TTA - Telling the stories of Christmases long long ago.

I could go on and on about this topic. I will try to keep it short and sweet. I had a few pictures scanned, but realized I need to scan WAY more! We were asked to comment on how/when we found out the truth about Santa, and I can honestly say I can't remember. Being the youngest I'm sure it just slowly unraveled. Ella was an unbeliever earlier this year, but I think we have successfully rekindled the magic of Santa with some of our activities. The Elf of the Shelf has done wonders for us! We love this new tradition.
This is probably my earliest memory of what I got for Christmas. This is my Victoria doll. I LOVED this doll, and it now has purple marker on the face and body to prove it. This Christmas I also got a high chair, bed and stroller for her. Good memories!
I love this picture because my Dad ALWAYS wore these red silky PJ's for Christmas! I also wanted to show how great my Dad was about every present he got. He always acted thrilled with everything. He was famous for unwrapping one little corner of the present, peeking through it, and then looking up and saying "oh, it's just what I wanted." We would then raise a ruckus until he opened it completely for all of us to see. He seemed to take great joy in providing us with a memorable Christmas.

One of my biggest memories is how my brother Dave and I would wake up at about 6:00am and run around waking everyone up. We would then all gather at the top of the stairs and wait while Dad went down to make sure Santa had arrived. (he was really lighting the fire, setting up the video camera, and turning on festive music) He would ALWAYS come up and say that Santa had missed our house, or say that there was a HUGE mess that we needed to clean up. We would all laugh and call his bluff.

Our gifts were always arranged in piles for each person an we would run in and start on the stockings first. They were always my favorite with a big orange in the toe. It was so fun to see my parents grinning ear to ear and enjoy our excitement so much. Now as an adult I'm sure they could hear the "cha-ching" with every present opened, but they made us feel so deserving and worthy.

Christmas was big for us at our house because it was the one time of the year (besides birthdays) that we got what we "wanted". It was not a house where you asked for something while you were at the store and you walked out with it. To be honest, I don't remember asking for things very much. I am so grateful for how I was raised. It really instilled gratitude.
This is a picture of me and my brother Dave in front of the famous advent calendar. Don't you love my 80's style of crimped hair, big bangs, and Units clothing! Does anyone else remember those things? I used to make my own! Anyway, my Mom made this and each ornament had a day of the month on the other side. Each morning we would run down and turn it around to reveal what symbol was on the ornament. Inside was a little story/message that explained the meaning of that symbol. We would read it while eating breakfast before school. It reminded us a little more of what the real meaning of Christmas is. I have been meaning to make one just like this for YEARS and still have not gotten around to it. Perhaps I will have to put in on my summer project list. This is a great memory!
Here we are in I would guess -1976? I was the baby Jesus, my sister Shauna was Mary, my brother Brad was Joseph, Dave and Brian were the shepherds, and Heather was either the wiseman, or angel. I'm so excited to do it this year with my new costumes!! Oh, as you can see, the pillows were sheep and cows. Glad we didn't leave anyone out!
This is a picture of the year that my Mom made us all Christmas aprons. I SO wish I still had mine. I'm the shorty in front, and my Mom is right behind me. The only person missing from this picture is my brother Brad who was probably on his mission in Japan at the time.
Every year we had a big Christmas party with several of my parents friends and their families. It was a BIG production and was the highlight of the season for me. We would have dinner, games, swimming (if we were at the Christensen's who had an indoor heated pool and hot tub), and the grand finale was when Santa would come. Hands down there was never a better Santa than this guy. It was the same guy every year, and I'm going to have to ask my Mom his name. He would come in and sing the Holly Jolly Christmas song and pull out his good book. Each of the kids would sit on his lap and he would find our names in his book and tell about what we had been up to that year. After he was done with each child he would leave a bag of gifts that we couldn't open until he was gone. When I was little, this was the thing I looked forward to most every year!
Here is a picture of me with my brothers Dave and Brian on our stairs. I had to include it because it shows the carolers that my mom made from soda cans, and lined our stairs each holiday season. They were so cute, and it was even better that my Mom made them.
I also had to include this picture of the basement. I was always so excited for the candy jars to go up on the mantle every year. This year I did my own candy jars on our holiday table and even though it means my kids are having a little more candy than usual, it just makes me happy to see and remember the home I grew up in .
Every year we would make these Santa cookies. The week before Christmas we would make several and wrap them up in a chain with saran wrap, tying a ribbon between each one. We would then hang that on our bedroom doors. Each day as we came home from school we would cut the bottom one off and have a little snack as it counted down the days until Christmas.
This is the finished product and involves a decent amount of time and patience. There is a very specific order for each part of the face and includes red food coloring, sprinkles, small currants or mini choc chips, frosting, mini-marshmallows, red-hots, and coconut. WHEW! They are SO FUN and SO WORTH IT! A few years ago I was lamenting the loss of this tradition with being away from home. So, I decided to ask my Mom where her Santa cookie cutter was. She was on a mission with my Dad in Hawaii and thought it was probably in storage. She told me that she thought it was cracked anyway and I was losing hope. I decided to launch an exhaustive search via the Internet to see if I could find the exact cookie cutter. After days and days of searching I must have googled the magic phrase and a picture of the cookie cutter popped up with a caption saying, "are you looking for this?" I knew it was meant to be. I promptly ordered several of this vintage cookie cutter from this website!
I sent one to each of my siblings, and have been so happy to carry on the tradition with my kids. That reminds me...I need to get on that!
I had to include this cute photo of my kiddies last year. This was taken at the ward Christmas party and turned out pretty cute. I can't believe how fast they grow up. I'm excited to be starting some of our own traditions this year and keeping those that we grew up with.