This Nostalgic Life #29
This Nostalgic Life is a free weekly publication rich with nostalgia brought to you by co-creators Eric Vardeman and Mick Lee. If this is your first time reading, you can subscribe using the button below so you don’t miss receiving any future issues delivered straight to your inbox.
Welcome to the 29th edition of This Nostalgic Life. In this issue, Eric and Mick are stuffing your stocking with memories of the Christmas seasons of their youth. It’s a Santa sack full of nostalgia we hope you’ll enjoy. And if you do enjoy it, please consider sharing it with your friends using the handy Share button we’re providing below. Share a Note, tell your friends on social, forward the email to a friend, or however you want to share our publication, we’re always thankful. Now, let’s get to the memories!
The Little Things About Christmas
by Mick Lee
Like I’m sure it was for most kids, December 25th has always been one of those benchmark dates on the calendar. Alongside my birthday and the last day of school, it has always been a measuring point for the year. And for good reason, as I’m sure I’m not alone in enjoying the gift-getting and the gift-giving. But there are little things about the Christmas holiday that I’m just as nostalgic for.
There is so much nostalgia built into the holiday season for me. So many different things about the holiday that trigger vibrant memories of some of the happiest times of my life. So in this essay, I want to share with you some of the little things that I’ve enjoyed during the Christmas season, their origins in the past, and some of the strong memories associated with them.
For starters, spending time with family during the Christmas season has always felt more special for me than at other times of the year. Especially my Dad. All through my years of growing up, my Dad traveled. He would be gone for roughly 300 out of the 365 days of a year. But his work always slowed down in December and he had a lot of time at home that lined up so well with our Christmas break from school. And while he himself never got overly excited about Christmas, he did so many little things to make it special for me and the family. Things that most would not think are overly special but so special to me, that I’ve tried to do some of the same things for my daughters through the years.
One of the little things he did back in the late ’80s was bust out some snacks we didn’t have through the rest of the year. When he would come home and get to be there for a couple of weeks through Christmas, he would always bring in fresh pecans from Georgia that we would sit around and snack on while watching all the Christmas shows. Along with the pecans, he would find Andes Toffee Crunch thins. They are like the traditional Andes mints, but in a gold foil instead of the usual green, and they feature a toffee flavor instead of the mint. He would keep them in a little bowl next to his chair in the living room, and we would snack on them alongside the pecans on those cold nights right around the holiday.
For whatever reason, my memory singles out that one particular candy as some kind of symbol of Christmas for me. Every year, I scour all over looking to find a box of these things, and most years I’ve had luck. It’s another thing I’ve done to transfer my own nostalgia to my daughters. I put out a bowl of the Andes Toffee Thins next to my chair, and my girls and I will snack on a couple of them at night this time of year while watching some Christmas special on TV.
Specials like Mickey’s Christmas Carol, which is still required viewing every Christmas at my house. In my neck of the woods, it would usually show on a Sunday night at either 7 or 8 pm, and usually on NBC a few weeks before Christmas. If I’m remembering correctly, the special presentation would start with the short where Mickey and Pluto pick out their Christmas tree and find Chip & Dale living inside it. Next up was Donald Duck and his nephews having their classic snowball fight. Then we were treated to the sketch where Goofy learned how to ski. Following that was a musical number that featured most of the Disney family of characters skating on a frozen pond. Then came the main event. Their version of A Christmas Carol itself.
Interspersed in that special each year were some of my favorite commercials of all-time. Ronald McDonald skating with the kids on the frozen pond, Hersey Kisses Jingle Bells commercial, Coca-Cola holiday packs, Budweiser Clydesdales, and my absolute favorite…the Folger’s Coffee “Peter Comes Home For Christmas” commercial.
Sitting in our downstairs living room with the fireplace going, snacking on pecans and toffee thins with the whole family watching the special is a memory feeling that is etched in my DNA at this point, and one that I am constantly trying to recapture in life.
Spending time with extended family was always a bright spot as well, as we had not one, but two, family Christmas parties to go to every Christmas Eve.
Growing up I had huge families on both my Mom’s side and my Dad’s. My Mom was one of eight children, and each of those 8 had a couple of kids, and my dad was one of fourteen! And each of those had multiple kids as well. I had tons of cousins and would see various ones of them throughout the year, but the family get-together on Christmas Eve meant that ALL of us would be together at one time. We ranged in ages from like 7-20, so there wasn’t a huge disparity there.
On Christmas Eve, we would start out by visiting my Mom’s family. It was always a simple dinner menu of Ham, some veggies, mac and cheese, and a plethora of desserts. The folks would sit around in the kitchen while all of us kids would be in the living room. We’d hoop and holler and go through the presents under the tree, waiting for one of the adults to come in and play Santa Claus. Usually, it was my Uncle Ernest who had a booming voice and was quite intimidating. He would walk in and get real loud, telling us all to get away from the tree or he wouldn’t be handing out anything. He’d then torture us by going through and finding all of the adult presents first and having us run them to the various recipients. He’d finally get through with that and move on to us kids.
With both families, there were so many kids that we drew names. You could count on getting one present from whoever got your name, and a little something from the grandparents as well, which was usually a shirt of some kind. Before we would leave for the other party we had to go to, my Uncle Jack would go out on the front porch and start lighting off Jumping Jack fireworks, and that always got all the kids in an uproar. I remember how much fun that used to be running from the unpredictable fireworks.
Then we would head over to my Dad’s parents for that party. You could always count on plenty of finger foods and desserts there like sausage balls, cocktail wieners, ham biscuits, cakes, pies, and homemade candies. We would draw names there too and that meant a couple of more presents before heading home.
For years, my family and I visited my wife’s family on Christmas Eve, and I sat and watched my kids running around with their cousins just like I used to do. And even though I seemed to hate it as a kid, I was just like my Uncle Ernest. I would go in the living room and tell the kids to quiet down and start picking out presents for the adults and have the kids deliver them before they get any of their presents. Life has come full circle I guess. Now, we host the family Christmas party at our house each year, and I try to mimmick the Christmas Eve’s of my youth with our parties.
Before the big day actually arrived, there was always lots of shopping that had to be done. Before the days of sitting on your couch and doing your shopping online, my mother and I would load up and head to the next town over where all the department stores were. Roses, Kmart, Magic Mart, Singletons….we’d hit them all. When I was younger, my Mom would put back her loose change all year, and at Christmas, she would let me roll it and use whatever was there to buy presents for her, my dad, and my brother. I would scour the aisles of those stores looking for that perfect gift. Usually, it ended up being about the same thing every year though.
For my Dad. it would be a new hammer, a new utility knife, and blades, and a new tape measure….things that he used every day in his work and always needed replacing several times a year anyway. For my Mom, it would be new dish towels and dish rags, and some sort of glass bowl container thingie to go along with them. And for my brother, it was usually a set of car wax and protectant or something of the sort since he was driving then and was always cleaning his car.
But I loved the chance to go shopping for presents from myself. My Mom and I really enjoyed that time out together, just the two of us. We’d do our shopping and always stop at McDonald’s for a couple of Big Mac meals before heading back home.
One of the main Christmas shopping stops each year was the Green Stamps store. Mom kept up with her Green Stamps all year round… pasting them into the books and storing them in a kitchen drawer until time for Christmas shopping. She would get the catalog and pour over it looking for things she could pick up that would make nice Christmas presents. One day each December, she would gather all her stamp books, and we would make a trip to Bristol for her to do her Green Stamp shopping. I’m not really sure if I ever got anything that came from there. It seems like my memories of presents from there were sets of dishes or glasses that she would give to the folks whose names she and Dad drew for the family get-togethers.
And I can’t forget to mention the “pre-shopping” we all did back in those days. You know what I’m talking about…flipping through the pages of the Sear’s Christmas Wish Book and circling all of the things you hoped to get for Christmas. That act alone would take weeks to go through, and then edit, and then edit again to circle more stuff. All the while building anticipation for what you might under the tree with your name on it on Christmas morning.
To help feed that anticipation was the yearly town Christmas parade. I grew up in a small town, so our parade wasn’t that big, but it was something I always looked forward to. Seeing all of the vehicles decorated for Christmas, and Santa Claus riding into town high atop one of the town firetrucks was more exciting to me than seeing him in the Macy’s parade.
The parade would wind its way through town square and finish up in the parking lot of our local Piggly Wiggly grocery store. It was there that the fire department would hand out treat bags to everyone who wanted one. As I said, my town was small, so as the parade passed by, the onlookers would just fall in line behind it and walk with it to the Piggly Wiggly to get a treat bag. Those bags consisted of an apple, an orange, two full-size candy bars, and a few pieces of hard candy. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but for our small town, it was a big deal every year.
While the bigger things around the season like the presents, the decorations, and the constant barrage of Christmas music are usually what sticks out in our minds when we think about the holiday, it’s these little bits of Christmas that really make up my nostalgia. It’s the memories of these little things that I cling to and long for at this time of year. And you know what? As the years roll by and my daughters become adults with families of their own, I can’t wait to hear what little things they remember about Christmas. Maybe one of them will write something like this describing all the little things that we did as a family that are remembered as special by them.
Here’s to the little things that make Christmas a big deal to us,
Mick
Christmas At Granny’s
by Eric
I don’t know if it’s because of the holidays, or because I’ve lost family members this year or the fact that I’m just getting older, but I’ve been reminiscing about the holidays of my youth lately, Christmases especially. From as far back as I can remember until I was sixteen years old, Christmases were the same every year. Christmas day was spent with my mom’s side of the family, but Christmas eve was spent with my father’s side. Both of my parents came from large families - my father had six brothers and a sister while my mom had three brothers and two sisters - so any family gathering was a crowd, and I had numerous cousins on both sides. However, I had more male cousins around my age on my father’s side of the family (as opposed to only one male cousin my age on my mom’s side) so I was closer to them and, consequently, have more memories of the holidays (and in general) related to that part of the family. This, dear reader, is where we begin.
Everyone called my dad’s mother “Granny”, and, on Christmas Eve, Granny’s house was a zoo. So many people in such a small space. Granny greeted everyone that walked in. Her favorite chair sat in the living room just inside the front door so she could see anyone walking up but, in the other direction, could see straight through the dining room into the kitchen. Her chair was command central where she could manage everything going on in the house without getting up. She was a chain smoker and there was always a cigarette smoldering in the ash tray on the table next to her throne. While she was always smoking (as were a handful of my aunts and uncles), I don’t remember everything thinking to myself “man, this house stinks from all the smoke.” That’s just the way it was. Also sitting on that side table was usually a bowl full of mixed nuts very similar to the one pictured below accompanied by related nut cracking tools (side note: I found that bark bowl on eBay and am considering buying it). I can’t tell you how many times I pinched my own fingers trying to crack some of those nuts open.
Dinner was usually around 6pm with a food spread worthy of the holiday set out on the kitchen counters as well as on the stove and in the oven. Most of the adults took up residence in the dining room around the table or wherever they could find a perch while most of us kid sat in the living room so we could watch the six o’clock news where the weatherman would frequently check the Santa tracker so we could make sure he didn’t pass over Oklahoma this year. After we finished eating, us kids would all go outside and scan the night sky for an signs of a sleigh or reindeer (and maybe get in a quick game of murder ball). None of us actually believed in Santa Claus but it was fun to try and convince one another that we had seen or heard something. As we got older, this tradition fell by the wayside.
After everyone had finished eating, it was time for gifts! Names had been exchanged over Thanksgiving so everyone was assured of at least one gift but the area under and around the tree never failed to be full. Our group was so big that after all the gifts had been opened the house looked like a wrapping paper wasteland. And for the grandkids, finding a clear space of floor to sit and enjoy your new gifts after the melee was priority one. As for Granny, she bought all the grandkids candy as her gift to us and it was the same thing every year.
I honestly loved it. That candy was something I looked forward to every year for some reason and I’ve carried on the Lifesaver tradition with my own kids even today as they’re in their late 20’s.
In addition to the bowl of mixed nuts, there were two more items that were always present in Granny’s house. One of which now sit in my house as well…along with the nondescript hard rock candy. Her candy dish was usually sitting on her dining room table.
The other item was a tin of Royal Dansk butter cookies. Several, actually. Usually one with and one without the glitter sprinkles. Every year, without fail. Again, to this day, I buy these every December.
Something else that I would notice happening every Christmas eve was some of the adults sneaking off to the small bedroom located off the back of the kitchen. They would always come out joking and laughing and it wasn’t until I was much older that I finally realized they were going back there and taking hits off of some bottle (or bottles) of alcohol. I have no idea why they did this. Maybe Granny had told them no drinking in front of the kids.
The best memories I have of Christmas Eve’s at Granny’s house, though, were of the happiness. That side of my family was loud on any normal occasion (due in great part to the fact that most of my dad’s brothers were feral), but the volume was raised a few notches on the holiday (and even more so as people visited the back room). While I can’t hear specific conversation in my head, I can still distinctly hear almost all of my uncles voices and laughs and even some of my aunts. The laughter, the joking, the general joy…if but for a short time. And Granny watched it all from the comfort of her favorite chair, smoking and smiling, as she slowly unwrapped all the gifts that everyone had brought her all the while saying “you all didn’t need to get me anything.”
She passed away late in the summer 1985. I remember the family made a huge effort to all gather again for Christmas Eve just a few months later but it was a subdued and somber occasion compared to years past. The next year, the Christmas Eve gathering was noticeably smaller and after that we just seemed to quit getting together. I hardly see any of those people anymore but they live on in the memories each of them help create. Memories that I carry with me year after year and choose to remember and relive for the general joy of them.
My encouragement to you this Christmas season, dear reader, is to take some time on Christmas day and talk about the memories you have from when you were younger. If you don’t have many, this Christmas is as good a time as any to start making some. From me and mine to you and yours, merry Christmas and happy new year!
That’s a “wrap” for this edition of This Nostalgic Life. Eric and Mick will be deep in the clutches of the holiday next week, so they are taking the holiday off from writing essays. But fear not, there will still be a new issue of This Nostalgic Life hitting your inbox as we have a couple of holiday-themed articles for you to enjoy over the holiday break. Look for next week’s issue to be delivered to your inbox on Monday instead of Wednesday as normal. We want to make sure you have it hand to enjoy before the big day.
In the meantime, if you have Christmas memories of your own, feel free to drop them in the comments below. We’d love to hear your story. Otherwise, keep your eyes open for the next issue of This Nostalgic Life!
