Friday, December 30, 2005

12/30 Christmas memories

As I sit here and whine because I can't go home for New Year's Day, I've been thinking about holidays past.

One vivid memory is "the door." In our house (which Joe and Cindy now own), there was a pocket door in between the living room and dining room. The only time we ever used it was on Christmas Eve. After we went to bed, Santa would arrive, eat the cookies and drink the milk, leave the presents, and close the door. We never wondered how Santa knew it was there.

Early on Christmas morning we'd jump downstairs (didn't walk or run--we jumped), and anxiously stood in front of "the door." No way would we dare open it. (One year I did after everyone was asleep. I don't think I've told that to anyone before.)

When "the door" was finally opened it was magical. I think we stood there for a second in awe before we rushed to dive into the presents.

"The door" was one more way to make Christmas special. We were a big family, and never had money. Every year Mom and Dad would say that Christmas would be smaller that year, and there wouldn't be many presents. Yet every year the living room was full. Santa had a lot of help from our Grandma Bozarth (Dad's mom). Also, some of Mom's brothers and sisters would give her money to help out. When we were small we didn't know that. We just knew that Santa was generous.

No money. But we were the luckiest kids in the world and we knew it.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jer, Santa did that with the door for our kids too, and funny, the door seems to literally disappear the year Santa quit coming to our house! And we STILL tell our boys every year this is the year they are not going to recieve as much, but the room always seems full...door or no door. We are truly blessed with the ability to work hard and provide well for our kids.

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

I wondered--did you take the door out when you remodeled? Or just cover it?

Bron said...

that's lovely :D

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

Thanks, Bron. I'm sure everyone has their special memories of holidays. This is just one of many for me.

Jeff said...

Very nice memory. Thanks for sharing. :)

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

Hey, Jeffy, great to see you here. I'm feeling very sentimental, and just looked at the picture of all of us sibs on the couch, with Jimmy PhotoShopped in. Poor Jimmy! :)

Anonymous said...

Door is history, though I wanted Joe to just seal it up, but with making the opening wider it wouldn't fit. So that memory is for you and your sibs and my boys alone.

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

Bye bye door. :)