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#Post#: 72641--------------------------------------------------
Re: HolidayStories
By: Lilipons Date: December 26, 2021, 7:32 pm
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there was the year I mowed the tree.
It was in the early 1950s. We had a large side yard and my
father would keep it neat with a rotary mower. As a toddler, I
would follow him with my doll carriage while making mowing
noises.
When I was about five, it was thought a good thing to get me a
child-sized lawn mower as a Christmas gift. It was well
appreciated but, on Christmas in New York State the only thing
to mow is the tree itself. So, that’s what I did with
predictable consequences. My father thought I deserved a ‘good
whooping’ but my mother thought otherwise because she had done
just about the same thing when she was my age.
Mom was the 4th child of five. Her mother’s family was German
and a big tree with many unusual ornaments was a Christmas
given. One of these ornaments was a blue trumpet that would
sound a note when blown.
There was a tradition among the children that the first child to
find and blow the trumpet would get holiday bragging rights. By
the time Mom was old enough to understand what was going on, her
parents were sick of the whole thing. They put the trumpet way
up in the back of the tree in the hope that the kids were
getting a bit too old to bother.
they didn’t consider Mom who was little and feisty. No matter
where that trumpet was, she’d find it and blow the triumphal
note. It was
n’t an easy trek. she climbed onto the hassock then the
armchair. A transfer had to be made to the window sill and then
to the top of the bookcase.
She could see a slight hint of blue. the trumpet was almost
within reach. All she had to do was lean a little bit further
forward and…
CRASH!!!!!!!
The entire tree wound up on the floor. Mom was eating standing
up for a day or two.
Because of this, my punishment for taking down our tree was very
mild. I was denied trips to the public library but a neighbor
lady was happy to watch me while Mom went downtown. she was a
nice lady with a friendly dog and plenty of National Geographic
magazines to look at.
The toy lawn mower was to have a later life. A few years later
I was taking dancing lessons and was pretty decent at tap.
The theme of the annual recital when I was 8 was ‘ A Salute to
Holidays’. I was to personify ‘Labor Day’. this entailed dancing
with my toy lawn mower while wearing a red and silver tutu.
#Post#: 72667--------------------------------------------------
Re: HolidayStories
By: betty Date: December 27, 2021, 1:18 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Like many families, we had a cat. Like many cats, she liked to
climb the Christmas Tree. Unlike many families, my dad installed
permanent hooks on the wall and wired the tree to the wall every
year. It was much easier than keeping the cat out of the tree!
#Post#: 72671--------------------------------------------------
Re: HolidayStories
By: vintagegal Date: December 27, 2021, 3:04 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Lilipons link=topic=2240.msg72641#msg72641
date=1640568739]
there was the year I mowed the tree.
It was in the early 1950s. We had a large side yard and my
father would keep it neat with a rotary mower. As a toddler, I
would follow him with my doll carriage while making mowing
noises.
When I was about five, it was thought a good thing to get me a
child-sized lawn mower as a Christmas gift. It was well
appreciated but, on Christmas in New York State the only thing
to mow is the tree itself. So, that’s what I did with
predictable consequences. My father thought I deserved a ‘good
whooping’ but my mother thought otherwise because she had done
just about the same thing when she was my age.
Mom was the 4th child of five. Her mother’s family was German
and a big tree with many unusual ornaments was a Christmas
given. One of these ornaments was a blue trumpet that would
sound a note when blown.
There was a tradition among the children that the first child to
find and blow the trumpet would get holiday bragging rights. By
the time Mom was old enough to understand what was going on, her
parents were sick of the whole thing. They put the trumpet way
up in the back of the tree in the hope that the kids were
getting a bit too old to bother.
they didn’t consider Mom who was little and feisty. No matter
where that trumpet was, she’d find it and blow the triumphal
note. It was
n’t an easy trek. she climbed onto the hassock then the
armchair. A transfer had to be made to the window sill and then
to the top of the bookcase.
She could see a slight hint of blue. the trumpet was almost
within reach. All she had to do was lean a little bit further
forward and…
CRASH!!!!!!!
The entire tree wound up on the floor. Mom was eating standing
up for a day or two.
Because of this, my punishment for taking down our tree was very
mild. I was denied trips to the public library but a neighbor
lady was happy to watch me while Mom went downtown. she was a
nice lady with a friendly dog and plenty of National Geographic
magazines to look at.
The toy lawn mower was to have a later life. A few years later
I was taking dancing lessons and was pretty decent at tap.
The theme of the annual recital when I was 8 was ‘ A Salute to
Holidays’. I was to personify ‘Labor Day’. this entailed dancing
with my toy lawn mower while wearing a red and silver tutu.
[/quote]
Wait a minute - when you were FIVE they gave you something sharp
enough to cut limbs off a tree? Please tell me it was not
motorized.
#Post#: 72672--------------------------------------------------
Re: HolidayStories
By: DCGirl Date: December 27, 2021, 3:28 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
I don't know if this has segued into "fun family lore" territory
yet, but here goes.
My FIL firmly believed that the only place on earth that
Christmas could be celebrated was under his roof. But, he and
MIL were no longer up to cooking the whole big Christmas dinner,
so they started ordering pre-made turkey dinners from places
like Whole Foods that simply needed to re-heated before serving.
The only problem was that the wiring in my ILs house was old
and not up to the task of all the microwaving that entailed, so
the fuses would routinely blow. This meant that holidays
entailed intermittent periods of sitting in the dark while
listening to my ILs swear at each other in the kitchen whenever
a fuse blew. So, the last year that we ever had Christmas
dinner at their house, my FIL made the decision that, as long as
the gravy was boiling hot, it didn't matter whether the food was
adequately reheated because we could all just pour boiling hot
gravy over everything. Have I mentioned that I hate gravy? My
husband put his foot down after that and we started having
Christmas dinner at a hotel near the ILs' house after that.
#Post#: 72676--------------------------------------------------
Re: HolidayStories
By: peony Date: December 27, 2021, 7:03 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=vintagegal link=topic=2240.msg72671#msg72671
date=1640639085]
[quote author=Lilipons link=topic=2240.msg72641#msg72641
date=1640568739]
there was the year I mowed the tree.
It was in the early 1950s. We had a large side yard and my
father would keep it neat with a rotary mower. As a toddler, I
would follow him with my doll carriage while making mowing
noises.
When I was about five, it was thought a good thing to get me a
child-sized lawn mower as a Christmas gift. It was well
appreciated but, on Christmas in New York State the only thing
to mow is the tree itself. So, that’s what I did with
predictable consequences. My father thought I deserved a ‘good
whooping’ but my mother thought otherwise because she had done
just about the same thing when she was my age.
Mom was the 4th child of five. Her mother’s family was German
and a big tree with many unusual ornaments was a Christmas
given. One of these ornaments was a blue trumpet that would
sound a note when blown.
There was a tradition among the children that the first child to
find and blow the trumpet would get holiday bragging rights. By
the time Mom was old enough to understand what was going on, her
parents were sick of the whole thing. They put the trumpet way
up in the back of the tree in the hope that the kids were
getting a bit too old to bother.
they didn’t consider Mom who was little and feisty. No matter
where that trumpet was, she’d find it and blow the triumphal
note. It was
n’t an easy trek. she climbed onto the hassock then the
armchair. A transfer had to be made to the window sill and then
to the top of the bookcase.
She could see a slight hint of blue. the trumpet was almost
within reach. All she had to do was lean a little bit further
forward and…
CRASH!!!!!!!
The entire tree wound up on the floor. Mom was eating standing
up for a day or two.
Because of this, my punishment for taking down our tree was very
mild. I was denied trips to the public library but a neighbor
lady was happy to watch me while Mom went downtown. she was a
nice lady with a friendly dog and plenty of National Geographic
magazines to look at.
The toy lawn mower was to have a later life. A few years later
I was taking dancing lessons and was pretty decent at tap.
The theme of the annual recital when I was 8 was ‘ A Salute to
Holidays’. I was to personify ‘Labor Day’. this entailed dancing
with my toy lawn mower while wearing a red and silver tutu.
[/quote]
Wait a minute - when you were FIVE they gave you something sharp
enough to cut limbs off a tree? Please tell me it was not
motorized.
[/quote]
I think what she meant was the use of kid-logic: There's nothing
to use my toy lawnmower on, the tree is green, let's pretend I'm
mowing it, cool!
Gosh knows I've done some things that I justified with kid-logic
back in the day, including "fixing" our old vacuum tube record
player. Did you know that when a vacuum tube blows up it makes a
sound like one of the transporter pads blowing up on Star Trek's
ship Enterprise?
#Post#: 72693--------------------------------------------------
Re: HolidayStories
By: Jayhawk Date: December 28, 2021, 12:39 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
My nephew (now aged 25) at age 4 got up in the middle of the
night on Christmas Eve, went downstairs and unwrapped EVERYONE'S
gifts under the tree. He got in big trouble and for the next few
years, gifts weren't put under the tree until Christmas Eve and
Nephew spent the night at Grandma's house.
#Post#: 73485--------------------------------------------------
Re: HolidayStories
By: Lkdrymom Date: February 1, 2022, 5:42 am
---------------------------------------------------------
My father was a bit boundary-challenged. One year he needed new
pants for Christmas. I bought them but he was an odd size so
they would need to be hemmed. I asked him to try them on at
Thanksgiving so I could hem them before they were wrapped. This
way they were ready to go on Christmas. I should have specified
that he try them on ....in the bathroom or bedroom. Nope...he
drops his pants and tries them on in the living room in front of
everyone.
I was telling this story to some relatives of my cousin while I
was at a wedding. They said they had met my father before.
Apparently, he did the same thing at their house...changed his
clothes right in front of everyone. We always had a new story to
tell when he was around.
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