Sunday, December 20, 2009

a sis, a memory....


This is my fave sister, Gail's Christmas memory. It's funny how we grew up in the same family, yet we have alot of different memories growing up. I will post mine
in a few days too. Meet my big sis, Gail:


"We went to church every Sunday growing up. Sunday school, jet cadets youth group were a part of each week growing up. So at Christmas time - of course we would have the Christmas plays and sing all the old Christmas carols. After the play, all the kids would be sitting up front on the floor and they would pass our brown lunch bags filled with candy - we were so excited to receive our special treat. A very special memory is going Christmas caroling with the youth group - that was alot of fun!



My dad would put up Christmas lights on our house every year. My mom had her special decorations she would put out - like the little white lanterns she would hang. She would display our Santa pictures year by year. The Christmas cards we would receive always were taped onto a closet door in the dining room so you could always see them. My brother, sister and I would go with my dad to buy a tree at a Christmas Tree lot down the street while my mom would get all the ornaments out. We all helped decorate the tree. Each year on Christmas Eve, we got to open one gift and boy were we excited - we could hardly wait. We would have stockings each year that Santa would fill - they always were the same. First a tangerine in the foot of the stocking - then peanuts - then candy (the unwrapped, hard, sticky kind that would stick to the inside of the stocking) - then some special things - like sunflower seeds or a pair of socks... Today, we make the stockings the exact same way for our own children - TRADITION!



Christmas morning we were always up at the crack of dawn - but were not allowed to get up until 7am. Boy, the waiting was horrible. Then, we opened up all our gifts - making a big mess - with papers all over the floor - playing with our new toys and trying on our new clothes - wow! My mom would have a delicious assortment of homemade breads and fresh fruit. Later on - we would go play with our friends and show them our new things. I don't remember a "special Christmas dinner" - not sure about that. We never had any family members living nearby - so Christmas Day today is much different - with a house full of family members - good food - grandmas - grandpas - aunts - uncles - moms - dads and all of the cousins!


A couple funny memories: Cathi and I were dying to find out what one of our gifts under the tree was. Our aunt maryann and uncle lee gave it to us. So, we snuck and opened it up and looked and quickly wrapped it back - it was a beautiful doll he brought us back from Vietnam! We were happy to see it - but on Christmas day kinda sad that we already knew what it was. We never did that again.



One Christmas, we tippy toed out to take a peek in the living room to see what we could see - it was pretty early - maybe 5:30 or 6am and we got scared cuz all we saw was a little old white haired man sitting in my dad's recliner - so we ran back to bed - scared. What it really was - was Iggy Lou. I wanted a gigantic troll doll so bad and it was Iggy Lou with the white hair - i just loved her - i still love her and still have her. She was wearing stewardess clothes. My friend, Gloria had the boy troll and his name was Iggy. He asked Iggy Lou to go steady and she had a little blue ring he had given her. I also had her ears pierced - just like me. So after i had my own kids - Iggy had her own little place in my closet. When, my kids would lay down for their naps -they were deathly afraid of Iggy - so I would have to turn her around and close the closet door."

5 comments:

  1. I loved reading this Cathi, just beautiful :)

    I have two younger brothers and it is very interesting how we can all remember the same events quite differently!!

    That is so true about peeking at presents....it does take the fun away for sure!

    Simone xo

    PS Glad you received the movies, it was hard to choose which to send, I stuck to some favourites :)

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  2. Oh how I love to read about the memories of other peoplws Christmas. Slightly different to mine but with many similarities.
    My sister and I and our cousins were always allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve and we always chose the one from a certain telative who nearly always bought us something that we knew we wouldn't like much !! XXXX

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  3. Sorry for spelling errors, Cathi, I was typing in candlelight and couldn't see the keys !!!! Trying to get a Christmas ambience. !!

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  4. Hi Cathi! What a sweet, nostalgic post. I love that you taped the Christmas cards up for everyone to see---such a fun idea. Aren't they wonderful to display? I'm glad you enjoyed today's post of Sister Corita's artwork. My mother and grandmother went to Immaculate Heart and are huge fans of hers. Best wishes to you and yours this holiday season!
    XXX Kate

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  5. What a cute picture and fun memories! Please give Gail a big Merry Christmas hug for me!

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Thanks for the smile - pass it along! xxoo

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