What Christmas Means to Me

December 18, 2009 - one week until Christmas. Sure wish we could sit down with a cup of coffee and talk about what Christmas means to each of us. Well... while we'll have to each supply the coffee and whatever other drink or food we prefer, we CAN have an e-conversation here on the old Milby 1960 blog.

As with any conversation, this can go in any direction and will hopefully go in a lot of different directions. But we don't have much time - just a week - so don't hesitate, don't procrastinate! Submit a comment below to get the ball rolling. Keep coming back to read and respond to what others have written and to add the new thoughts you have had since your last comment on this page.

Possible topics: spiritual aspects of the holiday, family celebrations you remember, most special gift(s) you have received, Christmas season disasters, family traditions, what you and your loved ones are doing to celebrate this year, etc.

I am looking forward to this conversation with YOU!!!    Karla

Two Christmas related posts from last year can be found at

http://milby1960.typepad.com/milby_class_of_1960/favorite-christmas-memories.html

 

http://milby1960.typepad.com/milby_class_of_1960/a-sad-christmas-story.html

CLICK HERE to return to the top of the main section of the blog after reading comments below, and/or making your own comment.

Comments

[Let's Visit]

Here's a starter for this Christmas season e-conversation. My initial list (brainstorming with myself is a scary proposition) of topics relevant to the significance of Christmas to me:

Lessons at church and at home about God's best gift - His Son who made provision for our salvation. Serious stuff, lest we get too carried away with the fun and frivolity of the season!

Beautiful decorations - in homes as well as out. Remember driving bumper to bumper through the neighborhoods that had the best displays?

The fantasy window displays at Foley's in downtown Houston

Family reunions for Christmas dinner - we never knew whether to wear shorts or jeans for the traditional walk with the cousins after the bountiful meal.

That's a starter - who wants to go next??? Karla

[Kay Lively]

Our tradition is that my sisters and I get together for a potluck lasagna dinner at one house and then go Christmas caroling in her neighborhood. Other than that, my Christmases as an adult have never lived up to the Hallmark promises and visions. I won't bore you by going into negative details, but it does leave me feeling wounded. Being the eternal optimist, though, I still hope to be part of a family and have happy Christmas times in the future. Now you know why I have been so reluctant to add messages to the blog, Karla. You can't make someone love you.

[Gladys Payne Bohac]

Merry Christmas to all of you.

Our family's favorite time of the year is celebrating Jesus' birthday and having fun with each other. On Christmas Eve we go to church for a special service and then back to my daughter's for Chicken & Dumplings. We just enjoy our time together until the kids go to sleep. We then put out the Santa stuff. Bo & I go home (my daughter's home is 2 miles away) and wake up around 5:00 a.m. and go to their house again to watch the kids come running in with sparkles in their eyes and laughing. After we open up our packages from each other we have a beautiful brunch that Melinda and I prepared. Around 10-11 a.m. Bo & I go back home to prepare our Christmas dinner (which has already been cooked and ready to heat) I always decorate our home starting in the end of September or October. Our home is beautifully decorated inside and out. Christmas is my favorite time of the year. We have a lot of festivities during the holiday's and I love every minute of it. It is getting harder and harder to do all of the decorating that we do every year, but will continue to do so as long as our health holds up.

Christmas is JESUS, family, friends and a lots of laughter. Jesus is the reason for the season and we celebrate his birth with great joy. My wish for all of my Milby friends is happiness, safety, and loads of blessings now and for the coming year.

Gladys Payne Bohac

[Glenda Burns Minniece]

One of my favorite Christmas memories was when John and I lived in a small town in West Texas. A group of friends had a progressive dinner. The town was so small we walked from house to house. At the first house we had drinks and finger food, at the next house there were salads, and - well, you get the idea. The group ended up at our house for desserts and caroling. Someone (not John or I) played the piano and we sang. It was a memorable evening. Decorating in advance was never so much fun.

In my family we have enjoyed having a white elephant gift exchange annually for about the past 30 years. One thing that makes it so much fun is that the worst gift will appear again and again. One year Mother took a big black ceramic cat that someone had given her. That cat showed up year after year until finally an aunt got it, painted it gold, and gave it to Mother and Dad for their 50th wedding anniversary. The white elephant parties continue to this day (and will again Christmas Eve), but that gold cat now sits proudly on Mother's book shelves, no longer a white elephant but a treasured memento in a place of honor.

[Jody Bugg]

Christmas to me is family and friends. Some of my fondest childhood Christmases center around the relationship between Noreen McGregor's family and mine. We shared both Thanksgiving and Christmas with each other. If we ate Thanksgiving dinner at my house, we would go over the McGregor's house for Christmas and vice-versa. This tradition began in elementary school and continued on through our years at Milby.

In 1971, I began teaching at Mendel Elementary in Aldine ISD. I had never experienced the particular gift exchange game the faculty played and was quite stupefied by it. It's that game where you can steal someone else's gift. Although most of us do not teach at Mendel any longer, we still manage to gather during the holiday season to play this beloved game. In fact, that's where I spent today.

Before she died, my sister (Betsy) cherished Christmas. It was definitely her time of year. She relished in the season. Her house was decorated from ceiling to floor inside and roof to ground outside. She took such joy in making it a wonderful time for the rest of the family. I think we miss her the most at Christmas and celebrate it with double enthusiasm in her memory.

The best feeling I have at this time is giving. I thoroughly enjoy shopping (early, of course) and getting things I know will be welcome surprises; things that are special just for whomever I'm buying. I take such pleasure in the reactions when my gifts are opened.

Christmas is a time to reflect on Jesus' birth and to think about what his life meant to all of us. To embrace our spirituality and know that we are blessed. And Christmas is a time for family and friends.

[Karla Lofgren Davis]

When I was growing up the Christmas season was always dominated by everything related to Lofgren Bible and Book Store. I am well aware of the concept of Black Friday, as Daddy often spoke of breaking even all year long, with the hope of making a profit during the month of December.

I remember well the sounds of my folks counting the money in the cash boxes at night, determining if it had been "a good day". Mama and Daddy sat at the kitchen table and looked through the records, comparing the current year's sales with those from previous years. They speculated if this year's sales would end up breaking the record or falling behind. A sensitive daughter could go to bed worried when hearing that kind of talk just before bedtime.

Not many of you knew that a great deal of the family business was "mail order", especially through pastors and churches throughout Texas and into other states. There were the mimeographed promotion letters to be gotten out in late November, and the late night trips to the downtown post office to mail packages throughout the month of December. Randy and I were usually squished in between, over, or under all those boxes in the back seat. Then on the way home we stopped at the Prince's drive-in on South Main for hamburgers. I remember well the night I finished an entire hamburger for the first time all by myself. To hear them talk that was quite a feat.

Our business moved to Gulfgate when Randy and I were teenagers, and much of that changed. But the memories of those early days are etched in my mind and come to the forefront during the Christmas season. They are bittersweet memories, but from the perspective of maturity I have even greater love and admiration for both of my parents for sticking it out in this very challenging business.

PS - Over the years the majority of the gifts we (and our kids) received from the folks were books. The weight and shape of a book is very recognizable, and having worked in the book store right up to Christmas Eve, books were not our favorite things. So the mantra became, "hmmm, I wonder what THIS could be?" as we shook it and turned it over and over in our hands. But what goes around come around and nowadays one of our favorite gifts to give and to receive is ...you guessed it - BOOKS! And we all treasure our extensive libraries of fine books.

[Randy Lofgren]

Sometimes I feel that Karla and I must have grown up in different families -- a product I think of the difference in perspectives of birth order and gender. But, as I read her recollections related to Christmas they definitely ring true for me.

Beginning with Thanksgiving it was all about the "business" and making the most of the "Christmas Rush." Given the fact that the work crew usually consisted of the four family members and an occasional paid worker we were all pretty much exhausted by the time the big day came. I know now that it was much more the case for our parents than it was for us children.

In my memory there is another annual Christmas event that provided excitement. Our Swedish grandmother, a widow, came down by train from Illinois at Christmas time. It was a big deal to "meet Waw-Waw at the train." She always brought candy and baked cookies so that got us in the mood for Christmas for sure.

So, I remember sitting around the living room in a circle, each of us opening presents, one after another, until there were no gifts remaining at anyone's place. Typically, there would be a demonstration of mock disappoinment because some big gift was not included in the booty. After a few years of going through that exercise, we knew there was something big that had been hidden somewhere and revealed only after the "disappointment" was expressed. I can remember one year however when there was no "surprise" in the wings after all. I think I remember behaving badly when it finally became apparent that I really wasn't going to receive what I had anticipated, after all. Not too proud of that.

Later, in my professional career, I was responsible for providing wonder-filled Christmases for the church congregations where I served as music minister. In many ways it was simply an encore of what I had experienced as a child.
"Doing" Christmas came before "having" Christmas. That's why I particularly appreciate more recent Christmas celebrations where I can just sit back and let it happen instead of having to make it happen. Of course, at least in my case, my bride ends up working her head off making Christmas happen for the grandkids. There is of course a special joy in doing that, but it is tiring just the same.

My remembrance of Christmases past causes me to whisper a prayer for your Christmases to come --that you will have an hour or so when those you love are around you in ways that do not seem to happen otherwise. It is in that special hour that we can fully appreciate the warmth of Christmas, the wonder it signifies and the awareness that we are here on earth to love and care for those around us. May a Christmas moment be yours this year and always.

[Charlotte Vann Dew]

Christmas means YESTERDAY to me.
Memories from childhood of "wonderful" SIGHTS and SOUNDS and SMELLS. I remember taking the bus downtown and rushing to see the first decorations in Foley's windows where little people and animals danced and played in the snow. It was MAGIC!

Unlike today, there were NO decorations before Thanksgiving. I remember the excitement as a REAL tree was brought in, the thick pungent smell of pine, stringing the lights, carefully hanging treasured ornaments, some handed down and many lovingly fashioned by tiny hands, and each branch HEAVY with tinsel, each strand carefully placed.

Our Christmas wish list was simple - one or two items - quite often a special item of clothing: fuzzy house slippers and warm snuggly robes, a pocket knife or hunting jacket.

With great anticipation, we looked forward to the family gatherings and mouthwatering meals at Grandmother and Granddaddy's.

I remember my grandmother bustling around in her kitchen, quietly whistling her favorite hymns - flour on her face, wiping her hands on her big apron, rolling the dough for what would become plump dumplings.

The noise of other family members arriving. Happy squeals of cousins running through the house, my aunts and my mother, setting the table, uncovering all the delectable dishes they had prepared. While the men stayed out of the way.

And when we sat down to eat, there was a hush as everyone bowed their heads as Granddaddy gave thanks.

Later, when everything was cleaned up and put away, we lay on the rug in front of a warm, crackling fire. We listened quietly to the story of the FIRST Christmas long, long ago. A bright star in a clear sky that led the way to a manger where a tiny baby was born. A baby who would grow up to be a King. A baby who would grow up and give his life so that you and I could have Christmas in our hearts FOREVER.

I remember Christmases past as a young mother with my own little family. Pinching a penny and stretching a dollar as far as possible in order to buy the toys that my little boys had described in great detail in their letters to Santa. And staying up all night to put those toys together, slipping into bed exhausted, only to hear the whispered giggles and squeals "Santa's been here."

And as the years passed, I remember some not so happy Christmases. Crying as I walked down the quiet hall at the hospital, where my husband, Bob waited for a new heart. I remember the sad tugs on my heart when hearing the season's familiar songs like White Christmas, Sleigh Bells, I'll Be Home for Christmas. Desperately praying that he would be home for Christmas.

And Christmas means TODAY to me. Enjoying the present with family and good friends and precious new love and life with my sweet husband of three months, Earnest. Starting new traditions with a new family in a new place. A time to reach out to those not as fortunate as we are. Bright colors of the season - Christmas lights in every hue, sweaters and jewelry that blink and ties that sing. Mind boggling digital games and gadgets with mind boggling prices. Grandchildren anticipating EVERYTHING the season offers. My little Austin trying to talk me into telling him what he's getting. Sounds of old familiar Christmas carols and sounds of new and glorious Christmas praises in song. Smiles on stranger's faces fresh with the excitement and joy of the season.

And Christmas means TOMORROW to me. The TOMORROW that is filled with memories from yesterday and making treasured memories Today, and plans and dreams for tomorrow. The TOMORROW that is filled with God's promise. His promise for GOOD, His promise for HOPE and a FUTURE.(Jer. 29:11)

May we FOREVER be filled with the wonder of God sending His son for us, the greatest Christmas gift of all.

[Ray Prichard]

My remembrance of Christmas of my youth was always when the season of excitement officially began for my sister and me. With great regularity, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, the annual WESTERN AUTO STORES Christmas catalog arrived in the mail. Today that is referred to as Black Friday but back in the 1940s life was much simpler.

How many of you remember WESTERN AUTO STORES? There was one at about 7100 Harrisburg. They sold all kinds of household goods as well as auto parts. That was the highest shopping strata in our family economy. Perhaps, but rarely, my daddy would go to SEARS ROEBUCK & CO. on Harrisburg at 69th Street.

For the Christmas of 1953, we had just moved back to the East End of Houston, living near 78th St and Harrisburg. My daddy had gotten a promotion in the Houston Fire Dept and I got my own first bicycle. It was a hand me down from my cousin, but daddy had it painted and fixed up like a new one. I was so thrilled and rode it to Briscoe Elementary School for the rest of the school year.

We always celebrated with my uncles and aunts and cousins, with Christmas dinner at my Grandmother's house just down the street near 74th and Harrisburg. My Grandmother was old and always sickly and every year she gave each of the grandchildren a single dollar bill. That was a big expense for her but an act of love.

I still miss my grandmother and gathering at her house with the family at Christmas. She as well as all of those aunts and uncles are gone as are my parents.

My siblings and their children and grandchildren get together at my oldest sister's house every Christmas. It is a warm festive occasion but the Christmases of my childhood are memories I cherish the most.

Thank God for what we all have become and acquired and accomplished. I hope and pray that we all remember our roots in the East End of Houston.

God Bless our Country and may he take us all into his arms.

[Linda McKnight Thomason]

Ray, I loved your comments! They reflect a lot of my own memories. To me Christmas is all about love and remembrance, sharing and caring and prayers and church, and candles and lights and beauty and hope! Most of all, Christmas is about the love of God for a fallen and hopeless mankind... It's when people are a little nicer to each other and smile a little more and tip the man when he delivers your medicine, etc.
It's about helping others to be a little more fortunate in your town, sending boxes to our troops and telling your family how much they mean to you and just knowing how very blessed you are and reaching out to tell others about the Lord you love! Love, Linda McKnight Thomason