After 18 Years...Christmas still isn't the same...
This will be the 18th Christmas eve. In 1990, we celebrated what we all knew would be our last Christmas eve with Gram...the woman who served to define it for us all of our lives.
For those of you newer in my life...my Grandmother Short (on my Mother's side) had a lot of traditions...but the biggest was the open house on December 24. Grandma had 7 kids, but 6 with families...so you had 14 people to start (counting her and Gramp), add in 18 grandchildren (at the time) of various ages, then any NUMBER of drum corps, bingo, people who had Grandpa work on their cars, adopted family, and the Penguin...and you'd have a small two story house with a garage filled to the rafters with people.
It served to DEFINE Christmas for me to this day. To be honest it's one of the most amazing and awesome memories I have. Should I ever develop Alzheimer's...it's one of the memories I pray I never lose. I hold these memories like precious stones in my heart...and to this day while the holidays are awesome...it does feel like something is missing.
From the moment I woke up on December 24, the anticipation would build. I'd hop in the tub quicker than normal...wake up and watch a Christmas movie (usually the original Miracle on 34th Street) and then wrap any presents that needed it for my family. Make a breakfast for myself (and occasionally others)...then begin to nag Mom on when we were leaving. We'd get there in the early afternoon to see Grandma frantically wrapping. Occasionally Mom and her sisters would leave and go to Gold Circle or some other store to pick up last minute things they or Grandma needed (usually because a new person was coming and Gram didn't find out till the last minute and everyone HAD to have SOMETHING under the tree)...we'd spend the day at Grandma's watching TV or playing outside or just visiting and laughing.
As the day went on more people would come. I remember eagerly awaiting my cousin Nate's arrival...At that time I had three boy cousins in the family (Steve, Chuck and Nate) and Steve and Chuck were usually doing something with their families and weren't around a lot of years...so Nate was my rock. As the only other boy...I knew I had someone to run with...as the girls tended to pair off in the early years (Michelle and Liz, Wendy and Dawn and Betty and Kathy). I remember vividly one year where Nate couldn't come...and when we were sent upstairs...Dawn and Wendy took Gram's room, Betty and Kathy took the spare room and Liz and Michelle took the other room (with the window to the pool...) and wouldn't let me in...so I sat on the stairs bummed. Still...it's a good memory.
Eventually everyone would arrive...and we kids would be sent upstairs while "Santa Unloaded". Santa unloading consisted of Grandma and the other adults making a line to the closet under the stairs...where we ALL knew Grandma stored the presents. They would then pass them to the tree fireman style and place them. As the years went on...it seemed the tree got smaller for the amount of presents obscured it pretty good.
When everything was placed...we got the call to come on down...and the stampede would begin. We'd run (or jump ) to the first landing and then turn the corner and start down the noisiest stairs in the world to see...nothing. Cause every adult in the room had a flash camera..I mean really guys. We're on the stairs and you're flashing our retinas out. In all seriousness...we'd see the tree and get REAL excited. We'd run to our 'assigned' seats...and mine was usually to Grandma's immediate left. My Parents usually sat at the corner where the door was to the outside from the Living Room...so Betty and I would sit on the floor and I'd always make sure I was near Grandma.
At this point the chaos would REALLY begin.
Grandma; wearing her Santa Hat and apron...would start handing out the presents. This was amazing. A portly old woman handing out a hundred presents...to a million people. It would take hours...but she'd hand em. As she got older...she couldn't bend over as well...and I still remember the first Christmas where she looked down at me and say "Billy, can you start handing me some of the deeper ones....I just can't get em." I thought it was such an honor to be able to do that. So I'd start handing the gifts to Grandma...NEVER handing them to anyone else. (I did that once too and was 'kindly' chided for it...Grandma played Santa...and noone got a present that she didn't hand them and announce)...her last year...it really got long. We're talking 2 or three hours...she was getting tired...and some of the other cousins on the other side of the tree started handing out gifts they knew were there...I remember yelling at them and then Grandma continued.
After the presents the living room would look like a war zone. Wrapping paper would be strewn everywhere...kids would be looking for some way to open up the new toy they got that makes noise or had small pieces...parents would try to get us to start patrolling for paper, and a baby or two would become lost in the paper only to be resecued from a fate in Grandpa's stove...(because if it was in the pile...it went in the stove...)...the paper would then be shipped to the garage to be burned by men who were already stewed...
Finally the party would wind down and we'd all start heading to the cars. Dad, Betty and I would wait in the car...while my mother 'made the rounds' usually consisting of saying good bye to everyone in the house...30 minutes after we were out there...Mom would come and we'd head home. Dad would find a plane in the air, call it Rudolph and attempt to get us to calm down and fall asleep cause "Santa's flying in the neighborhood"
We'd get home...go to sleep and start Christmas Day...and the anticipation would begin for December 24 all over again.
18 years later...and I still miss it. There are other traditions now...at Aunt Debbie's, playing poker with the cousins, the little ones singing loud Christmas Carols, and just the general joy of seeing these family members who we don't see as much as we used to...but...it's not the same. It's good...and even great.
I imagine though that I'm not the only one missing the 'old days'...this should make us think about the times we do have. Hold on to the memories you have now...because they may be all you have later. That's the biggest lesson I learned from Gram...and I'm thankful for it.
Thanks for Reading.
BONUS: Pics of Gram and Caine at Christmas...and Gramp with Matt (just don't have one of him on Holidays)
Granpa holding Matt at a picnic in May 87.
The Watchdog...park where he can pee on your tires or you'd be sorry.
Grandma on Christmas Eve...
For those of you newer in my life...my Grandmother Short (on my Mother's side) had a lot of traditions...but the biggest was the open house on December 24. Grandma had 7 kids, but 6 with families...so you had 14 people to start (counting her and Gramp), add in 18 grandchildren (at the time) of various ages, then any NUMBER of drum corps, bingo, people who had Grandpa work on their cars, adopted family, and the Penguin...and you'd have a small two story house with a garage filled to the rafters with people.
It served to DEFINE Christmas for me to this day. To be honest it's one of the most amazing and awesome memories I have. Should I ever develop Alzheimer's...it's one of the memories I pray I never lose. I hold these memories like precious stones in my heart...and to this day while the holidays are awesome...it does feel like something is missing.
From the moment I woke up on December 24, the anticipation would build. I'd hop in the tub quicker than normal...wake up and watch a Christmas movie (usually the original Miracle on 34th Street) and then wrap any presents that needed it for my family. Make a breakfast for myself (and occasionally others)...then begin to nag Mom on when we were leaving. We'd get there in the early afternoon to see Grandma frantically wrapping. Occasionally Mom and her sisters would leave and go to Gold Circle or some other store to pick up last minute things they or Grandma needed (usually because a new person was coming and Gram didn't find out till the last minute and everyone HAD to have SOMETHING under the tree)...we'd spend the day at Grandma's watching TV or playing outside or just visiting and laughing.
As the day went on more people would come. I remember eagerly awaiting my cousin Nate's arrival...At that time I had three boy cousins in the family (Steve, Chuck and Nate) and Steve and Chuck were usually doing something with their families and weren't around a lot of years...so Nate was my rock. As the only other boy...I knew I had someone to run with...as the girls tended to pair off in the early years (Michelle and Liz, Wendy and Dawn and Betty and Kathy). I remember vividly one year where Nate couldn't come...and when we were sent upstairs...Dawn and Wendy took Gram's room, Betty and Kathy took the spare room and Liz and Michelle took the other room (with the window to the pool...) and wouldn't let me in...so I sat on the stairs bummed. Still...it's a good memory.
Eventually everyone would arrive...and we kids would be sent upstairs while "Santa Unloaded". Santa unloading consisted of Grandma and the other adults making a line to the closet under the stairs...where we ALL knew Grandma stored the presents. They would then pass them to the tree fireman style and place them. As the years went on...it seemed the tree got smaller for the amount of presents obscured it pretty good.
When everything was placed...we got the call to come on down...and the stampede would begin. We'd run (or jump ) to the first landing and then turn the corner and start down the noisiest stairs in the world to see...nothing. Cause every adult in the room had a flash camera..I mean really guys. We're on the stairs and you're flashing our retinas out. In all seriousness...we'd see the tree and get REAL excited. We'd run to our 'assigned' seats...and mine was usually to Grandma's immediate left. My Parents usually sat at the corner where the door was to the outside from the Living Room...so Betty and I would sit on the floor and I'd always make sure I was near Grandma.
At this point the chaos would REALLY begin.
Grandma; wearing her Santa Hat and apron...would start handing out the presents. This was amazing. A portly old woman handing out a hundred presents...to a million people. It would take hours...but she'd hand em. As she got older...she couldn't bend over as well...and I still remember the first Christmas where she looked down at me and say "Billy, can you start handing me some of the deeper ones....I just can't get em." I thought it was such an honor to be able to do that. So I'd start handing the gifts to Grandma...NEVER handing them to anyone else. (I did that once too and was 'kindly' chided for it...Grandma played Santa...and noone got a present that she didn't hand them and announce)...her last year...it really got long. We're talking 2 or three hours...she was getting tired...and some of the other cousins on the other side of the tree started handing out gifts they knew were there...I remember yelling at them and then Grandma continued.
After the presents the living room would look like a war zone. Wrapping paper would be strewn everywhere...kids would be looking for some way to open up the new toy they got that makes noise or had small pieces...parents would try to get us to start patrolling for paper, and a baby or two would become lost in the paper only to be resecued from a fate in Grandpa's stove...(because if it was in the pile...it went in the stove...)...the paper would then be shipped to the garage to be burned by men who were already stewed...
Finally the party would wind down and we'd all start heading to the cars. Dad, Betty and I would wait in the car...while my mother 'made the rounds' usually consisting of saying good bye to everyone in the house...30 minutes after we were out there...Mom would come and we'd head home. Dad would find a plane in the air, call it Rudolph and attempt to get us to calm down and fall asleep cause "Santa's flying in the neighborhood"
We'd get home...go to sleep and start Christmas Day...and the anticipation would begin for December 24 all over again.
18 years later...and I still miss it. There are other traditions now...at Aunt Debbie's, playing poker with the cousins, the little ones singing loud Christmas Carols, and just the general joy of seeing these family members who we don't see as much as we used to...but...it's not the same. It's good...and even great.
I imagine though that I'm not the only one missing the 'old days'...this should make us think about the times we do have. Hold on to the memories you have now...because they may be all you have later. That's the biggest lesson I learned from Gram...and I'm thankful for it.
Thanks for Reading.
BONUS: Pics of Gram and Caine at Christmas...and Gramp with Matt (just don't have one of him on Holidays)
Granpa holding Matt at a picnic in May 87.
The Watchdog...park where he can pee on your tires or you'd be sorry.
Grandma on Christmas Eve...
Comments
Love,
Uncle Bill
This is a testament to what Mom was call the "Legacy" she wrote in our cards on that last Christmas.
This is exactly what she wanted to leave us with and for us to remember and not only do you but you have put it in Black and White in case anyone has forgotten....
Absolutely Beautiful Will
I Love You
Aunt Audrea
Michelle and Dawn