The Christmas I was in Kindergarten one of my presents was a little cupboard with two glass doors that opened at the top, two drawers for utensils, and two doors that opened at the bottom. My mom still has this little cupboard at her house for the great-grandchildren to play with...and they seem to like it as much as I did.
Whenever we were living close enough we went to the Christmas Eve party at the Waters cousins' house in Salt Lake City. It was a dress up party with dinner, a Pinata, singing of Christmas carols and always a visit from Santa. It was always hard to settle down and go to sleep after all that excitement.
The three years we spent living in Germany (1964 - 1967) my mom and dad always did great Christmas decorations outside our apartment....a group of carolers, a Santa in a sleigh with his reindeer and, of course, Christmas lights. In addition Mom always decorated the front door to our apartment so those that came to visit anyone in our stairwell knew the Lloyd family was in the Christmas spirit.
When we got to be older, we got to help my aunt and uncle prepare the "Santa" stuff for their 11 children. First we had to round up all their stuff from the neighbor's houses and take the neighbor's stuff to them (too big of a risk hiding your own kids' "Santa" stuff). After getting all the toys assembled and put in their respective "spot" for the next morning, we took all the boxes and packaging out into the street with the neighbors and had a huge bonfire to get rid of the "evidence".
Until I was about a junior in high school, we had what is now referred to as "old world glass ornaments" on our tree. They are now a part of the Knight family Christmas tree decorations.
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4 comments:
that bonfire thing sounds like a hoot. sounds like a plan...
these are so fun to read! i had never heard the story of the neff kids' christmas - that bonfire to get rid of the evidence kills me. i can totally see grandma decorating your apartment door - it must be due to the height. you and dad's tree is so classy.
i didn't know that cupboard was yours! how fun that five-year-old hen, mari, and now muffin (well, almost five-year-old muffin) have all played with it.
the fancy christmas party and the evidence bonfire both sound like so much fun.
i'm glad you posted this, hen. i guess that's what happens when you're at the blogging sheriff's house. did she withhold your beverage until you took care of business? :)
That little cupboard has also been played with and loved by all of your Neff girl cousins. I even remember Nancy playing with it - but she had very strict rules. She made us wash all of the dishes in the toilet before we could put them back in the cupboard.
I miss that old Water's Christmas eve party. Remember the Christmas plays too?
I always thought that bonfire was just to burn the paper from the gifts we opened - never knew it was burning all of the "evidence".
Great memories!!
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