Remembering some of my past Christmases

Just another day here, but it didn’t used to be like that. Back in the days when we had kids at home, now those were Christmases to remember. Also, the ones when we were kids ourselves. Do you know what I am talking about or are you not old enough yet?

I have boxes of pictures, but will not bore you with any today. I am just going to remember back and hope you do the same with me.

The one Christmas that stands out in my memory, and from what my late son told me, in their memories also. (We had two boys; one has since died in a vehicle accident and the other doesn’t seem to care about us.) This story took place on Christmas Eve back when the boys were fairly young, but starting to doubt the validity of Santa Claus.

We lived in Western Pennsylvania at that time and this particular Christmas season was blessed with about 8 inches of fresh snow that fell during the day on Christmas eve. Just perfect.

I have an antique set of old sleigh bells. They are all different sizes and mounted on a leather strap. The different sizes create the beautiful loud tones when the strap is shaken. These bells gave me the idea to do something special that the boys would always remember.

I waited until they were both in bed, but not very long, since I wanted them to still be awake. I bundled up and went outside. Under my carport there was an extension ladder. I dragged it around the house to where the kids two bedrooms were. Also, dragging the ladder made tracks that looked like they were made by a sleigh. I then used the ladder to get up on the roof, where I stomped around real hard and loud and at the same time just shook the heck out of those bells; and believe me, those real old bells were very, very loud. (The next day the neighbor said he thought that I had gone crazy and was out of my mind.)

It worked perfect, at least for the younger one. I believe the older just wondered what old Dad was doing stomping around on the roof, but admitted that he, too, enjoyed it at the time. And of course the next day the boys could go outside and see the tracks that Santa’s sleigh left in the snow. It was just oh so perfect!!!

Christmas was always a special and huge time of year to our families, with church, family, and friends. When I was a young boy, it was the most special time of year. At the time it gave me a special warm feeling and today when I remember back, it still gives me that warm feeling; the decorations and of course that very special tree. My Dad and I always tried to find that “just perfect” blue spruce to use as a Christmas tree and it always had all blue lights on it with millions (or so it seems) ornaments with electric trains and a village under it.

There were always those very special ornaments that were passed down through the generations that always had a special place on the tree. I am proud to say that I come from a family who had wonderful traditions and up until the last few years, we have tried to keep that tradition alive.

But most of all I hope that you all will have a very special and memorial Christmas day.

Merry Chistmas