I have another video to share.
It is, of course, of Michael. and what he likes best about Christmas.
And then he has a question for all of the viewers.
So. Do tell. What is your favorite part of Christmas? I want to hear it. And Michael did ask so sweetly.
This isn't my favorite part. I'll share that later. But one of my favorite funny memories of Christmas.
We had one of those Rock Around the Christmas Tree Santas. The one where Santa shows his dance moves and shakes his hips back and forth. They were pretty popular a long while ago. He was a gift (from mom? my grams? My memory isn't what it used to be!) We got this Santa his 2nd Christmas - he was a year and a half old.
Anyway, I thought Michael would have been delighted by the dancing Santa. As Michael was quite the dancer himself.
I turned on the Santa. Michael would cry. Scream really. Not a fan. Couldn't stand the sight of the jolly man shaking his hips either. Michael would go out of his way to not walk past Santa. It was hilarious. The following Christmases were the same way. He would run really fast past him. Or cut a wide berth to avoid him. So Santa never really had the chance to dance. And that was just fine with Michael.
Now your turn. Tell me your Christmas favorites. or memories. or hot cocoa flavor. or tradition. I need a little Christmas now.
11 comments:
I love being with friends and family. I just posted a video of how we celebrated last night. come and see it. and even though I know technically Jesus was not born in december, I lveo taking the time to celebrate the day the world met the answer to the curse of sin....the day our savior was born.
Merry Christmas.
We often travel to a grandparents' house on Christmas day so Christmas eve has always been our time with just our immediate family. One Christmas eve we returned from church, ready to partake in our Christmas feast complete with Turkey and all the fixings and end the night with the opening of gifts. Well, instead we were greeted by a house full of smoke (apparently the Turkey bag had spilled in the oven). But we refused to end the evening without the gifts part so we opened all the windows in attempt to clear out the smoke (do you know how cold it is in Ohio in December?!), kept on our winter coats and opened our gifts, shivering, with the smoke still burning our eyes. Good memories!
That's hilarious about Santa! And if you want in on a secret...Ernie is creeped out by that dancing Santa too - can't even stand being in the same room as it! HA HA!
Christmas Cards. I really like Christmas cards! I love that at one time in the year, non-communicative people are forced to communicate. And show their faces. I love that.
I also love reading the Christmas story on the bed first thing in the morning. *sigh*
My favorite Christmas memories are at my grandparent's house on Christmas Eve. They had a player piano, so we would gather round and sing. The funny part is that a) someone had to "pump" the pedals to make the music play and we kids always wanted to, but our legs would tire out about halfway through the song. We only know all this because b) my grandma would hide a cassette player under the couch and tape the whole thing! We thought we were just a regular Norman Rockwell painting until we LISTENED to those tapes! Such good memories....and I MUST locate those tapes! Love you friend and memories are the scrapbook to our souls!
OMG, I remember the "rocking Santa" also and how Michael was absolutely terrified of it! I always felt like a bad Aunt, since I couldn't contain myself when Michael ran past the Santa. I laughed till I cried every time he did it! Sometimes he used a much more subtle approach... trying to quickly and quietly slip by it. It was even funnier. Poor little thing. That is one of many, many wonderful memories I have of loving family gatherings at the McHenry household and how blessed I always felt to be a part of it. - Love you! Aunt Joani
We're Italian, so it's all about the food! When I was little, we'd drive to Queens from Long Island to my Grandma Roca's "house" (a two story-two family walk-up w/a front stoop, a marble statue of the Blessed Mother on the front patch of grass and a vegetable garden on the back patch of grass). I inherited my cooking gene from her. She would cook, for DAYS, preparing for the Christmas Eve fried seafood feast which consisted of fried squid, friend shrimp, fried smelts, etc. (no meat). And TONS of butter cookies, all decorated differently. We would eat, and then walk around the neighborhood looking at all of the houses that were decorated for Christmas. I have never seen decorations like that since. Very elaborate! The Italians in the city went all out and each house was more spectacular than the next. Sometimes on the late drive back home we would be stopped at a traffic light in the city and a hobo would come by and try to wash our windshield (this was prior to Rudy Guiliani cleaning up the city!). My Dad would complain about the "bums". Hilarious. Thanks for asking, this reminiscing is making me smile.
My fave is wearing silly matching pajamas with my sister. Except this year will be different because I officially live with another human being...my husband. He is not really into it, and it will be pretty weird not waking up at my parents house on Christmas morning like I have for the last 27 years. Traditions change and morph. I hope I like my new tradition.
Tony used to be terrified of Santa, too. He wouldn't even sit on his lap for photos. So every year Kevin and I would sit on Santa's lap with Tony. I had to have that traditional picture! Then one Christmas, Tony had a new friend, Michael H. Michael got Tony to go see Santa with him, there was nothing to be afraid of. We finally had a picture with Santa worth buying and saving.It hangs on our tree. No mommy and daddy. No tears. Joy to the World!
Another favorite is when Tony used to believe in Santa. Every Christmas Eve, Santa (Kevin), used to call Tony to warn him he was on his way. The look on Tony's face was priceless, as was the speed he ran to bed! Alas, Tony stopped hearing the bell ring, so Santa doesn't call anymore.
Reading the other comments has made me reflect on precious memories that were buried over the years. It got our family sharing memories. What a gift to share these stories with Tony. Thank you for letting us remember. Nicole
This is unrelated to Christmas, but it reminds me of an time when Patrick (goodness... just a baby at the time) was terrified of a pair of my Old Navy flip flops.
The dancing Santa was great! My son, Zach, got very freaked out by my parents' dancing Santa when he was little too. He would look at it funny and sometimes get that look on his face like he was about to cry! What is it about that dancing Santa that freaks the kids out so much?? :)
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