Christmas Memories

Being mildly OCD lately, I am finding it difficult to just write about Christmas memories without categorizing them, or dividing them into different places we have lived, or extended family times vs nuclear family times or before kids vs after kids and empty nests, etc.  So I guess I will just have to write whatever pops into my head and see what happens.  My first and most persistent memory is always of my little girl Christmases when we awoke so very early on Christmas day but had to wait until after dinner to open our Christmas gifts because by then my older brothers and sisters were making families of their own and we had to wait until they all had their own Christmas and then joined us all at our house for the big celebration!  Those of us who were the youngest in the family were very upset at having to wait until the rest got there, but mom and dad had their way (imagine that!).  When all the rest of the clan arrived, we had a big dinner, then the adults insisted that we do all the dishes and clean the whole place up before gifts could even be opened.  Talk about anticipation!  And, really, being a low-income family, we mostly got the same thing each year - clothes, pajamas, maybe a new doll, etc., but still we were excited.  And since we started at the youngest child and went all the way to the top of the list (9 living children), one at a time, it was a long time between gifts for us.  Now don't make any judgments, yet.  I was only a little kid, for goodness' sake.  And then there was my brother-in-law, Uncle Cliff, who always brought his video stuff and filmed everything that went on.  He left us so many wonderful pictures of life back then, and pictures of my family members at all stages.  It was all a very exciting day, even if it did usually result in some arguments and some hurt feelings (as I remember it).  To this day, I am most happy when my holidays are celebrated with a large group - that is when I feel most at home!  When my husband and I and our 3 children moved to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1975, those first several Christmases were hard to deal with.  I loved my own children and husband so much, but we were only 5 as opposed to, say, 25 and I was lonely.  The song, "I'll Be Home for Christmas" brought many tears.  Then the church people took it upon themselves to make us a real part of their families and celebrations became happier.  My Lincoln memories are mostly happy ones and it is all because of those wonderful folks who took us in and became our mom and dad and brothers and sisters.  One other Lincoln memory is that we usually got a Christmas money gift from the church after the annual Christmas Program.  With it we would then be able to go Christmas shopping, and the kids' Christmas was limited to the size of the church money gift.  Also, since the program was very close to Christmas itself, we would run down to the Convenience store a block away (Swing In?) and buy stuff to fill their stockings.  To this day, when I think of Christmas stockings, I think of lip gloss, combs, candy, nail clippers - things you find in a convenience store.

Now, if I begin to think Christmas in Oshkosh, it always revolves around the Kuglers (a large group) and the happy times there.  And then there is Enid, then DesMoines, then Bartlesville, then Custer - I may be here all day and then I will think of stuff I forgot.  But all that has ever mattered to me is family, friends, kindred hearts, and remembering that Jesus was born on that day to provide a way for me to know God and to find eternal life.  I am, of all people, most blessed on this Christmas 2013!