Day 12: Christmas Eve

We are finally here!  It’s Christmas Eve.  I hope you have enjoyed taking a trip down memory lane with me.  I saved the best continued memory for last.

We have a Christmas Eve tradition that my family has done for as long as I can remember.  I’ve carried it on in our family and I hope my kids do the same.  We have a very special dinner.  We call it Hobo dinners you might know it as tin foil dinners.  Not very fancy is it? You see when Christ was born he was born into humble circumstances.  So we celebrate in a way they would have celebrated the night of his birth.  We cook our meal on an open fire.  My family growing up used to cook it in the fireplace.  That made for a very smoky home. We now have gas fireplaces so we cook it in the garden. The key is to use no electricity.  When we eat we eat by candle light.  All to remind us of our Savior’s humble birth. After dinner my little family will read the Christmas Story out of the bible.  Then when we are done we go and look at Christmas lights.  My parents always took us to look at lights after dinner on Christmas eve.  I think that was to get us tired and ready for bed. I hope you enjoy whatever it is you do on Christmas Eve.  Take a moment to remember why we celebrate Christmas.  I’m thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to Earth.  It was a perfect gift of love.  May you find peace this Christmas along with your own slice of Heaven.  Merry Christmas everyone.

Day 11: Tiffany Family Punch

I think this tradition probably started as a Fogg family punch but my family adopted it.  My mom said that my Grandma Fogg used to make this punch every Christmas with the grape juice she canned. It really makes a lot so I usually only make half of it for my little family.  It can’t be Christmas without this punch. It’s such a beautiful color too.  I can’t wait to make it this year with my own canned grape juice.  We usually had it on Christmas Eve since we would go to Grandma Eve’s house on Christmas day.  It was so pretty in those holly glasses mom had.  For those of you who want to try it here’s the recipe.

Tiffany Punch

Makes about 6 quarts

1 can condensed grape juice

1 can condensed lemonade

3/4 Cup to 1 Cup sugar

1 2 Liter bottle of 7 up

Mix juice according to directions on the can.  Add sugar.  Add 7 up right before serving.  (you might need a 5 gallon bucket to mix it all in).

Day 10: Christmas From the Heart

One Christmas my parents decided we needed to have a Christmas from the Heart.  I don’t know if they were short on money and didn’t have any options or if they were just trying to teach us a lesson but this ended up being my most memorable Christmas ever. The rules to this Christmas were simple.  We couldn’t buy gifts for each other.  Instead we had to make one.  I made each person in my family a cross-stitched ornament with their names on it and a little graphic of something that I thought represented them. We also spent Christmas up at our cabin in Warm Lake Idaho with our cousins. The only downfall was my older sister couldn’t come because she had to work.  It was one of the simplest Christmases but has been burned into my memory for life. I remember my dad cutting a hole in the ice on the lake so we could carry buckets of water to flush the toilet with.  I also remember my older brother washing his head in that hole and coming up red in the face.  That was hilarious.  We cut down a tree and decorated it with my ornaments and popcorn and other ornaments we made.

The best part of that Christmas was the gifts.  Remember when I told you on day 3 I learned an important lesson about presents?  This was the year.  I can’t remember all the gifts most were coupons for cleaning your room or doing your chores for you.  The one gift I remember was a note my big brother gave me.  It said it was good for a hug anytime.  It also said I love you sis. My brother and I had a turbulent relationship.  We didn’t always get along.  This note was so significant to me because it was the first time he had ever told me he loved me.  I learned that the best gift you can give to anyone is love.  That Christmas shouldn’t be about the prettiest packages or that top of the line TV.  It started with love and should always end with love. I still have that note my brother gave me 20 years ago.  I try and redeem that hug any chance I get.

Day 8: Christmas Dinner

Growing up Christmas dinner was at Grandma Eve’s house.  She always went to great effort to give us a delicious feast.  We usually saw our Aunts and cousins whom we didn’t see that often.  My mom was always in charge of bringing an apple pie.  The kids would sit at the kid table which was usually in a different room than the adults.  We would put olives on our fingers and really have a good time.  The best part of the meal, in my opinion, was grandma’s rolls.  When we moved to Grants Pass we went back to grandma’s the first year and almost slid into a mountain.  This was the last of that family tradition.  My mom still made grandma’s rolls and we would have a big spread but it wasn’t the same without grandma, aunts and cousins.  The tradition changed into more of a Thanksgiving holiday tradition.  My grandma can no longer make the meals for us.  We are so far now from family that around this time I really do miss those moments at grandma’s.  Just not the same with my small family. When my family grows maybe my home can become grandma’s again.

Day 6: Boobie Traps

Hey we’re half way there! You might be wondering what boobie traps have to do with Christmas.  One of my fondest memories was the Christmas my brother set up boobie traps for Santa.  We had two fireplaces in our house.  My brother had the bright idea that he would set up a line of utensils, measuring cups, and dishes in front of the upstairs fireplace and at the top of the stairs for the downstairs fireplace. He strung them on a rope and tied them from wall to wall.  When I was little I thought that this was genius.  This way we could catch Santa in the act.  So funny now.  He was old enough by then to know the truth about Santa.  He must have come up with the idea for us younger ones benefit.  I also remember my parents boobie trapping the halls.  They would line the floor with newspaper so they could hear little feet up and out of bed. I wonder if any of my brothers or sisters remember this one.

Day 5: Snow

There are many years where we had snow on Christmas. I remember the anticipation of the first snow fall.  Going to the church behind our house and hiding in the steeple.  Running across the grass to the road and back.  Building snow men that looked like a particular leader on the lawn of the church. I also remember being disappointed that we didn’t have snow when we moved to Grants Pass.  My sister wishing to have a white Christmas. Her friends going up to the mountains and loading a truck full of snow and dumping it on our porch.  The best memory I have only took place a few years ago.  My son Levi who at the time was 3 asked Santa for snow.  We were at our ward party and Levi sits on Santa’s lap and asks him for snow.  To our surprise when we left it started snowing.  It snowed and snowed for days.  Soon we had 24 inches of snow.  This confirmed Levi’s belief in Santa.  We still tease him whenever it snows.  Levi did you ask for snow again?

Day 4: Christmas Travelling

This memory is more recent well if you call 14 years ago recent.  This was the first Christmas my husband and I spent together as a married couple.  We decided to split the holidays up between our two families.  His family got Thanksgiving that year so we were going to spend Christmas with my family. I found a good deal on plane tickets to Portland.  So we arranged for my parents to pick us up there once we flew in.  We were living in Provo, Utah and so flew out of Salt Lake City.  We had a connection in San Francisco.  When we got to the Salt Lake Airport we found that our flight along with many others were delayed.  We spent 6 hours in the airport before boarding the plane for San Francisco.  They assured us that we would make our connection flight and that they would hold the plane for us.  Once we arrived in San Francisco, to our dismay, we watched our flight pull away from the gateway.  At this time it’s around 2:00 am. Nothing is open and we ended up spending the night in the airport.  San Francisco Airport has some interesting people.  I don’t think we got very much sleep.  From this experience we vowed never to fly at Christmas time again. We spend most of our Christmases here in our nice and cozy home.

Day 2: Christmas Decorations

My mom has many decorations that come out each year. To name a few; the white antiqued nativity my grandma made, the ceramic green tree with red birds that plays silent night, the advent calendar, cross-stitched stockings, and the Christmas tree with all it’s lifetime of ornaments.  This post would go on and on if I took the time to talk about each one.  So many memories with each.  It’s hard to pick just one so I’m only going to cover a couple of them.

I remember my mom spending countless hours cross stitching stockings.  These stockings became a focal point for our decorations.  With every grandchild she still takes time to cross stitch their name onto a stocking.  She has one for every spouse too.  Last year when she hung them up she had around 30 stockings hung on her fireplace.  With a recent addition of another grandchild she’s going to be at it again.  I’ve carried on this tradition in my little family and I have also cross-stitched stockings.  My count is only 5 but it always brings me back home when I hang them.

The advent calendar is a tree sewed onto some white fabric with 25 pockets underneath.  In each pocket there is an ornament.  Everyday you hang up an ornament until Christmas.  As kids we always argued over whose turn it was but we always knew Christmas eve was Santa’s turn. This is another one I’ve replicated at home. Again when it’s hung it reminds me of home.

The day after Thanksgiving is when I get my decorations up.  I just can’t wait to see all the nic naks that have been hiding away all year.  Great way to go down memory lane each year.  What’s your favorite decoration and why?

Our Advent Calendar

Cross-Stitched Stockings

I hope the holidays are going well for everyone.  I’ve decided to get in the holiday spirit by sharing some of the best Christmas memories I have.  Some are of my youth some are more current.  I’ll continue to share a memory each day until Christmas eve.  I know it’s supposed to be until Christmas but I think I’m going to be a little busy on Christmas day don’t you think?

Day One: Christmas Lights

Putting up Christmas lights has always been a wonderful Christmas tradition in our home.  We didn’t have a Griswold display but it was still nice. I can remember my mom and by big brother getting up on the roof and putting up lights all around the house.  My mom spent hours going through each light string and making sure each bulb and line worked.  This became a tradition for my mom and brother each year.  When my brother moved out of the house I took his place.  I can’t say I loved going through each light and line making sure everything was working.  Most of the time we would get the lines up and half of a strand was out. We had to go through each light again to get it working only this time it was out on the roof in the cold. I guess it wasn’t really about putting up the lights but spending time with mom. My favorite light display was the one that spelled Tiffany on the roof with a heart next to it.

After my mom fell off the roof in 2002 she hasn’t been back up to put lights up.  If she does get any up it’s not the display we used to have. I like to put mine up in October before it snows and ices up.  Then I can’t take them down until March. Yes, I have Christmas lights on my house for half the year. Of course we only light them for the month of December.  I love the feeling I get when we light them for the first time each year.  It’s a little jolt of Christmas spirit.