Christmas Memories

When I was growing up, Christmas was the best time of the year. Since I lived in a small town in Kansas where my Dad grew up, most of his immediate family still lived close by. His two brothers, their wives and families lived in the same town and so did my grandparents. We called my Grandmother, Grandma Ruby and my Grandfather, Pappy, as did most of the town. He was mayor for several years and owned the Phillips 66 Gas Station along with my dad at the blinker light on the main highway where it crossed the state road. Pappy had been a farmer until moving to town after World War II, and when my dad and his brothers returned from fighting in that war, they married and settled nearby. I had all boy cousins and a brother, which made me the only Granddaughter. Probably because of that, I got special treatment at Christmas.

Grandma Ruby may have been a farm wife, but she liked the finer things in life. She had an older sister who had married a wealthy man, and she got Aunt Mary’s castoffs when she got a new wardrobe. I remember especially one very beautiful “fur” coat. I couldn’t tell you to this day what kind of “fur” it was, except I don’t think it was mink. But we all thought it was totally luxurious, and Grandma Ruby was the talk of the town when she wore it to church in the winter. Grandma Ruby liked to pass a few things down to me too. One Christmas I received a beautiful Pearl necklace that had once been Aunt Mary’s, and another time the gold locket that my Dad had given Grandma Ruby for Christmas while he was away at the war. It had his Army Insignia on one side, and an inscription on the other. It opened out and had a space for two heart shaped pictures on the inside. Inside was a picture of Grandma Ruby and the other was my dad in uniform. I still love that locket.

But the best gift I ever got was the tradition of the Nutcracker. Every year, Grandma Ruby and I went to the ballet in Kansas City at the old Edison Theatre where various ballet troupes performed the Nutcracker. It was a special treat to get to go. The story always delighted me and spurred on my imagination. One Christmas I told my mom I saw the Rat King under my bed! We always went to the matinee and I always got a new dress – my Christmas Dress – either red or black velvet, taffeta, or one year a bright green wool dress with lace collars and cuffs. Since my birthday was also in December, there would also be the new Patent Leather Mary Janes and colored tights. Grandma Ruby often bought me a “good” coat only to be worn to church and for “special occasions” like the ballet. One year it was soft white wool with rabbit fur collars and cuffs. But no coat or dress could match Grandma Ruby’s Fur Coat!

The Theatre was near the famed Country Club Plaza and afterward we would go shopping on the Plaza with its lavishly decorated store fronts and dazzling lighting displays. Horse drawn carriages fitted with sleigh bells took lucky passengers around the shopping area and there were carolers dressed in the style of Merry Olde (with an e) England singing on the streets. It was a winter wonderland to me, and we would sip Hot Cocoa on the patio of Putsch’s Café and I would think I was the luckiest girl in the world to have such a Grandmother, sitting proudly next to me in her Furs.

She and I also made gingerbread men every year. She had a special cutter that her mother had passed down to her, and it made very large gingerbread men. I remember her showing me how to grease the measuring cup with butter so the molasses would pour out more easily and baking the thin sheet of gingerbread in the middle of the oven. We would then quickly cut the men out of the baked gingerbread while it was still warm. I had to wait a whole day before we could decorate them so that they would crisp up first. She would always draw on the frosting face with her piping bag, and I stuck the gumdrops, raisins, cinnamon candies (she always called them “Red Hots”) and licorice whips on his decorated clothing. She made one big one for each grandchild and then smaller ones to take to church for the children’s Christmas Party. Seems like we made hundreds every year, but I am sure it was just a few dozen.

The boys would all go hunting with Pappy, my dad and uncles. They hunted Prairie Chicken and many times we would have “Partridge” with stuffing and gravy (as my Grandma Ruby called them) for Christmas Eve Dinner before church. The whole family would gather to eat and exchange gifts before Christmas Eve Services. All the grandchildren had stockings that hung from the mantle in my grandparent’s house. We always got oranges and candy canes in our stockings, sometimes walnuts in the shells and small toys. Uncle Joe always gave us all a crisp five dollar bill in a money envelope, and sometimes there were new sox or mittens or scarves that Grandma Ruby knitted.

Aunt Jeanette would always bring her terrible “Ambrosia” salad made of jello, marshmallows, fruit and coconut which no one ate and she and Uncle John would always be at least a half an hour late. They adopted my cousin, Jimmy, when he was just a baby and they always dressed him in too many clothes. He was a patient soul and put up with much fussing. Uncle Joe and Aunt Myrtis had two boys, Larry and Johnny. Larry was born on Christmas Day right after me on the 7th, which made me the oldest My brother Tom was born 5 years later on the 17th, which made him the youngest. Johnny and Jimmy were born the same year. The year I was 5, my brother and my mom came home from the hospital on Christmas Eve and everyone kept saying I was getting a special surprise for Christmas. Since I had asked for my very own pony, I was sure that was the big secret! Imagine getting a brother instead of a pony! Oh well, I grew to love my “surprise” very much.

Grandma and Pappy always put up a small Christmas tree a few days before Christmas which she insisted they cut from a cedar grove on their old farm. I don’t know what the new owners thought about that, but she said she’d been getting their tree from that grove for over 50 years and they weren’t about to stop now. It was never up for more than a few days at any rate, since Christmas decorating didn’t start until around December 20th when we grandkids were through with school and off for vacation. Pappy would take the gas station pick up and go cut one down at the old farm and bring it back every year. She would put it in a bucket of sand and prop up the trunk with bricks to keep it upright. Then she’d wet the sand every day to keep the boughs fresh. It never looked like a real Christmas tree to me since it was cedar, but it always smelled nice. She decorated it with an old string of bubble lights, some ancient silvered ornaments from before the war, and wrinkled chains of colored paper that we grandkids had made over the years. We also popped popcorn and strung them with cranberries to wrap around the tree. She had an old silver star she used for the top each year which was kept packed in its own box wrapped in tissue paper and carefully stored from year to year. All us grandkids helped to decorate it. Sometimes there were tinsel icicles, but only if my dad insisted. He loved it, and she didn’t care for it, but sometimes she’d allow it if he would carefully hang the icicles from the branches. They had to look straight she always insisted.

For some reason, Pappy always insisted we put the bear rug in front of the fireplace at Christmas time. He had shot that old bear in Colorado during a hunting trip years before and had it made into a rug. The head had been stuffed and it had glass eyes and real teeth and to me was very gruesome, but he didn’t think it was Christmas unless it was laid out in front of the tree. I have to admit to a few hours with my head resting on the bear’s head staring up at the tree. It also made a nice place to take a nap if forced.

We spent a lot of time at church during the Christmas season. My Sunday School class always helped wrap packages for donations that were put into the charity fund. The fund was then used to make up Christmas Baskets for the less fortunate in the town. Our choir director owned the Grocery store, so he would donate canned hams every year, and the Ladies Aid Society would stock the baskets with canned goods and a few Christmas treats. We also had a clothes drive every year and people would donate warm clothing and coats. My mom would always put my “good” coat I’d outgrown from the year before in the bin. Several of the church ladies would crochet blankets or make quilts for the Christmas Baskets, and we children would donate small gifts for boys and girls our own age. I always felt sorry for the children who received those puny gifts because it was never anything anyone really wanted for Christmas, mostly they were socks, gloves, pencil boxes, new notebooks and such practical things, and some scrooge would even donate bars of soap. I am sure they needed them, but I always thought they would have liked something frivolous instead. One year I snuck in a whole box of candy bars wrapped up in paper and ribbon, and a bottle of Jean Nate cologne. I don’t know who got those, but I felt better for my subversive gifts.

We also had a Christmas pageant every year, and most years I got to be the Virgin Mary and hold the baby, my favorite part of the play. Other years I was one of the band of angels with my coat hangar wired halo. But finally I got to be the Arch Angel and got to say that famous line “Fear Not, for Behold I bring you tidings of Great Joy!” But I got stage fright and said “Fear Not for Bold! I bring a Tide of Joy”. That was the highlight of my theatrical career, and I don’t think I tried out for any more parts after that.

The pageant was usually followed by singing Christmas carols and then Santa made his appearance and gave us all a stocking made out of red mesh stapled at the top with a tag that said “A Gift for You”. It was full of ribbon candy and nuts. He would then tell us all he’d be visiting us at home later and dash out the back door of the church. Then we’d light candles and sing Silent Night and walk out into the night singing. It was a very nice night usually.

As the years have passed and I had children of my own, we lived many places around the world since we were a Navy family and gone from home much of the time. We kept some of these traditions and created new ones. We still had pageants and Santa visits. We helped with package wrapping and filled Christmas baskets, sang Silent Night and lit candles in church. We made paper snowflakes and chains for the trees and even strung popcorn some years. We made sugar cookies with colored frosting, and hung up our stockings wherever we were. We went home to visit whenever we could and caught up on family stories. We went to the Nutcracker and visited the Plaza. My daughter still makes paper snowflakes for her house windows and tree every year, and now she lets me participate in the gingerbread house making she does with her kids – even if it is from a kit these days. And as soon as Olivia gets a bit older, we will go to the Nutcracker, just she and I. And I might even buy her a “good” coat with rabbit fur. Maybe Cooper will go hunting with his dad. I don’t really remember the expensive gifts, or what we didn’t get or have, but I do remember the joy of being all together and remembering Christmas in our own way. But that is blessing enough, and I still love Christmas best.