and dressed for the rest of the day. (At one time, our church had Christmas Day services too, so we would go there first, but after awhile, they stopped having them and just had the Christmas Eve services.) We would bundle up again and head over to my grandparents' (my mom's parents') house for Christmas. There would be more presents and my grandma would cook us a wonderful Christmas lunch. That evening, we'd all head over to the Sells' Family Christmas Party. This was my mom's dad's family. Again...this party was packed full of family that I would most often only see once a year at Christmas. It was fun though! Much like the Bieler party on Christmas Eve, it was as if you stepped back in time. The women would be in Christmas dresses with glittery broaches pinned on. All the adults would have a ciggarette in one hand and a glass of "Christmas Spirits" in the other. It was as if it were the 1950's again. My great-aunts wore bright red lipstick that would transfer to their ciggaretts and glasses. My great-uncles would be wearing black trousers and shiney black shoes with their jacket & ties or, if it was my Uncle Dick, his cardigan sweater. I remember these days looking up at them all, hearing the laughter and fun and loving the fact that I was related to these amazing people.

Yes, Christmas parties kept us always on the go. I loved it, but it was a bit much for my parents, I think. The rush of the holidays was always something they did not enjoy. So, one tradition that my parents started was that one night before Christmas, we would switch off the tv and all the lights, candles would be lit along with the tree, and we would listen to Christmas records (yes, there were no CDs or MP3s back then!) on the stereo and munch on summer sausage and crackers with a variety of cheeses, while we slowed everything down and enjoyed the evening.

Another tradition was baking cookies. My Grandma Ethel would make these AMAZING sugar cookies. They were so thin and crisp...absolutely delicious. When I was 8 years old, Grandma passed away. So mom took over the tradition of making these delicate little cookies. The fun thing for my brother and I was that we were the ones who would help decorate them. We would "paint" the color with egg yolk mixed with food coloring onto the unbaked cookies, then the color would become baked on. Well, the problem was that mom would get very frustrated while making these cookies. They had to be rolled out veeeeeerrrrryyyyy thinly and then cut out. Not easy to do with two kids running around. So, my brother and I would be banished to our rooms to play while mom prepared the cookies for us to paint while listening to Christmas music (which I think made her refrain from cursing!). She would call us out when they were ready to be painted!

As an adult, I have tried to incorporate some of the traditions of my youth. It's not always easy, but even if I am unable to re-create some of them...I will always be able to replay them in my memories!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, ev'rywhere you go. There's a tree in the Grand Hotel, one in the park as well, the sturdy kind that doesn't mind the snow. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...soon the bells will start, and the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing, right within your heart!