Monday, December 8, 2008

Christmas Memories


Until I was six years old, this is the house that I lived in. Of course, this photo was taken when my parents first bought the house. By the time I came along, you have to picture it with landscaping. The porch faced the street, and all along t
hat side of it were barberry bushes as high as that porch. Privet hedge ran along the sidewalk. On the side of the porch along the walk leading to the front door was a little garden which was always full of tulips in the spring. On the other side of the house and in the back, gardens were full of flowers. The photographer must have been standing in the driveway, which was lined with big forsythia bushes. They had grown so tall and full, drooping down to the ground, that we could go inside of them. We pretended they were a row of houses, and visited our dolls residing inside each one.


But my post today is not of spring or summer. It's about Christmas. You can see the chimney. In the living room we had a wonderful fireplace. There were french doors on either
side of it, leading out to the porch. We hung our stockings on the mantel above the fireplace, and in the far corner of this picture we had the Christmas tree. It was always a huge one, reaching the ceiling. Directly opposite the tree was the staircase leading to the second floor. A few steps led up to a landing before making a right turn to the hall upstairs.


The Christmas I am recalling today, I was a sick little girl. It was either mumps or chicken pox - I don't remember which. All I remember is that they got me out of bed on Christmas morning and led me do
wn the stairs to the landing. They made a huge fuss about how exciting it was. Santa had come! I looked at the tree below, mumbled that it was pretty, turned around and went back to bed. They went down and got my stocking and brought it up to me, but I wasn't very interested in it. I just wanted to go to sleep. My parents and sister and brother were very disappointed. Of course, in the next day or so I was feeling much better and ran down the steps and tore into the presents. I think that was the year Santa brought me the little horse. It wasn't a proper rocking horse. It was a horse's head, with a seat for me attached to a thick metal band that let me bounce up and down. It lasted about a week, when my friend Jack rode on it too rambunctiously, and it broke. Again, I remember the grown ups were extremely disappointed, while I just said, "That's OK, Jack", and was more concerned that he shouldn't feel too bad. Anything Jack did was OK with me. If it had been my brother, I'm sure I would have been furious.



I remember every inch of that house. The fireplace was the best. When we came in from a day of sledding or building a snowman, we snuggled up in front of the fire to get warm. My mother would bring us hot cocoa and cookies, and sometimes we toasted marshmallows. We always went sledding on the golf course, which was quite a distance from our house. I can't tell you just how far it was. I'm sure distances were much greater when we were little children, and it's been many years since I visited that part of the country. All I know for sure is that by the time we decided we should go home, our boots and mittens and hats and hair were caked in ice and snow, and we trudged what seemed to be a long, long way to reach home. We couldn't wait to get in front of that fire. Cocoa and cookies never tasted better than they did on days like that. We got our fronts all toasty warm, and then turned around and toasted our backs. It was wonderful!



The picture of the child peering up the chimney is from Webshots.
And this particular snowman is one I built 7 years ago.

14 comments:

Bear Naked said...

Great memories of your old home and I am very impressed with that snowman.
I haven't made one in years....maybe today I should.

Bear((( )))

Judy said...

What a great story Bobbie. I really enjoyed hearing about the house where you grew up. I love the picture of the house. It looks so homey. I can just see you in my mind coming down the stairs. Thanks for sharing.

Clara....in TN said...

I enjoyed reading your post today. WOW. I love that house. Sounds like a lot of good memories were made there. The snowman is nice too! The last one I made was about six years ago. I made a "Dolly Parton" snow man and put a bikini on her!

Dawn Fine said...

Great memories...thanks for sharing!

Mom said...

Precious memories. Sounds like you had a happy childhood.

Shelly said...

What a great story, and fabulous memories. You make me want to build a snowman! We may get a bit of snow this coming weekend...hope hope hope...I want to get out and build one just like you did.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing these wonderfully warm Christmas memories! ~ Deb

Marla said...

Great Christmas memories. I used to make snow creatures with my kids, like ducks in a pond, snakes, then we would spritz them with colored water and they looked pretty cool. Never did get a picture!

Unknown said...

I love your memories, Bobbie. What a great house you grew up in, too.

Love,
Gina

Anonymous said...

I just found your blog tonight..must add it to my sidebar...loved this post. Memories of Christmas's gone by...

Lisa said...

what wonderful memories.

i so love your stories. i always feel like i'm there.

thanks for sharing bobbie.

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing those lovely memories :D

Kay said...

These are such beautiful memories, Bobbie. You brought all the feelings and colors of that time alive for us.

me ann my camera said...

How wonderful it all sounds;the house, the grounds, the memories.

I am very aware now when my grandchildren visit that they see things differently than I do and I try to make it a special place for them.