We've all talked a lot about our senses and the world Grandpa created for us- this post will be no different. I'll probably be mentioning lots of flashes of memories. Not all of them will have to do with Grandpa directly.
I think my first Thanksgiving memory is at Aunt Lorene's. To this day when I smell celery seeds/salt I think of her house. I remember seeing legs and lots of people. Olsens and Peacocks, but nothing more specific than that. I must have been pretty small.
I remember Thanksgivings in the house. I really liked those. We were REALLY crowded, but all together. Those doing dishes or making food weren't in another building.
I also remember the Thanksgiving Grandpa was redoing the den. We did bunches of crafts. Tole painting.
Then there was the shop. Playing games after dinner. Kristi eating all of the olives, Mitchell eating an entire pumpkin pie.
Christmas:
The ward Christmas party for the OV 1st ward. I was an angel. My cabbage patch preemie was baby Jesus, and my grandpa was the narrator. After we sat on Santa's lap we got a sack of peanuts and hard candy.
The smell of coal burning stoves makes me think of driving home from Grandpa's on Christmas Eve. I don't know why. Plenty of people burned coal for heat- and not just on Christmas. I remember driving around town looking at the decorations. My favorite was the shooting star. As the years went on there were fewer and fewer of those. Grandpa's house always had a snowman on his power pole. I loved that my Grandpa had the best lights in town.
I loved the train under his tree. I loved the Santa that would walk around and ring a bell. The elves, etc. on the front porch, the matching jammies, the Gift of the Magi.
I'm sure it wasn't- but it always seemed effortless to get together and enjoy the holidays. I know that is because all of my cousins were in the same tiny little town. Most people I know claim they come from a small town. Of 30,000 people. I always laugh. They don't know what it is like to be from a small town.
There are lots more, and I know this isn't something specific about Grandpa- and I like to keep things on topic here, but I figure all of these things were possible because of Grandpa and you all might have holiday favorites to share here as well.
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2 comments:
As a mom - you kind of get so caught up in the moments that you forget that you are making memories that will stay with your child for many many years. And that they will want to give those same kind of memories to their child.
Many of our Christmas traditions are generational. I grew up with an Advent calendar, you did and now Daphne is.
So - my advice - take time and don't worry about anything except making those memories because some day Daphne will be making them with her little girl.
on christmas eve, people would drive around to look at lights. people would always come by grandpa's, he had TONS of lights. we would all line up by the window and wave. when we would open up the pj's, all the girls had matching and the boys had matching. we would have to go change and then stand in front of the mirror to get our yearly picture. Now my parents get the jammies for the kids.
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