Posts Tagged Under Christmas
Grandma’s House
I never really had grandparents. My mother’s mother and my father’s father died when my parents were still children. I only met my paternal grandmother once and my maternal grandfather passed when I was toddler.
Luckily, my children have a different life. They have three sets of grandparents: Nonna and Grandpa Elroy; Grammie and Grampie; and Grandma and Grandpa Tampa (because they live in Tampa).
This Christmas we are staying with Grandma and Grandpa Tampa. In fact, my husband’s entire family is here to celebrate the holidays. That’s two grandparents, four grown children, their spouses, and ten grandchildren.
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Santa: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
When did you stop believing in Santa Claus? Do you remember the exact moment, an event that happened to change your belief, or was it more of a gradual realization? As the holidays approach, I wonder if this is the year my eight-year-old learns the truth about Santa. Will he discover the inevitable or can we keep the magic going for one more year?
Last year was a close call. We always spend Saturday and Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend transforming our house into a Christmas wonderland. Candles, garlands and figurines grace our mantle, and ornaments we have collected for the last 10 years fill the tree. Continue… »
By Paula ChapmanDismantling Christmas
When the doorbell rings for our tree-trimming party every year, we turn up the volume on Handel’s Messiah, ladle out hot mulled cider, and put our guests to work hanging the ornaments.
I’m the only one invited to the untrimming party. Soon Joni Mitchell’s Blue
is blasting from the speakers as I bring up boxes from the garage and get to work dismantling Christmas.
But I’m not blue at all. I love taking apart the wooden train set and stowing away the brightly painted nutcrackers. I scrape melted wax from the mantel and toss withered cedar boughs into the fireplace. Scummy vases once overflowing with holly and white orchids get a good scrubbing.
By Lorrie GoldinA Nursing Home Holiday Filled with Family, Memories and Tears
My father-in-law, Glyn, moved to a nursing home in early December. We came bearing gifts on Christmas day – my husband, me, our 10-year old son, along with my husband’s brother and his 11-year old daughter.
Glyn sat in the dining room. A first for him as he had been taking all his meals in his room. He ate his prime rib with gusto as we hovered around the table. Conversation was sparse. I had thought that this visit to the nursing home would be sad but it felt okay.
Holding a gift box and tearing the wrapping paper off was difficult for Glyn. My husband helped him open a large box filled with a heavy black jacket. I wondered if he’d ever get the chance to wear it.
By Marianne LonsdaleNot The Kind of Big Ticket Items You Want to Buy During the Holidays
Before you know it the holidays will be here. That doesn’t mean buying toys for our kids. This tells us it’s nearly time to buy new appliances for our house. They love to stop working at just about the same time that the holidays are breaking our bank accounts.
Instead of Toys R Us I’m scurrying to Best Buy or Sears to replace some expensive but can’t-live-without-it item, like the dishwasher that just fell apart all over my kitchen floor.
Last year, it was the central heat and air conditioning unit that whirred and buzzed for a few days before shutting down altogether right before Christmas. Temperatures in Sacramento where I live were dipping into the 30s and 40s at night and my kids complained they could see their breath. A contractor spent two days on the roof fiddling with the unit before he could determine how to fix it, which he managed to do the day before my mother arrived from Connecticut and I hosted 13 people for dinner.
By Laura-Lynne PowellReality TV Addicted Mom Fesses Up
I admit it. I’m a fan. Or an addict.
Christmas Plus Hannukah Equals Christmakkah!
The holiday season will soon be over.
Then I will finally put away my “Christmakkah” decorations: the unobtrusive fake tree, which resembles more of an ornament holder, the driedel and Hanukkah menorah, the Nutcracker, and the evergreen garland that just had to do for that Christmas smell I love so much.
We ate or gave away all of the Hanukkah cookies my daughter and I made while listening to my favorite Christmas CDs. But now, I put away the conundrum that occurs every year in December and feel secure again in my decision to have a Jewish household.
The only time of year I question my conversion and raising my daughter Jewish is around Christmas, but I think that time of year presents some unrest for many Jewish individuals, even those who grew up in Jewish households simply because Christmas is so embedded in our culture. I have heard the Christmas tree debate and discussion many times and know many Jewish families that put a tree up in December simply because it’s festive, ignoring the true meaning of Christmas.
By adminChildhood Memories of a Magical Nutcracker Past
The young girls in holiday finery caught my eye as I stepped off the escalator onto the BART platform at the Civic Center station in San Francisco.
When Kids Discover Who Santa REALLY Is
No separate wrapping paper and tags. Not having to disguise one’s penmanship or remember whether Santa’s cursive slants left or right every year. Not having to remember that the girls can’t yet read cursive. I guess there are a few benefits to Christmas with nonbelievers.
But mostly it makes me sad that we no longer need to dispose of scummed-over cocoa and apples for the reindeer after the kids have finally gone to bed on Christmas Eve. (My brother trained his kids to leave beer for Santa.)
It wasn’t so bad when our eldest daughter grew suspicious about Santa’s largesse. In fact, she seemed more impressed that her notoriously cheap parents were the ones springing for all that loot than by the idea of a fat guy squeezing down millions of chimneys in the space of a few hours.
By Lorrie Goldin
