First off, just as a reminder…I am a Christmas Person! You don’t mess with Christmas Tradition!

Growing up, I never got to decorate my own Christmas Tree. It was always put up in the stand about a week before Christmas, but that’s as far as it got.  On Christmas Eve, my sister and I were allowed to hang 6 star shaped ornaments on the tree…and then were rushed off to bed.

There were lots of years when I just couldn’t get to sleep. Not only because of the excitement of Christmas morning, but also the uncertainty of it.  What if Santa didn’t actually get to our house? He had one heck of a lot of work to do…he’d better not be late!

Then I would remember…we were on Santa’s Special List. (Probably because I was such a perfect child!) He didn’t just come to my house, drop off gifts and bolt…he hung around for awhile.  He decorated our Christmas Tree, arranged the Nativity on the fireplace mantel, hung a couple of wreaths, ate a plate full of homemade cookies, drank a pitcher of milk…oh yea…our house was the place to be for Santa on Christmas Eve!  He’d show!

What was always so odd however was the fact that my parents were ZOMBIES on Christmas Day. I mean really out of it! It wasn’t until years later that I learned that yes, our house WAS the place to be after midnight on Christmas Eve…but not for Santa and his Elves.

Sometime after midnight both sets of my Grandparents would arrive at our house and spend almost the entire night helping to decorate and wrap packages. There was never any evidence of the drinking and eating that took place during these late hours, so I guess my Mom must have stayed up after they all left to clean the mess up.  That’s Dedication!

But I’m pretty sure she realized it was worth

it when she saw our faces…Christmas morning was magical in my house! There are some memories that always put a smile on MY face!

Of course, there was that one year when I was about 14. By then we were decorating the tree ourselves. I got used to the change in tradition and actually learned to love decorating my own tree. And by 14 years of age I realized that “Santa” had to have some help.  Anyways, that year I woke up Christmas morning to find …nothing under the tree!  WTF!!!!! Seems Mom and Dad fell asleep a bit early (my Grandparents had given up the overnight party by then).  My sister and I had to help bring bags of wrapped packages out of the attic and down to the living room.

I’m pretty sure my Mom remembers the look on my face THAT Christmas morning too.  I remind her periodically…when I need to make a point!

There are some memories that can still piss you off…you know? Bah Humbug!

First off, I hope you all had a very Happy thanksgiving and made some new memories to look back on years from now.

As a matter of fact, in talking about past Thanksgivings, I got into a discussion about frozen vs. fresh turkeys and which was better. I really don’t know which are better, but I do know that some fresh turkeys are fresher than others!

In my former life, I taught 3rd grade. I was 24 years old and in the second year of teaching when I had my fresh turkey experience. Let’s start by saying that my turkey cooking experience was limited.  So when the parent of one of my students asked me if I would like a fresh turkey as their gift to me, I said SURE! 

“David” and his family lived only about a mile from my house. They had cows and chickens and pigs…and turkeys!   “David” was one of my students that will always hold a dear place in my heart.

Anyways, I was told to stop by on my way home from school on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and they would give me my turkey.  I had hit the jackpot! Cleaned up my classroom and bolted to get my gift.

Got to “David’s” house and after a short visit, they led me out the back door and headed towards the barn. We were chatting and I wasn’t paying too much attention to be honest.  As we rounded the back of the barn, “David’s” mom pointed to the turkeys running around and said “How big a turkey do you need? Which one would you like?”

I’m from New Jersey. We didn’t have turkeys running around in our yards. My limited experience with turkeys was picking them out from the frozen food section in the grocery store and then wondering how long it would take to thaw.

Needless to say, once I made eye contact with a couple of the unsuspecting turkeys in “David’s” yard, there was no way I was choosing which one of them was going to the chopping block for me. What to do now????  I think I announced something like “I hear my mother calling me” (all the way from New Jersey) and as I ran to my car hollered back that any one of them would be fine and I’d be back around 7pm to pick it up. When I returned at 7pm my turkey was nicely wrapped…just like a turkey should be!

The turkey that year was very tasty. Better than a frozen one? I really don’t remember. But I do remember that was the year that I became very thankful that I didn’t have to decide which turkeys would get the ax for my Thanksgiving dinners in the future. 

I can’t say that I was damaged enough to never eat meat again.  I like steaks and pork chops and chicken and yes, even still turkey. But as long as I don’t have to look them in the eye while they are still running around a field, then I’m good.

I hadn’t thought about “David” and my turkey experience in years. I hope he and his family had a fabulous Thanksgiving.  I know they sold the farm years ago…hopefully their turkey was yummy this year…even if it was a frozen one!