Thursday, November 12, 2009

Do I have abnormal memories of my childhood Christmas decorating days?

The holidays is my absolute favorite time of year (despite what some people think according to my fb personal quiz.  It's not my birthday although that is also a joyous time of year.).  My favorite part of the Christmas season is all the memories I have of when I was younger.  I LOVED getting out the Christmas decorations.  That might be in my top 5 days throughout the year.

We would spend the entire day in our pajamas.  (SOLD!)  Any day that lets me be in my pj's all day is always a good day.  As much as I love getting ready, I have really grown to love being lazy at home.  The older I get the more I appreciate it.  There's nothing like being at home all day and relaxing either by cleaning, organizing, sleeping, and/or watching tv espcially after having to get up and ready during the week to work. 

Back to what I was saying before I daydreamed about being at home in my pj's.  (pure bliss, people!)  We would spend the entire day in our pj's listening to classic Christmas cd's such as Vince Gill, 'N Sync, and The Carpenters.  Mom would go to the basement and gather which boxes had the decorations in them.  Dad would be outside basically the entire day either doing yardwork and/or putting up the outside decorations.  If Dad was putting up the outside decorations (wreaths on the windows, garland on the porch, and white lights everywhere), then either Sis or I would have to help him.  Sissy typically would help Dad outside since I love being indoors and I was the designated duster.  I had to dust every piece of furniture just like any other Saturday chore day.  After dusting, Mom would turn the living room upside down rearranging for the tree.  The blinds on the front window would be up and I can still see Mom standing in the middle of the furniture with her hands on her hips.  She always did her best thinking with her hands on her hips. 

Once she figured out how the furniture would be arranged, I had to make sure that it was precisely correct/perfect.  You know that we Brindleys are perfectionists.  I even recall Mom having the piano rolled over her toe in the midst of moving the furniture around.  It's never fun to see your mom crying because she is in so much pain.

With the new living room layout, we were able to get out/bring in the tree.  We started out with a fake tree.  Then they decided a real tree from Marvin's is the best deal.  After a few years of doing that, they bought another fake tree.  I loved going to Marvin's and staying in the freezing cold.  I always liked a certain tree that we never seemed to get.  Oh well.  Mom would say, "Leslie, our ceilings are not that tall.  The tree will look bigger in the house."  Too bad she was right.  The tiny Charlie Brown tree that we ended up buying always turned into the Elf tree.  In the early years, Dad would put the lights around the tree.  As the years went by, Sis and I got that job.  I would hold the strand as she ever so OCD-like placed the strand on the branches.  The ornaments were a great part of tree decorating.  My favorite ornament was my "Baby's First Christmas".  It is way cuter and prettier than Sissy's.  I think she was secretly jealous of how beautiful it is.

After decorating the living room, dining room, and kitchen, we finally could decorate our rooms!  That was my VERY favorite part of decorating!  I loved getting out all of our Christmas stuffed animals:  Miss Piggy, Kermit, Fonzo the bear, Rodney, Randy, Rhonda, Ramona (reindeer), and other various plushed items.  Every night I would sleep with every single one of them with my ceramic Christmas tree and window candle lit.  One time I remember laying underneath the lit Christmas tree with all of my animals.  If I could completely fit under the tree again, I would do it in a heartbeat.


I know you had Randy, Rhonda, Randy, and Ramona as a small child.

This has me thinking:  I really miss these guys.  I might try to bid on some on eBay.  Or if you are thinking of getting me something special this year, this would work.  I might even kiss you on the mouth since I would be so excited!

2 comments:

Shari said...

What happened to your set of reindeer? I thought you still had them.
So glad you have good memories of Christmas decorating....I remember that you and Sissy loved changing the house around to get it ready for all of the decorations...fun times! Lots of work, but so worth it to finally sit on the sofa with all the lights off 'cept the Christmas tree..awesome!

Leslie said...

I think the reindeer are still downstairs in the toy box. Last time we checked the rats had been in that box so they might have rat cooties on them.