Common Mom

I FINALLY got around to the Hoopla However, I can’t get to Andrea’s blog to find the rules . . . but from what I remember, you blog 12 random things about Christmas, you MUST pass it on to a particular person, and you CAN NOT use the dreaded “m” word in describing the post - sooooo, let the HOOPLA commence!

1. I really miss that my kids don’t have elementary Christmas concerts like I did back in the day. They go to public school, so there are no holiday programs at all - boo hoo. But, I do remember mine and I LOVED them. When you would get all dolled up in your Christmas dress, leave the house at promptly 6:40 p.m., head to school, line up in perfect order, and walk in in a single file line with the rest of the school (500 kids K-12, so not a ton of us!). Then you’d sit in your little square on the stage bleachers and wait patiently for your turn to sing. If you were really lucky, like my class, you’d have a hearing impaired person in your class and you’d have volunteered to spend your recesses for the month before the program learning the songs in sign language. Then you’d get to walk down front to the risers with the rest of the signers while the others stood on the stage. And when you were finished signing the songs with your best hearing impaired friend and the other volunteers, everyone would clap and say that they didn’t know which person was hearing impaired. Then of course we got to go see SANTA - fun fun fun!!!
2. I LOVED the weeks before Christmas when we got to spend any spare time in class folding every-single-page of a Reader’s Digest. And then, we got to spray paint it a lovely silver, add some gold wings and a head, and take it home for display right in the center of the kitchen table. Ahhhhh - good times, good times.
3. One of my favorite all-time memories is going to my Gma and Gpa’s house on Christmas Eve. ALL of my cousins would be there . . . my mother grew up in a family of 7 children and everyone would be there with their kids. When we were little, we would play upstairs, sliding down the forever long and narrow set of stairs on our tummies. Now that I have children, I realize how LOUD we must have been, and how patient our parents were not to tell us to “knock it off!” a gazillion times Then, at promptly 7:30, we’d hear sleigh bells and everyone would push and shove to get down to the kitchen first, because SANTA was there! Everyone got a gift - and we all had to sit on Santa’s lap to get it. Grandpa always stood behind Santa with the hugest grin on his face - I will always remember that. After Santa, each of the families had to sit on the “davenport” to get a family photo taken. What fun! We always had so much fun and I will always remember how warm and cozy it was in that kitchen with EVERYONE there happy as can be.
4. I LOVE the smell of fresh cut Christmas trees. No fakes, no trees from lots . . . fresh cut trees from the tree farm or the forest . . . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
5. Is anything better than watching your little ones in footy pajamas and bed head opening their gift from Santa on Christmas morning?
6. Christmas Cookies - who doesn’t like Christmas cookies? I remember playing at my Aunt Patty’s house all the time as a child. Two of her kids were the same as me and my brother. She would spend an entire summer baking cookies and bars for Christmas! Every now and then we’d get brave and sneak downstairs and sneak a cookie or bar out of the freezer. But if you EVER got caught, the world would end . . . that was probably the only time the 4 of us worked together Otherwise it was Pat and Scott against me and Chad. Did you know that a Christmas cookie tastes much better in July when it’s forbidden than it does in December when anyone can grab one off of the plate?
7. Snow - let it snow let it snow let it snow! I really don’t understand how people who live in warm climates get in to the Christmas spirit. Growing up in the upper midwest, we had cold and snow . . . that meant Christmas. If it’s not white, it’s tough for me to get in the mood.
8. Ham . . . and turkey, and mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole, and salad, and orange fluff, and gravy, and pie, and bars, and drinks, and rolls . . . yummy yummy yummy . . . how can you NOT like Christmas dinner!
9. Did you all get a Christmas sweater like I did as a child? We all got a brand spankin’ new sweater to wear to Christmas at Grandma’s house. And I’m tellin’ ya, these were some stylish clothing items!
10. I always got a “unique” gift from Gma and Gpa for Christmas. All of the uncles got the same thing. All of the aunts got the same thing. All of my boy cousins got the same thing (there are 5 of them older than I am and 1 two weeks younger than I am). Then there’s me . . . I was the first granddaughter, and I got a unique gift, meaning one that wasn’t like 15 others under the tree. All of my girl cousins are younger than I am, and they would all get the same gift as well. I guess we all know who was Gma’s favorite
11. We always got WAY more than we ever needed to for Christmas gifts. I really honestly have no idea how my parents did it. But we always had tons of gifts under the tree and we never went without. My mom loves giving people things as much as I do . . . so that had to have played a huge part in our Christmas celebrations.
12. Family - I have such a wonderful family, immediate and extended. My mom has 6 siblings, my dad had 3 siblings, and my stepdad has 10 siblings. We were always around tons of family and had so much fun. As an adult, I’m still so blessed to be able to be around family during the holidays. What my favorite thing to do now is to take the kids shopping to buy gifts for kids that are so much less fortunate than we are. I want my kids to understand how lucky they are to have such a loving family surrounding them and how lucky they are to have a house to live in and food to eat. To me, nothing says Christmas like giving to those in need and spending time with family.

So there you have it - my obviously totally random Christmas Hoopla I’m going to tag only one person - Ami at Cup Runneth Over. She’s got such a beautiful family

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