Christmas Memories Pt. 1

We always enjoyed Christmas time in our house. Like a lot of young people, Tammie and I looked forward to the Sears Christmas Catalog and flipping through it for toys that we just had to have. My mom would tell us to find three toys that we really wanted and circle them in the catalog. I can tell you that this was not an easy task, as I wanted just about everything that I saw. One of my all-time favorite gifts was a train set that I received when I was eleven. That was the year of the Bicentennial and I was so happy to get the Spirit of '76 HO Scale set. I loved that train, but the brass HO tracks were hard to keep clean and somewhere along the way I inadvertently blew out its tiny engine. As usual, my limited skills did more damage to it in the attempted repair and it never ran again.

I don't really have a recollection of Tammie going to see Santa with me, but I certainly remember my solo visits. Usually, I would have to walk around the store with my mom a few times, before I gathered up the courage to speak with him. I was never too comfortable with this process, so I always brought a list that I had prepared a head of time. Once I found the courage, I would walk up and hand him the list and then be done with it. I suppose the list system worked as I think that I always got what I asked for.

My mother would keep a calendar for each of us during December and would award us a star if we were good on a particular day. We knew what we had to do, so we rarely missed getting a star. Of course, there was the one time when we must have gotten into some massive argument and my mom made it clear that there was no chance for redemption that day. I can assure you that it was a rarity, though. Our eyes were clearly on Christmas day and the presents that we expected to receive.

Church was also a big part of our growing up and we enjoyed the Christmas Eve candlelight service. From the time that we were quite small, we went to Immanuel Methodist Church in Camillus and for a large part of that time our minister was Leonard B. "Eli" Whitney. He had such a loud, booming voice and made every church service extra special. At Christmas time, our church would have two huge trees in the sanctuary and both were beautifully decorated. One of them would always have colorful lights on it, while the other had no lights, but wonderful cloth ornaments. Tammie and I enjoyed looking at these trees and participating in the special night.

During the service, the last advent candle would be lighted and we would sing these great Christmas hymns. The last of which, was Silent Night. Candles were passed out to the attendees and the ushers would come down the aisle and light the ones closest to the aisle. Slowly, each person would pass their light to the next until every candle was lit. I remember that our church had large globe lights hanging down from the ceiling and Reverend Whitney would instruct us to bring the lit candles up and down and to watch the light reflect off of these globes.

In addition to these special services, Tammie and I were in a couple of Christmas plays. One year, we both played angels and my mother made these elaborate costumes that included halos. I was small and not much of an actor, but I did secure the important role of Assistant Time Keeper. Basically, it was my job to hold the ladder for the Time Keeper who then climbed up and changed the hands of the clock. I didn't know that angels had clocks, but they certainly did in this production. To be honest, I don't recall Tammie's role in the play, but she did make a pretty convincing looking angel.

Every year, my parents made Christmas special for us. We enjoyed getting our tree from the church sale and decorating it while the King Family, Andy, Bob or Bing specials were playing on television and we sure had fun looking at all of the lights that our neighbors displayed each year. Orchard Village (a neighborhood tract in Camillus) held a yearly competition and that neighborhood was a favorite drive during Christmas. I certainly miss those days and getting up on Christmas morning to open our stockings upstairs and then going downstairs to open the really big presents. I am so glad for those memories with my Mom, Dad, and Tam.

My sister portrayed an angel in the play that year many years ago and I am sure is doing the same now in Heaven. Recently, my parents put up their trees and collection of outside decorations. This year they added a special new figure to their outside display. In memory of my sister, there is a brand new lighted angel on the front lawn.

Happy Birthday, Mimi