With Christmas approaching, I started thinking about Christmases past and how much slower they were. Growing up in Iowa I was fortunate enough to experience many “Norman Rockwell”-type Christmases. Most of the time Christmas season started the day after Thanksgiving with us getting the Christmas tree from a tree farm. We’d go out the the tree farm and wander around looking for the perfect tree. Once we found one that all of us could agree on, we’d get it cut down and then tied to the top of the station wagon. Once we got home, we’d rearrange the room to fit in the tree and then get out all the decorations for the tree. Usually it would take us a couple of days to get the tree decorated. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, we’d start making candy, wrapping presents, singing carols and all the other things that go on at Christmas.
Let’s see if I can draw a word picture for you … I’d be making fudge - and we have the best fudge recipe, my sister Kerry would be making almond bark candy with marshmellows, peanuts and rice krispies, and Heidi would be helping my dad make carmels. There’d be Christmas carols playing on the stereo and a fire burning in the fireplace keeping the house warm from the cold, snowy weather outside. There are so many good smells and sounds tied in with my childhood memories of Christmas. My mom would often be wrapping presents in the living room while we were making candy.
Then as the Christmas season continued and we got closer to Christmas eve, we’d work hard to get all the candy made - we usually made about 15-16 different types of candy to give away. On Christmas eve, we’d work feverishly to get all the candy on plates and out the door. First, we kids would deliver the candy to our neighbors, we’d go caroling and hand out the plates of candy and our Christmas card. Often, we’d get cookies or other treats in return - we loved our neighbors and knew all of them very well - the average length of time on our street was about 25 years. Then we’d run home and load up the car with all the rest of the candy - we’d go around and deliver it to our friends and relatives that were in town.
After delivering the candy, we’d rush home to get ready for the Christmas eve service. Our Christmas eve service was a candlelight service and often acapella. We’d get to church and look for our friends to see their new dresses or suits. We’d all go in and the sanctuary was lit only with candles - it was beautiful to see the candle light reflecting off of the stained glass. The service was always about reading the story of the Christ child and singing some of the beautiful old carols and the last carol was always Silent Night. At that point we’d all have candles lit and singing the whole song acapella. Then everyone would leave the sanctuary quietly.
The rest of our Christmas eve was often spent with family or friends. We’d go to a friend’s house and eat dinner and then go caroling around the neighborhood. Then we’d head for home.
Christmas morning was special for us kids. Dad would usually get up about 5:30 am and go downstairs. Now we had a door at the bottom of the stairs and we kids were not allowed to open that door on Christmas morning. Only mom or dad could. So we’d get up and huddle on the stairs or in one of our rooms until 7:00 am when we could go wake up mom. Mom would get up (she’s not a morning person AT ALL) and go downstairs to see if everything was ready. If it was, she’d open the door for us. We’d run downstairs and into the living room to get our stockings from over the fireplace. We’d go into the family room by the fireplace and start pulling things out of our stockings.
During that time, there’d be hot spiced cider on the stove, and cinnamon carmel pull-aparts in the oven. There would be candles lit around the family room and carols on the stereo. When we finished with our stockings, Heidi (my youngest sister) would start handing out presents. We had a rule in our family that only one person at a time could open their present. So we’d open our presents and talk about each thing that we got. I couldn’t wait until family members opened the presents I gave them (especially after I moved to Japan - I had tons of fun presents then). I’d tell them about picking out the present and why I got them what I got.
After we finished with the presents, we’d eat breakfast - pull-aparts, candy (yes, we ate Christmas candy for breakfast on Christmas morning) and we’d have hot cider or hot chocolate. Later in the day, my grandparents would come over for Christmas dinner and we’d get to open their presents. Christmas was truly a special time of the year as a child. Now as an adult - married to an awesome man - Christmas is still wonderful.
