Christmas🌲 memories🎅 through the decades
Decorations placed in a living treeOur personal impressions of Christmas change throughout time. Here’s a synopsis of them as seen through the eyes of myself as a child growing up in the Midwest, as a teenager, as a father, during middle age, as a grandfather, through my blended family, and here in The Land of Enchantment.
As one who no longer practices religion on a regular basis, the spiritual aspects of the holiday, especially peace and goodwill to all, remain vitally important especially in this rather scary and ominous period of history.
Peace and joy to all!
Colorful decorations in Albuquerque——-
1965 – Toys galore spread out beneath the tree during this era — from a farm set to model railroad🚂 to a slot car track. Then off to Grandma and Grandpa’s house to see our cousins before most moved to far-flung places out of state. These were the days when the four of us would hop in the car and drive around Indy to see Christmas light displays🎄, when we and our cousins would slide noisily down the staircase or play hide and seek in the basement at our grandparent’s house, or would fight over who got the most pie 🥧 or the turkey leg.
Memories of these early Christmases resonate with childhood happiness and joy clearly in my mind some six decades later.
1975 – Among the earliest Christmas holidays that included a week in Florida after the holiday itself. Gifts were no longer toys, but more grownup items like a small black and white TV, luggage, a sport coat, or sweaters 👔. Great times with cousins in Orlando and a few days at the beach.
1985 – Less memories of gifts received and more of seeing the expressions of our first son on Christmas morning. Still adapting to my grandparents all being gone.
These holidays often included a trip to one set of our parents for Christmas Day and the other for New Years, as well as a side trip to the farm in West Central Indiana to see my wife’s extended family. This often meant sleeping on floors, couches, chairs, ottomans, footstools, coffee tables, and anywhere else you could fit 25-30 people in a small three-bedroom farmhouse🐖.
Railway station centerpiece1995 – Enjoying fun with our three boys on snowy Christmas mornings and the first one shared with my mom and stepdad. Christmas also meant hours of assembling the boy’s gifts after they were opened. Still hard without Dad there, who passed away four years earlier.
2005 – Annual festivities more often in Pittsburgh with dozens of our kid’s cousins. Santa at the door on Christmas Eve, enormous piles of gifts, hours of playing intense games of euchre, and sitting around the fireplace are the strongest memories. Also, one of the earliest holidays where we employed Secret Santa instead of buying something for everyone…except for the kids who were still showered with presents 🎁.
2015 – A heartbreaking holiday, as my new wife’s mother became ill at Christmas dinner. An ambulance trip to the hospital and days later she was gone… Such an unbelievable loss of a lovely and kind woman. 😢 Also, this was a time of learning varied holiday traditions as a newly blended family of boys and girls, as well as discovering the yummy tastiness of twice-baked potatoes and lemon pound cake at the dining room table.
2025 – Sharing holiday joy with our grandkids and kids where spending time together is the most important aspect of the holiday, even while the grandkids continue to be showered with gifts. A round-robin holiday of multiple celebrations with family members. In recent years we’ve incorporated more and more Southwestern holiday traditions to celebrate our love of living in New Mexico. 😉
Christmas in Old TownChristmas memories often include images of those relatives who are no longer with us, ongoing and past relationships with family members, places where celebrations took place, and activities that took place. But above all, it is the pure joy of giving; the simple joy of sharing time together; and the lasting joy of creating memories. Peace!
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