Some Fun(ny) Holiday Memories...
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I love the holiday season. For me it starts with Halloween and runs right to New Year’s Day. I was thinking about all the fun we’ve had on Christmas through the years. I treasure all our traditions, memories, and adventures, even the ones that went a little sideways.
When I was little, it actually snowed in Virginia Beach on Christmas Eve (once). When we opened the front door to our little porch, there were reindeer tracks in the snow. I had proof (though no photographic evidence…it was the 70s) that Rudolph and Santa were real. Sadly, I found out later the tracks came from our next-door neighbor’s German shepherd.
One year when I was really small, my parents and I stood in line to see Santa for what felt like hours at Pembroke Mall. I got all the way to the front and had a panicked meltdown. When we left, I was horrified that I didn’t get to tell him what I wanted, and I just knew Christmas was doomed that year. To my surprise, Santa still came, and he brought me some amazing toys. But how did he know? I never told him. I remember running to the phone that morning to let all my grandparents know that Santa’s for real, and that he delivered even if I didn’t have my picture made with him.
I was an only child and an only grandchild on all sides for almost five years. I had a sweet gig. Then along came my sister and my cousin just weeks apart. And my sister came home from the hospital on Christmas Eve. I wanted a puppy, and I got a sister, who was too wiggly to carry around. Talk about not getting what you asked for. It took a bit to adjust to a new baby in the house. She was loud and determined to do her own thing, but I wouldn’t trade her for anything.
My grandmother loved Christmas, and I would always spend the night after Thanksgiving with her, so we could put up her tree. I loved all her vintage decorations. She had a beautiful 1950s angel tree topper. When I came back later to visit the beautiful blond angel was bald. It fell off the tree, and her Boston terrier chewed the hair off.
The same grandmother was known all over the neighborhood for her special Christmas treats. And she loved festive hard candy. She’d put it out in a glass dish with no cover. Every time, we’d try to get a piece of the candy, it was all stuck together. She blamed it on the humidity, and we just chipped away at it until a chunk broke off. One day, I came around the corner and caught her Boston terrier licking the candy in the dish. It wasn’t the humidity.
One of the first times we hosted the holidays at our house, I wanted everything to go off without a hitch. I put the turkey and the ham in the oven, and when I went to check on them, the handle on the oven door broke off completely. I couldn’t get it open, and the door was too hot to touch. It took my husband and brother-in-law with a clamp and a pry bar several tries to get the door open. They couldn’t repair it until the oven cooled down. Thankfully, the meal wasn’t ruined or trapped in the oven.
After spending one of our first married Christmases in Virginia Beach with our families, we packed my tiny Ford Escort and headed back to Central Virginia. For weeks into the new year, my car had this weird citrisy smell that was overpowering at times. I got queasy from the scent if I ran the car’s heater. I tore that car up looking for whatever was causing the unusual smell. Finally, I told my husband about it, and he pulled the cover over the wheel well up. A bag of potpourri had fallen behind the spare tire, and the heat in the car seemed to enhance the aroma. Mystery solved.
What are some of your fun, if not funny holiday moments?
