Holiday Memories

It's so much fun having children for so many reasons. One of the best things is telling your children stories about your childhood and people that were in your life. The other day when Troy was sick and I was rubbing his achy belly, I told him all about a cousin of mine I adored. The one that Troy happened to be named after. Troy was so fascinated and it really helped take his mind off of how bad he was feeling. Since then, I have really started telling him stories about my past. Of course, the running joke is that I just don't remember things like they really were so apparently, I had or have a vivid imagination. I guess I should say that I tell him stories of things I *think* happened. (And no, I have done nothing to alter my memories just in case you were wondering). Anyway, the holidays are always a great time sharing what we used to do so these are just a few stories that I have shared with the boys lately.
* My family is HUGE on games, particularly card games. We were always playing some type of card game--Spades, Hearts, Set Back, Rummy and my ultimate favorite--Spoons. I played this so many years and we always looked forward to getting together after eating Christmas dinner and playing. I remember teaching my cousin Laura when she was young and we played very slow and let her win as all good older children do. But the most fun came when she really learned and was a force to be reckoned with! Oh the games of spoons we played. I think there may have even been a few minor injuries fighting over that last spoon! Guess what I taught Troy to play today ;) It won't take him long at all to figure it all out as he whoops me regularly at Uno.

* Dad at the holidays was hysterical. He always acted like he could care less, but he LOVED the holidays, mainly because he loved tormenting us. Let's see: 1) When we were old enough to sleep in, he loved coming in and ripping the covers off our bed or turning the light on because "Mama was too excited and wanted us to open gifts". 2) Every year, he threw gifts in the tree for us to find--and did this even after Troy and Anaka were born so this went on for years. My sister and I couldn't wait to finish opening so we could see where the gifts landed. And yes, after hearing this story, I have to do this for my boys every Christmas. I just can't wait until I can make it a real challenge :) 3) He always swore he never bought anything for Mom and would cause my sister to panic because she knew Mom would be devastated if Dad didn't get her anything. She even bought an extra gift and would wrap it "just in case". He never failed though (although his gift was almost always a candy dish--sorry Mom, had to throw that in there). 4) And oh man how he used to torture us when we were kids. He would go hunting and would always tell us he shot Rudolph. and 5) I swear he would find his gifts early and know what was in each one. I remember Mom smacking his arm all the time when he would "guess" what the gift was.
Sure, he hated the holidays......(hope you can sense my sarcasm)

* For a long time, I was the WORST gift giver. "I am not going to tell you what it is, but it's NOT a ____________" but I think they quickly figured out that it always was exactly what I swore it wasn't.

* I am going to really date myself with this one, but whatever. On Christmas Day, we always got together with my Dad's family. We just lived across the road from Grandma and the cousins came in from another county. So all the cousins would eat and visit for a bit and then they would ask what Jackie and I got. They really didn't care about anything but what fun Atari games they could play. We would then go back across the street and play Atari for quite a while. I will admit, the Wii is fun, but I do miss those Atari games!

Christmas has always been a lot of fun. It's hard since Dad and Grandma have passed but we are so lucky to still have so many relatives close by to reminisce and share with. Oh and Laura, get the spoons ready ;)