Christmas Memories and Thoughts as a Kid

[wolfie]

My Mom was in choir and my dad was a Eucharistic Minister, basically an adult altar person. Since they were running around while I had no responsibilities, we hadn't had time for dinner. My dad was able to run down to the new KFC location and bring home a big chicken dinner.

Just curious, but how did his running down to the KFC piss off the military brass that badly?

Note: changing a simple phrase in the quote to a link was my doing.

[MoonCat]

Emax4, don't apologize, after all, I still get to remember past times, and most of them were good! And I really appreciate your offer to talk.

Here's a cute one: When we were kids and teenagers, my brother would try to wrap his gifts to the rest of us in some way that made it impossible to tell what was inside. One year he gave our dad an umbrella. Well, that's pretty hard to wrap anyway, so he took an empty cardboard tube from wrapping paper, and a small box, and covered them both with colored paper. He put the umbrella inside the tube, and taped the small box to the top of the tube; then glued three large paper dots to the box: red, green and yellow. Yep, he made it look like a traffic light on a pole! I wish I had a pic. Our father couldn't guess what the heck was inside (and hey, at least it wasn't a tie!)

[fireheart]

Another somewhat vague Christmas-esque thing.

My sister's birthday falls within a few days of Christmas so we usually have a family get-together. Sometimes it includes friends.

Well one year it was my family, my uncle/step-aunt and step-cousins, plus some family friends of ours (plus their kids). While we were busy mucking around, apparently the adults got quite tanked.

Next thing I know, my dad has pulled out this pair of bright green boxers with holly leaves printed all over them (complete with berries) and a Santa hat. The adult men were required to dress up in the boxers (from the waist down, ONLY the boxers) and prance around the backyard. The women were to rate them on performance and the "legs".

Apparently one of the family friends (a neighbour of my uncle) decided to do some "pole dancing" around the pergola.

After the third performance, all of us kids were watching. And we were in hysterics

[criddle]

Because of this, I had to stop convincing myself that Santa didn't always come down the chimney, but instead had a universal key that could open almost any door. Did anyone else have a similar situation?

Our first house had no chimney, but I was really young when we lived there. Apparently when we moved to a house with a chimney/fireplace I was concerned that Santa wouldn't come if we had a fire on Christmas so I forbade it at age 4.

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when you first heard a song that you liked?

Yes! this is not Christmas related, but I remember turning on the radio my dad kept in the garage and messing with the tuner and hearing "Give It To Me Baby" by Rick James came on. I stopped messing with the tuner because I LOVED that song on first listen. I remember thinking that I could turn the tuner dial on the radio and hear that song any time on demand. I was super young.

I started laughing my butt off because the word "laude" sounded so funny at the time.

I have always laughed during the hymn "Come Thou Font of Every Blessing" because of the line about "Raising Ebenezer."

Here are my three Christmas stories from when I was young. I'll keep them short (since the rest is so long):

1. My granny got in a fight (the other person started it) when she went to get me a Cabbage Patch kid at the store back during that craze.

2. I remember not being able to sleep on Christmas Eve when I was little and seeing a red light through the window. It was a plane I'm sure, but I was convinced it was Rudolph.

3. Another Christmas Eve, another difficult time sleeping. I heard stomping in the hallway, assumed it was Santa, got really excited and then worried he would know I wasn't sleeping and I wouldn't get any presents.

[emax4]

Yes! this is not Christmas related, but I remember turning on the radio my dad kept in the garage and messing with the tuner and hearing "Give It To Me Baby" by Rick James came on. I stopped messing with the tuner because I LOVED that song on first listen. I remember thinking that I could turn the tuner dial on the radio and hear that song any time on demand. I was super young.

Funny you say that, because I always liked the song "Afternoon Delight" when I was a kid. It wasn't until I grew up (in so many words) that I found out what it was about.

I have always laughed during the hymn "Come Thou Font of Every Blessing" because of the line about "Raising Ebenezer."

I LOL'd when I read that, imagining Ebenezer waking from his grave and going, "I'M DEAD. WHADDYA WANT?"