what's your Xmas look like?

[susanmcgee48176]

Well, for years I lived in Michigan and then before that in New York, 
so I've seen many a snowy Christmas..I do miss about three days of 
snow when we had food inside and we didn't have to go anywhere..but 
I'm afraid I don't miss the mud, and the ice, and the dark..

I'm now in Humboldt County, California, and it snows about 20 minutes 
north of here so we can go up and see it, but never snows near the 
ocean...it'll be chilly (about 40 degrees) and I hope sunny...but 
this is our rainy season.

  
Garrison Keillor has his memories of Christmas on salon.com. 

We celebrate the Winter Solstice, Yule and Christmas. 

And second to Halloween, it's one of my two favorite holidays. I love 
gift giving. 

When I was young in New York... 

On Christmas eve, Santa Claus would ride throughout the town on the 
fire truck and we would all go out to wave to him as he drove by with 
flashing lights and sirens.

 My father always put Christmas lights on the outside of the house, 
single bulbs on all the foliage outside.
 
I remember that sometimes my parents put evergreen boughs on top of 
the mantle piece with lights interspersed among them, but that 
changed later on - I think we were afraid of fire...
 
The Christmas tree was always in the dining room corner. My father 
would put the lights on,  and put the very small tiny balls on the 
top (I still have a few that are on the top of my tree). He was very 
tall and didn’t need a ladder to get up there.  (which I do)
 

I would put the old very large ornaments on the bottom of the tree, 
and then the middle size ornaments would be carefully placed on the 
middle of the tree. Perhaps my mother and brother would help, but I 
don't remember that.

 Then we would put on the tinsel. My father would insist that we had 
to carefully put the tinsel on by the end so that it would like an 
icicle..but I found that very tiresome!..

 
The only presents under the tree would be those sent by our great 
aunts and uncles


I would be relegated to sleep with my brother in his room because my 
grandparents would be sleeping in my room. I would wake up at 5 a.m., 
but we would have to wait until 6 when my parents would wake up (I 
empathize now as I take pictures bleary eyed on Christmas morning at 
7 a.m.). My mother didn't believe in wrapping all the presents, so 
there would be a big stack of boxes on the piano bench¦unwrapped¦..

 

For stockings, we would use my father's old wool socks¦..they would 
hang above the mantelpiece ..there would be nails from which the 
stockings would hang¦--¦they would always have one Clark bar in them 
and in the bottom an orange¦.there was a time when oranges were 
incredibly expensive luxuries¦..Some times we would have a wood fire 
in the fireplace¦

 

I would play Christmas carols on the piano and my whole family would 
sing along..to this day I know four verses for every Christmas 
carol¦.!

 

One of our traditions was to play pokino, or poker or canasta as a 
family, and we continue that tradition on Christmas Day¦playing board 
games, or using the same pokino set that I still have...

 

These days¦.we have my partner's wonderful advent calendar that she 
made herself, in each box there is a Christmas ornament, and as the 
boxes turn around they illuminate a picture of the Lion lying down 
with the lamb¦..

 

One of her family's traditions was that everyone would receive a new 
nightgown/pjs on Christmas Eve¦.so we continue that..

 

Our son has clearly figured out that there is no Santa Claus and that 
we supply the presents, but in his usual lovely way, he is humoring 
me, and graciously pretending that there is a Santa Claus  Our 
daughter is still figuring it ou¦

 

Our Christmas stockings are not old socks, but they are beautiful and 
elaborate stockings, hanging not from nails, but this year from 
bronze hooks that spell PEACE¦

 

We give the kids one gift at the Solstice, and one at Christmas Ev¦

 

We have a Yule/Solstice ritual in which we talk about the Solstice as 
the shortest day of the year, and bringing back the light¦.

 

>From one of our dear friends, we have borrowed the tradition of 
reading the WONDERFUL book The Red Ranger Comes Calling on Christmas 
Eve..check it out!

 

And I have been reading the children Tolkien's the Father Christmas 
Letters for the past week.

 

I have both a wonderful and hard time during these holiday seasons. 
Both my parents died during this time (my mother just before TG and 
my father just before Xmas)..

 

And we are using ALL their wonderful stuff for the holidays..my 
grandmother's  tacky daschund NOEL, and my mother's wonderful 
Christmas Spode china, and the incredibly tacky Christmas macrame  
balls that my father made, and also the macrame santa claus napkin 
rings that my father made¦so I am both happy and sad

  

We also have about 50 winter solstice, yule and Christmas cds and 
tapes, and about eight Christmas/Yule dvds/videos that we watch 
(Charlie Brown's Christmas, A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, 
etc.)

 

I'm delighted to be working for a non-profit again this 
Christmas¦people are giving us all kinds of things, and we are (with 
great joy) passing them on to our residents who have virtually 
nothing...

Christmas Eve we have a dinner right out of the Silver Palate cook 
book, beef tenderloin, cauliflower and parmesan cheese, curried 
carrots..yum, yum...on Christmas Day, Turkey and stuffing and mashed 
potatoes and sweet potatoes, and stuffed celery and rolls, and 
broccoli with cheese sauce, and pies and ice cream...

 

Happy holidays, all

 

Susan