Childhood Christmas Seasons

I still get nostalgic when I think back to all of those growing-up Christmas times.   Sure, there was a time I believed in Santa Claus, but I honestly don’t remember that far back.   My memories begin around elementary school age and those are the best ones.    I loved the Christmas coloring pages  that our teachers mimeographed and handed out to the class – still warm and smelling inky with that blue mimeograph smell.   I loved outlining the pictures first, then coloring in the pretty pages.   We would also do find-a-word and other word puzzles with Holiday themes.  We would make crafts to give our parents as gifts…..thick with white glue and magical sprinkles of glitter……clothes pin reindeer, coke-bottle Santas, felt elves stiff with glue…..all ready to hang on the Christmas tree!  Classroom parties with brightly iced cupcakes, red fruit-punch and pretty decorated cookies.  Our teachers almost always gave us a gift of pencils with our names on them!  OH, how I loved those personalized pencils that were MINE, all MINE!!! I’ve always had a particular yen for school supplies. 

Church was one of my favorite parts of Christmas.  I was mesmerized by the Christmas plays and musicals and I loved the reverent, soft music and the joyful tidings of great joy to all people!  I loved the scent of the giant live Christmas tree that they would always bring in to the front of the church!  Does anything smell as good??   There were always little boy shepherds wearing bathrobes and sheets tied on with ropes.  There was always  a sweet little girl Mary in a white gown with a blue head-covering, lovingly clutching a baby-doll baby Jesus in a make-shift manger.   My Sunday school teacher would always make sure there was a present or two under the tree for me….a book, a doll, a bottle of nail polish, Tinkerbelle pretend make-up, puzzles, etc….  and every year……EVERY year, without fail.  The church gave out Christmas sacks.  The Christmas Sack contained different things…..but always, always had an orange, an apple, some nuts, and some peppermints.   Some years, there were other candies, crackers, treats……but always the orange, apple, nuts, and peppermints.  That combination of smells – along with the heady pine tree scent of the church Christmas tree will always, always smell like Christmas to me.   I loved singing Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful, and It Came Upon a Midnight Clear……..O Little Town of Bethlehem, Joy to the World, and Go Tell It On The Mountain, and Away in a Manger.   Even as a very small child, I could feel the palpable sense of hope and good-will at this time of year.  

I love the sound of the Salvation Army bell ringers as I go in/out of stores.   As a child, we lived behind K-Mart and I remember walking over there and hearing the tinkling ringing of the bell and seeing the red kettle for donations and I remember how much I wanted to give to children who had less than me.   That sound still inspires that wish…..that desire to help my fellow man.

My Dad left us when I was a very small girl, about 6 years old.  I don’t actually remember much about Christmas before he left.  My Christmas Memories are all after that age.  I remember my Mom, who worked 2 jobs…would save and put toys on lay-a-way at K-Mart and Otasco…she would save all year to make sure we had a good Christmas.  Christmas was one of the few times of the year that she was at home….and we would spend the night at home with her at Battlewood apartments.  We would put up a tree – usually a live one – not always pretty, not always store-bought (sometimes cut down from the side of an over-grown ditch) but it was always transformed into a magical tree by twinkling colored lights, glass bulbs, and lots of pretty, silver tinsel that we called “icicles.”  I remember lying in the floor in the dark, looking up into the twinkling lights, and dreaming magical good dreams and imagining all sorts of good things.  Everything seemed possible...and even probable under the glow of the Christmas tree lights. 

I loved, loved, and loved watching the Christmas specials on TV.  Frosty the Snowman, The Year without a Santa Claus, Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer, and Rudolph’s Shiny New Year.  Miracle on 34^th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, And of course......A Charlie Brown Christmas and How The Grinch Stole Christmas!  My Mamaw would make a big bowl of popcorn on the stove-top or a pot of hot chocolate for us and we would feast on these special treats and absorb all of the animated magic from the TV while we sat beside the magical Christmas tree. 

Another Christmas memory is thinking about all of our family’s traditional Holiday foods.   The turkey or chicken and home-made cornbread dressing, a giant ham basted in sweet glaze, beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, mac and cheese, and any assortment of other savory goods....but the REAL treat was the sweets and desserts.   Million-Dollar Pie, my Mamaw’s Dried-Fruit Layer Cake – stacked a mile high with precious dried fruit in between the luscious layers. My papaw’s favorite: Coconut and Orange cake – made in an 11 X 9 inch cake pain, thick with white, cooked frosting and moist orange-juice soaked cake layers.  Jello Poke Cakes, red and green sour balls made from jello packets and coconuts, homemade banana pudding, strawberry shortcake – also stacked high and served with plenty of whipped cream.   Pumpkin AND Sweet Potato pies, Chocolate pies with meringue on top, coconut-cream pies on tender flaky crust, Christmas Sugar cookies- cut out with my Mom’s red Christmas cookie-cutters shaped like Old Saint Nick and stockings and stars....usually decorated with red and green sugar-glitter and sprinkles.  Mamaw’s tea-cake cookies, chocolate-covered peanut-butter balls, and any other number of goodies.

And the sounds of the season!  Mitch Miller and the Gang was our perennial favorite!  I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Must Be Santa, Frosty the Snowman, The Christmas Song, and Silver Bells!   Theses songs are the very essence of my childhood Christmas.   We would sit on the couch and sing along with Mitch and the Gang.  Every year. 

At least one night in this magical season, Mom and Mamaw would bundle us up in our heavy coats and blankets and we would ride around town, looking for the best Christmas light displays!   Oh, how I loved Christmas light nights!!  Houses lit-up like magical gingerbread houses, Santa landing on roofs, prancing reindeer in the yards.....it always created such an anticipation of the BIG DAY! 

Speaking of anticipation......I can remember being tucked in early on Christmas Eve....so excited that sleep wouldn’t come for literally HOURS after we went to bed.  Giggling with my little sister, trying to guess what Santa would leave for us under the tree the next morning....and in our later years, straining to hear the crinkle of wrapping paper to again try to guess what was in our Christmas morning futures.  

How, how I missed those sweet, precious, innocent, and magical Childhood Christmas Seasons!!!