Getting Into The Holiday Spirit

As a child I was a “Christmas” nut….I mean who wouldn’t be I had two parents that were all about providing their three children a fabulous Christmas so the holiday season was a very festive time in our house growing up.  My Mom who normally did not allow candy in our house for the most part had this fabulous peanut puff candy in bowls through out our house and remember this is filtered through the lens of a seven-year old but what I can remember is these little golden nuggets of joy were crispy on the outside and filled with creamy peanut butter goodness on the inside.

She also had gleaming beautiful hard candies spread about, and I don’t know how many Christmas’s in a row she made the Jello pin wheel cookies but they were just beautiful and delicious!

My brothers were both huge promoters of Christmas and would keep asking me in the car…..”Karen what are you asking Santa for this Christmas?”  I wonder if this is because they would hope the conversation would come up and make sure they were heard in what they wanted for Christmas too.  They both knew their lists frontward and backward and would make sure I knew mine as well….

With two older brothers in my house my life was full of adventure and they were always very excited about the holidays!  They always got the coolest gifts one year one of them got some sort of remote control tank and I was enamored with that item.  I wouldn’t have even known to ask for something that cool! Our parents loved to make us think Christmas was over when one of us was waiting on a special gift and  one year in particular Santa had parked a new bike for me in the garage.  They kept handing me a small bag of wrapping paper trash to dispose of in the garage and needless to say I never noticed the bike without some help from all of them.  I am so not a detailed person ;)….that has not changed over the years for the most part.

My Grandparents always made Christmas so special, I knew my Dad’s parents were special but I just didn’t know how special they were until I got older.  I don’t know how she did it but my Mamo had a bead on everyone.  They traveled out west every year and in her travels at flea markets, yard sales, small shops she would set aside items for different people and you could tell she would look at people and she couldn’t wait to see the reaction from them when they saw their gift.  She never failed to surprise me with her attention to detail she often knew what I liked before I even knew.  Not many people have that kind of gift.  My Grandfather Papo always loved all of us Grandkids around so at the Holidays he was even more in a festive mood and always had a fish story, some bubble gum, and he too really got into the gift giving spirit!

My Mom’s Mom baked gingerbread and cream cheese cookies every holiday season.  She was very crafty and sewed a lot but she also really thought about what we wanted.  One year all the girls were wearing necklaces with their names spelled out in block letters it was when I was a pre-teen and she made sure I got that and my Mom probably filled her in that that was the thing even though Christmases were smaller at her apartment than at my other Grandparent’s house it was still special for us she always had her little tree decorated and had some egg nog in the fridge and I could tell she loved it when we stopped in just about every Christmas Eve.

As we aged our families changed but my Dad and my Step Mom and my Mom and then later my Step Dad always worked hard to make the Holidays special for us.  My Step Dad loved to give prank gifts and while I was not always present for the joke gifts I do know him and my one brother passed a Mr. Clean type item back and forth a couple of times….ha ha LOL!  I guess we all have family jokes at the holidays and traditions it’s never too late to start a new tradition.

Now my husband and I have our own family and they have grown up fast are daughter is already an adult but I work hard to make the holidays special for them.  I bake treats, I gather Christmas lists, tomorrow we are going to get our family photo done.  Some years because of circumstances in our lives it may make it a little harder to get in the mood for the holidays.  Especially when we have had a loss in our families and things are changing so I thought if anyone wanted to share what helps them get into the holiday spirit I would love to hear it.  

Thanks for stopping in at our Lil’ Suburban Homestead…..

Fondly,

 

 

 

PS:  Gratitude No. 12 for this month of November is I am grateful for the gifts others share with me all year-long.  Yesterday at work our PTA provided us all lunch and they have no idea what an impact that has on all of us.  It seems silly maybe to some but know that one day I did not have to pack lunch and just relax and enjoy myself and visit with others even however briefly just meant a lot!  So those moments when a friend of mine will share a slice of her pumpkin bread or my Mom comes to make her stuffing…..or someone pays me a compliment those are all such wonderful gifts!