Glendon Place
I remember the Christmas morning routine like it was yesterday. Being from a family of eight kids, sleeping in on Christmas morning was about as likely to happen as say, seeing a zebra riding a bicycle! I am not even sure any of us slept Christmas Eve night. I do remember that getting up at 5 a.m. was not uncommon! There were so many of us that Mom and Dad never wrapped our gifts when we were young. But rather, all around the family room would be separate piles of gifts. Mom and Dad always got us a couple of the things we really wanted, so it was easy to determine whose pile was whose. It was kind of funny when I think about it. We would all sneak out together and spend a few minutes going from pile to pile, trying to locate our own special pile of goodies.
From there, the morning would just fly by as we played with our toys and oohed and aahed at everything everyone else got. I get a little melancholy thinking about Christmas mornings past. They were so, so special. They are good memories, but at the same time, they are moments in time that we will never capture again.
Mom would then literally pull us away from our gifts and make us go get dressed and ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Christmas afternoon was always spent at my grandparents’ house. Grandma would have worked all morning and probably the day before, preparing her famous roast beef with gravy and mashed potatoes, as well as all the trimmings. The beef was sliced really thin, so it basically melted in your mouth. She always served corn, and that’s where I learned the art of mixing together my corn and mashed potatoes. I guess I was a weird kid!
Of course, there were more presents. But we always had to wait until after we were done eating. Grandma and Grandpa’s gifts were always more practical, i.e., socks, underwear, shirts, pants, etc. But remember, there were eight of us. We were very appreciative and absolutely loved everything we got! We would close out the day by all sitting on the floor in the living room watching a Christmas
classic on TV, like Miracle on 34th Street, Holiday Inn or It’s
a Wonderful Life. Needless to say, there were always a couple of us that would fall asleep, signaling to my parents that it was time to go. It was already dark out when we would leave, Mom and Dad carrying at least the younger ones in their arms because they were fast asleep. Something I distinctly remember about that long ride home is how quiet it was in the station wagon, which back then almost never happened! Many of my siblings slept on the way home, but I sat there quietly enjoying all the Christmas lights we passed on the way home. Being from Ohio, many times it had snowed that evening or late afternoon, and I remember everything being so beautiful
and untouched, with all the lights glistening on the snow. Thinking back on it now, what a perfect way to end a perfect day! Thanks, Mom and Dad for so many perfect Christmases!