Wyszdom

Christmas Wrapping

Today’s song pick is “Christmas Wrapping” performed by The Waitresses.

Advent calendar

I don’t believe I don’t have a picture of it, but I can’t find one right now. Our family has an Advent calendar which we use every year to count down the days until Christmas. Most Advent calendars you may be familiar with have small doors that you open, revealing a picture or perhaps even a treat. Ours is a bit different, and was sewn by my mom. It’s a felt Christmas tree, covered in green and gold sequins. At the top is a star, and at the bottom are 24 numbered pockets. Each pocket contains a wooden ornament for the tree. There’s a bear helping to decorate it. Each day, one of the children takes the ornament from the appropriate pocket and hangs it on one of the sequins. It looks similar to this tree, but I’ll try to get a picture of ours when I go home.

I remember in preschool we made chains made out of interlocking strips of red and green construction paper. They may have been purely decorative, but I think I remember part of the idea being that you would take off one link every day to count down to Christmas.

18th in a series of Christmasy things.

The Plaza at PPG Place, Pittsburgh, PA, 2004.

Do They Know It’s Christmas?

“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid was written and performed to raise money for charity in 1984 and has remained popular.

Stockings

My sisters and I each have our own stocking sewn by my mother. We all got our stockings at a avery early age… all of us except for my youngest sister. Her stocking remained in-progress year after year, with my mom working on it during family vacations. It became a bit of a running joke that it would never be finished, but finally on my sister’s tenth Christmas, her custom-sewn stocking (before that she used a nice, but not custom-sewn stand-in) was hung by the chimney with care.

According to Wikipedia and this book, the term Pollyanna (when describing a secret gift exchange) is rarely used outside of southeastern Pennsylvania. All of my non-Pennsylvanian readers, did you know what a Pollyanna was before you read this post? Let me know in the comments.

Poppers.

Winter Wonderland

“Winter Wonderland,” reportedly inspired by a scene in the Poconos, is today’s song pick. There are plenty of good versions of it, and since people at work have joked that I listen to Michael Bolton on my headphones (I don’t… well except for right now), I’ll go ahead and recommend his version. Johnny Mathis also does a good job.

Mad Lib

Sophia recently sent me a story on NPR about two men who have been sending the same Christmas card to each other for 60 years. She said that it reminded her of me, and is what would happen if I met my twin. My aunt and uncle have a similar tradition. I’m afraid I don’t have the full details tonight, but maybe I’ll send this off to my aunt so she can fill in the blanks in the next few days. Hmm, blanks… let’s do this Mad Lib-style:

Item 1: “Aunt” OR “Uncle” (pick one): ________
Item 2: Relative NOT chosen above: _________
Item 3: Movie Title: _________

One year, my [item 1] bought my [item 2] a copy of [item 3] for Christmas, and put it in my [item 2]’s stocking. A year later, [item 3] had not been watched or opened by my [item 2]. My [item 1] wrapped it back up and put it in my [item 2]‘s stocking again. [Item 3] has been wrapped and placed in my [item 2]‘s stocking every year since the tradition began.

I’ve been providing pictures, stories, and song titles, but if you want to have the full multimedia Christmas experience, head on over to Rowyn’s blog for a playlist of Christmas videos. First up: “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.”

Festive house in a Pittsburgh, PA suburb.

A Holly Jolly Christmas

“A Holly Jolly Christmas” performed by Burl Ives is today’s song pick.

Keepsakes

Every year, there is one gift that I can count on receiving. In my stocking will be a new ornament for the tree. I don’t know exactly which year they started, but for over 20 years now my parents have been getting us the Hallmark Keepsake ornament. Each one has the year on it, and says either “Son” or “Daughter.” Mine, of course, are the ones that say “Son.” When it’s time to decorate the tree, if we are home (and not living on the other side of the country), we hang our own ornaments, which my sister Sara carefully organizes into separate piles. I could probably take a look at this year’s ornament with a quick search, but I’m going to save the surprise for December 25th.

15th in a series of Christmasy things.

Little St. Nick

“Little St. Nick” by The Beach Boys is today’s song pick. I prefer the original, but they also have an “alternate mix” if you’re looking for something different.

Black olives

I’m not sure if this came from a holiday tradition, but I love black olives, and my family serves them on the table at Thanksgiving and Christmas. My grandmother likes them and even my cousin’s young children enjoy putting the olives on their fingertips and sucking them off. I don’t know if this love of olives is genetic or not, but I love it when they get passed around and am craving them right now.

14th in a series of Christmasy things.

I’ll have to get a better shot of it this year.

Christmas Is Coming

“Christmas Is Coming” from the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas is today’s song pick. I watch that special every year, and I even have a replica of their Christmas tree, pictured above.

Gus

When I was a toddler, it had snowed and my parents were going to take me outside to experience this magnificent feat of nature. They put me in my snowsuit, and like Randy in A Christmas Story, I was unable to move. “Gus,” I said. “Gus.” This was my adorable way of telling my mother that I was stuck.

13th in a series of Christmasy things.

Perfection, Christmas 2004.

Sleigh Ride

Today’s song pick is “Sleigh Ride.” There are plenty of good performances of it; writing this post I listened to the Boston Pops, Johnny Mathis, Kenny G, and Leroy Anderson.

Perfection

Many years ago, at one of the Christmas dinners I described yesterday, the kids (which I was one of) started playing Perfection, a game where two people (or teams) race to match uniquely shaped plastic pieces onto a board. The first team that finishes pushes a button, which unlatches the opposing team’s board, allowing it to spring upward and send the pieces flying.

I had fun, but my sisters and my cousins must have really liked it, because they’ve been playing each other every year, on the same teams, for what I believe has been over ten years now. Their games get pretty intense, and there is plenty of trash talk. It’s a nice tradition.

Alright, I’m off to a Christmas party. I don’t know if we’ll play Perfection.

12th in a series of Christmasy things.

The Christmas Song

“The Christmas Song” performed by Nat King Cole is today’s song pick. Or, if you prefer, listen to the version from Natalie Cole where she sings along with a recording of her father. They’re both good. You may know the song as “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.” When I was in New York for the Christmas show many years ago, I got to smell roasting chestnuts being sold by vendors on the street. I didn’t like the smell.

Hot dogs and pizza

Depending on the year, either my mom or my aunt hosts a Christmas dinner, which we usually do on the 26th. They both love to go all-out when it comes to serving food (as I’m sure millions of hosts across the world do this time of year), but that doesn’t mean that we can only feast on foie gras. In fact, I’m glad we don’t. I didn’t even know what it was until I scanned the Wikipedia article a minute ago, and everything about it sounds absolutely horrible. Bleh, let’s get into a new paragraph.

One year, my mom was discussing the dinner with my aunt, and my aunt said, “Just have pizza!” So, we did (among other things). I love pizza. It was awesome. Last year, we had another traditionally simple meal. We cooked hot dogs in the fireplace. At the top of this post is one shot of the dining room table, loaded with hot dogs and marshmallows.

11th in a series of Christmasy things.