It's finally here! Christmas Day. Even as an adult, there is excitement over Christmas Day. It simply has a different feel, doesn't it? Oh there's always the anticipation of gifts being unwrapped and stockings unloaded. But in all that excitement, what's next?
Growing up, my parents had their hands full. There were four of us crazy kids. I am the second oldest with my older brother being 1 1/2 years ahead of me. And 5 years younger is my little brother and my sister 1 1/2 years younger than him. I don't think my parents planned it that way but as we came along they had a sense of humor and our names are in alphabetical order. I have to believe that was deliberate.
Back to Christmas Day. As with most kids we would always have trouble going to bed and falling asleep. Based on my best recollection, we were at either my grandparents on my dads side or my Aunt Hettie's on my Mom's side almost every Christmas. My poor parents! They had to somehow herd us into the family station wagon and load up the back end with all of 'Santa's' goodies.
After we were a little older, I think we did our Christmas first and then headed out over the river and through the woods, if you recall that old song. Christmas Day at my Aunt Hetties was the best. She would always make her special gelatin (called jello now) in a brown pitcher and would serve it with homemade whipped cream. In addition to that, she would serve her special homemade lemon meringue pie. You guessed it! She even squeezed the lemons with her cut glass lemon juicer.
For many years I had the set of china we always ate off of and the matching serving dishes. What a feast it was. Oh, lest I forget, our grandmother on our Mom's side always made her famous yeast rolls and we had hand churned butter. Are you hungry yet?
Dessert was always a couple of hours later as I recall. We would stuff ourselves on turkey, ham, rolls, mashed potatoes, rice pudding, dressing and all sorts of other dishes. Then there is always the obligatory after dinner nap. What a day! As younger kids, we probably didn't need a nap but would play with our new toys and go outside and climb trees.
We would load up at some point in the day to go see other relatives and eat candy, open more presents and try to stay out of trouble. We had to be on our best behavior so Santa would come back the next year. He always did so we must have been 'good' ha ha ha. As an adult now, Christmas has different meanings and a new perspective. It's a day off for most and time to spend with family. Personally I enjoy the Christmas movies, kicking back and relaxing.
May your Christmas be bright and may you create new memories for yourself and your friends and families. Merry Christmas to you all!
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