Christmas
Memories
Submitted
by SusiCP@aol.com
[Susi
Pentico]
Christmas Memories, ahhh such
delights to behold. The putting
up of the tree, the making of
popcorn, the popcorn balls, the
pulled taffy, the bubble lites,
The tinsel that got everywhere in
the house. The writing of our
Xmas list, the trip to town to
visit Santa Claus. The candy cane
that Santa would give. Memories,
O those beautiful
memories.
I remember when small going to
Tomasini's Store to visit Santa
Claus. Standing in line with
other parents and children. The
entrance of Santa up the stairs
to the top floor to visit with us
children. My little Sister would
squeal in delight. My little
Brother was more shy; because he
was very small, Mom or Dad held
him.
We only saw Santa once all Xmas
season. He was not plastered all
over the town advertised like
today. Santa tied more closely to
the Religious Theme in the 40's
and 50's. Generally, only one
store had Santa, it was years
before other stores would have a
Santa for competition.
When my sister, brother and new
baby brother would go see Santa
they would beg to go to see Santa
in both stores. Dad would say,
"No, Santa has many children to
see and it's not polite or proper
to bother him more. If you forgot
something we will write him a
note." Generally we were
chastised if we asked for too
many things. We were to mind our
manners and never forget the
people less fortunate than
us.
Christmas meant generally a toy
from Santa, a toy from parents
and our Aunt whose home was near
us. Grandparents lived states
away and would send us a nice
card and letter for Xmas. When
older, one Grandmom always sent
us a quarter for Xmas, later it
was a dollar, I got my last
dollar from Grandma in
1990.
I would send Grandma money and
she would send dollars to my kids
and other nieces and nephews, as
did my Dad and my Uncle. So we
helped her to keep up her
tradition of sending a gift at
Christmas. I always sent both
Grandparents stationary and
stamps for writing to us. When I
moved from home I was glad my Mom
had started this little gift
because both GrandMom's wrote to
me until they passed away. Both
my Grandfather's did the same. I
tried to instill this process in
my five children because we were
not near the Grandparents
either.
Fortunately, today one lives with
us and the other is still in her
home and my brother is near her.
The Granddad's are gone. But my
children do contact their
Grandmom's often. Maybe not as
often as Grandma's would like but
it was great to hear my MOM say,
"I hear from your children, I
wish I would hear from the other
children." She really has always
been into family and enjoys a
letter or phone call or visit.
The other Grandma was in Iowa
when our children were small and
we visited with mine. Now the
IOWA Grandmom lives with us and
we can enjoy her on a steady
basis. She can visit with the
Grand or Great Grand children any
time someone has a few spare
hours.
The holiday is not the same
anymore with commercialism and we
try to not let it get in the way
of the meaning of Christmas. Our
children were taught to help
others and at Christmas they go
shopping for unfortunate families
with their children so they learn
to share with others. One of my
grandsons said:"Grandma, the look
on that boy's face was better
than any gift I could get." He
didn't realize how poorly a
person in the community could
actually live.
Many times children think that
it's only other countries that
have poor people. Our
country really does not show how
sad some of our own live.
Christmas Season is a time for
sharing and caring more than
other times in our society.
Looking to the day when we care
and share daily.
Season's Blessings to one and
all.
©
2001 GFNEWS, a monthly
publication of the Golden Gate
Genealogy Forum, Inc. of
Franklin, MA.
(America Online Keyword: roots.)
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©
2001 Graphics
By
Carol,
All Rights Reserved
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