I’m not sure what I’m during wrong, but I can’t spot it.
This is my younger brother’s best Christmas memory:
When I was 6, my older brother fell off a chair and got a nasty gash on his forehead. Dad took him to the emergency room, and they didn’t get back until very late. In the morning, he was still asleep, so I got to play with all his new toys as well as my own for the whole morning! I even managed to break his Motocross pinball before he got a chance to play with it! Sure, he beat the crap out of me when he got up around noon, but it was worth it!
Sorry about the beating, Rob.
[QUOTE=Khadaji]
I’m not sure what I’m during wrong, but I can’t spot it.
[/QUOTES]
Yes, it appears the link doesn’t work if you’re not logged in. I sent you an email from Marktplaats.com(the Dutch E-bay) with what should be the correct link.
Watching bubble lights. 
[ul]
[li]As a younger child I enjoyed helping to decorate the Christmas tree. Once my oldest sister was designated as the primary tree decorator I no longer participated, as she had to have it her way and her way only.[/li][li]Stringing up Christmas lights. In spite of fighting the cold and wind, dealing with burned-out bulbs and entire sets on non-working lights and the occasional zap from a stray jolt of electricity, the end result was quite rewarding, especially when I could go inside and warm up with hot chocolate afterwards.[/li][li]Driving around to look at everyone else’s Christmas lights while listening to Christmas carols on the radio.[/li][li]All the great food at Christmas dinner. It was like an encore performance of Thanksgiving.[/li][li]Christmas TV specials, especially Peanuts and all the Rankin-Bass shows.[/li][li]Christmas Eve- Going to my Auntie Pearl’s and Uncle Harry’s house out in the country. There was something special about their house in its rural setting with snow on the ground. A sleigh ride would have made it complete.[/li][li]Christmas candy, including candy canes, everything peppermint, even the ice cream.[/li][li]Getting mostly all toys for presents, especially when it was something I really wanted but didn’t count on getting, but got it anyway. I never attempted to sneak a peak at my presents, for fear that if I were caught the present would be forfeited.[/li][li]Trying to be the first one out of bed on Christmas morning to check my stocking, before my two sisters got to see what Santa left in their stockings.[/li][/ul]
Third time’s the charm: “Angel Chimes”. Thanks for reminding me of these things ; we used to have them at home too and put them on the heater, so they 'd turn and chime without the candles beneath them. I ordered one for myself, too.
I still have fond memories of the Christmas when my brother and I both got bicycles. As it happened, so did many of the other kids in the street that year. There we all were, riding our new bikes up and down the street in our pyjamas at about 6.30am. It seemed such a pity to have to go and get dressed to go to Mass.
Another time was a stinking hot Christmas day sometime in the 1970s when we had to trek across town to have lunch at the home of some distant cousins. There wasn’t a great deal of enthusiasm until we were informed that the cousins had a pool! I seem to recall that we children spent the whole day in the pool. I think we even had lunch sitting on the steps.
Those are pretty cool! They are not, alas, the remembered oranaments of my youth, but I like 'em well enough that I think I’m gonna order some. Thanks!
I had reached the ripe old age of 7, and so was feeling old and jaded. Christmas just wasn’t doing it for me anymore. It wasn’t Santa deillusionment…I don’t remember ever really believing in him, although I got presents from Santa, Mrs. Santa, and The Elevs which gave me a cetain thrill.
But at my advanced level of maturity, I felt I was just going through the motions. We did the tree, I went to bed. And woke up really early…it was still dark out. And found the tree all lit and all the presents under it and the stocking hung. ! It wasn’t present-lust it was just the tranformation. It was magical.
Made me feel like I was 6 again 
.
There are also variations of these made out of wood and they turn quietly from the heat generated by the candles. They are quite popular in Germany, but I seem to be brain dead this morning and cannot think of the name for them.
Christmas Eve was at my Aunt’s house. My cousin is my age and they lived an hour away so it was a treat to see each other. Dinner was (and still is) perogi, kilbasa, platzack and other traditional unspellable Polish dishes.
It would take the grown-ups forever to do this dishes and clean up before we would gather in their huge magic family room around the tree to exchange presents. When I say magic, I mean my Aunt is a Christmas nut. She starts playing carols in September. There are Santa’s on display around the house year round. The family room has lights and decorations in every nook and corner.
Christmas day was fun and great because it was CHRISTMAS dammit. Presants come and go, fun was playing with my father’s antique train set. The rest of the year it was sequestered away.
My folks have both died. The train was his from a kid and today it’s worth a buttload of money. It’s one of the things I cherish the most. Because it was his as a child and I remember it set up under the tree as a wee Goob.
Do you still set it up? I recently bought the Lionel “Polar Express” train for my grandkids (me 
), and I plan to have it circle the tree as it passes through a little “village”.
I know your train is very valuable and you probably don’t want to take a chance on it getting damaged, but I hope you still run it!
Q
My happiest memory of Christmas was being born . . . on Christmas.
Instead of wrapping me in a baby blanket, the nurses at the hospital put me in a Christmas stocking!
Do they still make those? I’d stare at those things for hours until my eyes cramped up.
We used to drive around town a couple of days before Christmas to look at all the Christmas lights. Dad would drive really slowly so we could get a good look, and he’d stop in front of the really nice ones so we could “oooh” a little longer.
Christmas Eve was at my grandmother’s place, until she moved to the retirement home a few years ago. All the aunts and uncles and cousins, everyone all dressed up and carrying presents. Then Grandpa or one of the uncles would dress up as Santa and sit in the big chair and reach into the pile of presents to start distributing them one by one. In later years, after Grandpa died and the uncles disappeared when families split up, Grandma would dress as Mrs. Claus and get the job done herself.
Then at dinner, we always had the same Christmas bowls and plates set up, filled with olives and pickles and things, and the Santa candleholders, the plastic reindeer centerpiece, and all things kitchy and elaborate. And then we’d all be shooed away so someone could take a picture of the table. We could fill an entire photo album, my family, just with the pictures we’ve taken of our holiday tables.
I wish I knew whether I get to spend Christmas with my family this year. We’re a cool bunch.
I’m just glad that someone else remembers the same thing! It seems that one of the things that made the contentment so pure was the concious knowledge of it. I knew how special the moment was as it was happening and that is probably why it is such a vivid memory.
The train is sitting on a few pieces of track on my bookshelf. I haven’t put up a tree in years because I go out of town to my brothers for Christmas. If and when I do a tree, it will certainly run in circles under it.
It’s cast iron and weighs a ton. The only way to hurt is to drop it off the roof.
Alot of nostolgic Christmas decorations can be found at The Vermont country Store .
Plus, there are chocolates with booze in them.
I used to barf every Christmas Eve. It was the excitement and the anticipation of Christmas morning, I guess. I was pretty pathetic, I’m sure.
We didn’t have a lot, but my parents always made it a good day for me. From the time I was about 10, my brother would always bring a freshly-cut tree to the house. I remember that one year he didn’t come, so my father ran out at the last minute and bought this truly sad-looking tree that was missing most of its middle branches. Damn thing looked like a palm tree. After it was decorated, I would go into my bedroom, then walk out quickly into the living room, trying to make it look like a wonderful surprise, but even squinting my eyes didn’t help. Then, miraculously, my brother showed up late that afternoon, full of apologies. The palm tree came down in record time, and the new, gloriously full tree went up.
I used to love putting lights on the tree in front of our house. It was a spruce tree that was fairly young, being about six feet tall when I first started decorating it. Outdoor bulbs were very large then, and when a heavy snow fell on the branches, the lights would melt the snow somewhat, creating a glowing sculpture that people would stop and photograph. As the tree grew over the years, it became more of a challenge, and I became adept at the swing-and-toss of lighting strands. I went by my old house the other day; the spruce is now about 30 feet tall. Nowadays I decorate the blue spruce that I planted in front of our condo, but it’s getting up into the 12-foot range, and my tossing abilities have diminished, I fear.
As a teenager, the best part of Christmas day was when my brother and sister would show up with their families to spend the day. It meant a few extra presents, but more importantly everyone seemed happy and contented, with my father mostly sitting and looking bemused by it all. Mom would turn out an amazing meal from the tiny kitchen, my dad and brother would mock-threaten each other with a carving knife and fork (in their matching shirts), and my brother-in-law (who was an asshole even back then) would make some inappropriate remark that everyone would roll their eyes at.
After dinner, I would call my best friend and we would compare loot, then get together to wander about the neighborhood in the cold and snow, looking in the windows at other families performing their own memory-making rituals.
We have the brass candle angel light thingy. It came in a box of my husbands grandmothers ornaments. That puppy is going up this year. This year is different you see. This year, I get to make my daughters Christmas how I want it to be. I get to decide what Christmas memories get made.
I’ve spent the last 13 years either having Christmas with my husband or having Christmas with my family. It is filled with bickering ex’s and overly dramatic sisters in law. My holidays have centered around complete bullshit.
Not this year. This year, my daughter, who is now 14 months old will spend Christmas at home, under her own tree. And I can lay under the tree with my daughter and stare up at the lights. I get to see her face as she examines ornaments she will see for the rest of her life. I get to know that the smell of a real, honest to god, needle dropping, water needing tree is the ONLY kind of tree to have. She will have a tangerine in the toe of her stocking and it will be a stocking filled with fruit and nuts and candy. The stocking will be the icing on her Christmas cake. She’ll put out cookies for Santa and she’ll make a Christmas list. She’ll be in her jammies, sucking on a candy cane as she rips open her presents as Mommy and Daddy sit back and laugh and love her. She will hand her presents to others as they come to visit. She will know that giving is what is important, although the loot is pretty cool too. She will believe in Santa. She’ll know that every ornament she makes will make the tree prettier. She’ll make popcorn garland. She’ll know that you may not find the cat eating tinsel, but eventually, you’ll find out. She’ll know that Christmas Eve is for other people, but Christmas is for family and that you get to decide who is in your family. She’ll know that goofy slippers are as much a part of Christmas as a tangerine is. She’ll know the star might be the finishing touch on the tree, but the best way to see if the tree is perfect is to find the perfect spot to stare up at it from underneath.
She’ll know all things things one day. One day she’ll know all these things because her parents made damn sure that she would be able to post in threads like these one day.
Then maybe one day, she’ll call me up and say “gee Mom, thanks for awesome Christmas memories.” and I know in all the muddley things of life, I might get one thing right.
I can’t believe none of my contemporaries (from the 50’s) have mentioned this:
The Department Store Window.
There was this place in Salt Lake (Auerbach’s) that had the most elaborate displays …
Animated Santa, elves, reindeer, electric trains and most important: All the new ‘must have’ toys. If you have seen the movie A Christmas Story there is a scene similar to this early in the movie … probably one of the reasons I like the movie so much ( - that and I think that it was my dad that they based the script on …)
I still search for, collect, and restore those old animated displays.
Other favorite memory: every year my dad would take us out driving through the “Worst Blizzard in 20 Years” ™ to go out and see the Chrismas lights all over the city.
Oh, yeah. Can’t forget the sleigh rides. An old, bearded grandfather type farmer used to give kiddies rides for free.
I picked up and still carry on this particular tradition (including the beard). I still do the ‘one horse open sleigh’ rides for all the kids in this neiborhood every year. I use the flatbed wagon and make it a hayride when there isn’t enough snow …) And yes, I do it at no charge*. I love making ‘Christmas Tradition Memories’ ™.
*We make a killing on the hot chocolate and coffee for their parents, though.
Lucy