Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Yes, There is a Santa

I think I was three. I remember standing in a long line outside of a tiny pavilion (by the statue in Sugar House) for our turn. I was scared of Santa Claus and I cried at first. My coat and leggings were made of wool, and they itched.

Five more early Christmas memories:
  1. Having a taffy pull at Grama's house.
  2. Playing the part of Mary at the other Grama's house.
  3. Eating too much divinity and throwing up all night. In the morning Mom opened a present from Dad and it was a cream-colored leather jacket. It reminded me of the divinity and I threw up again.
  4. Going sleigh riding up Mill Creek Canyon on our new orange aluminum saucers.
  5. The smell of Youth Dew, a perfume by Estee Lauder. Dad always gave it to Grama and Mom, and when I was a teenager, he gave it to me.
What are a few of your childhood Christmas memories?

8 comments:

Jake said...

This picture is priceless! Do you have any of me on Santa's lap?

I think you look like Luke in the photo...so cute!

I remember Christmas dinner with all the cousins and getting a gold locket. I also remember decorating Christmas cookies and white flocked trees.

bedelia said...

Well, I can't think of any memories at the moment but you've inspired me to make one when I'm home for Christmas. A taffy pull sounds perfect.

bedelia said...

Oh, I just remembered one. When I was maybe 4, My 2 older siblings and I had a huge conversation about Santa's overflowing sleigh of goodies. We conjectured how many toys and treats fell out of his sleigh as he traveled around the world. Christmas dawned a few days later and as my older brother gazed out the window. He noticed the gleam of cellophane in the tree outside. A candy cane had fallen out of the sleigh and conveniently landed in our tree. I'll never forget the screams of delight that we were right: Santa's sleigh was overflowing.

kenju said...

What a great photo, and how lucky you are to have it. either my mom never took me to see Santa - or she didn't take her camera along.
I remember getting a doll bed that was my pride and joy, and my perfume memory was Tweed, which my mom wore.

allison said...

your bangs are perfect

mama jo said...

what a cute picture...i remember the perfume...dad always spoiled us...i remember he gave me pierced earrings after mom had said no to pierced ears...i was sooo excited...the lundgren family christmas party which had the nativity, lucia and grandma always gave us madame alexander dolls...grandmas bagley making her beautifully decorated sugar cookies...

Moon said...

We had a door with french paned windows..each square edge was frosted with snow and ice, it was a crisp night with a few snowflakes falling in the air..on Christmas Eve..just before we were put to bed my sisters and I...but as my father looked out the window, he stopped and said, Come girls, come see...we looked outside and saw nothing..he then pointed to the sky ...See, way up in the sky, very very far away..if u look really hard, u can see Santa's sled...see it? See it?...All three of us, squinted..concentrating as we looked up and then by magic, I could see something ever so small, way far away...but it was Santa for sure..as my little sisters also proclaimed with excitement that they too had seen it ...We all knew he would soon be to our house! So we scurried into bed so that midnight would arrive that much faster!...(In our home, our tradition was to be awakened at the strike of midnight to open all our gifts,as soon as santa had come...up till the wee hours, eating and celebrating, or playing with our new things...to return to bed very late, or early rather, and sleep in on xmas morning)
I will never forget that memory...my father somehow knew we would see if we believed lol...

Rebecca said...

One of my favorite traditions was going to midnight mass, coming home and having eggnog and stolen with my mother and stepfather. We opened our stockings at that point. Then slept, and opened gifts later in the morning...That is one I will pass on to my son.