Remembering Family Christmas Traditions

[Dennis Kirban]

With Christmas fast approaching and most of us at an age we can reflect on our child hoods....what family Christmas traditions did you experience as a child growing up in the 50s or 60s or ? I plan to do my inner circle next week on this.

I was oldest of 5 kids....(still am). We even all get a long! My Dad never worked for anyone always was in one business or another growing up even Amway for a period of time. (Busted the leaf springs in my 50 Ford hauling SA8 detergent!), Advertising Agency, author etc and so on. Had at one point his office in our house. Come Christmas he never wasted money on Christmas wrapping paper. The idea was he put his money into the gift not into the paper. He used to wrap gifts he bought for us kids from a huge roll of brown craft paper he had in the basement. He then would use a thick black marker and draw a bow and ribbon on it.

We knew those gifts would not be clothes and would be from our Dad. Mom of course would go the other route using real Christmas wrapping paper. Come Christmas day we all would sit around in the living room. My parents had a baby grand piano and a full size organ that My Mom loved to play. Above the one archway leading out of the living room was metal Eagle with a wing spread that hung on the wall.

Us kids were very competitive and after unwrapping our gifts we would ball up the wrapping paper and see who could throw the paper ball and land it in the eagle on the wall. As we got older and us kids got married that tradition still carried on. The Eagle was at one end of the room and at the other end was a antique pole like lamp that had the shell open towards the ceiling. This provided equal entertainment for the easier shots with the wrapping paper.

As for the brown craft paper I picked up the same habit for many years for my kid and granddaughter when she was young.....buying toys for kids is easy when they get older its tough to buy for them.

Christmas dinner was in our dinning room that had a huge glass chandelier. I would always roll up a few dollar bills and stick it in one of the chains that hung on the chandelier. Mom looked at this as a reminder to carefully take down each part of the chandelier and clean it. My way of saying it was a good meal..

The time frame was the early 1960s......

true story

what is your story?

denniskirban@yahoo.com

Always had a fresh cut Christmas tree.....poor Mom would vacuum the needles for hours after the tree was removed.

My parents were not into Christmas decorations except for one.....We had a light up Plastic Frosty that spent 11 months in the original box in the basement. Came out only at Christmas. I remember this Frosty from my early teens.....

When my parents reached that golden age and put the house up for sale that we grew up in they asked us kids what each of us wanted from the house. My request was quite simple I wanted Frosty as did my oldest sister but I won out. Frosty enjoys sunlite all year round in my home office and every Christmas gets to be in our living room. Eventually Frosty who is probably nearing 60 years old will be passed down to my son (lives next door) and then to our grand daughter......

On a side note...I sold a 1987 Turbo-T black with tan gut to a mechanic in Philadelphia maybe 12 years ago. He was reading my book at work one day. His boss happen to see the name Kirban on the cover. Turns out his boss bought my parents house! Small world.

true story

 

[Pronto]

My father was stationed in Germany in the mid 50s. They bought beautiful glass Christmas ornaments. My Mom would cry when one got broke. They were very fragile so we weren't allowed to put them on the tree.

 

[Johnnie]

Wow. What a great thread. Brings back lots of cherished memories, just like the smell of a fresh cut Christmas tree does. I remember coming inside the house after playing outside with kids in the neighborhood and smelling that unmistakable scent of a Christmas tree that mom and dad had just put up. Unforgettable.

Being born in '57 and growing up in the 60's , at our house innocence and simplicity ruled. Our family Christmas's were special. Mom, dad, myself and my two older sisters would go to either an aunt or uncle's house (mom's side of the family) on Christmas Eve to visit , enjoy the company and exchange some gifts. All three of us kids believed there was a man called Santa, so before we left we would leave some cookies and milk on the table for him as a snack.
Well , we would stay at the relatives house for a few hours believing Santa would show up when we were away. Driving home, we were all giddy with excitement. But before we would actually go back into our house, we would drive around looking at the neighborhood Christmas lights. Kinda funny though, because we would stop in the driveway before perusing the neighborhood Christmas lights so mom " could use the bathroom " ...wink wink. So, after she did that we would then drive around for a little while and then come home. Lo' and behold, gifts were under the tree , cookies eaten and milk half gone. Us kids were all amazed , giddy and spellbound. Despite what our friends said , there WAS indeed a Santa Claus and WE had the proof.
Nobody could tell us differently.

My dad and mom both worked, because we were not "dollars rich" , but "love rich" we certainly were. My sisters usually got dresses that mom made, and one of the first Christmas's in our new house (that mom and dad together built most of ) mom only got one of those manual can openers, and dad got one of those clip on bow ties. Dollars were tight, but all were very happy in our new house. Especially mom and dad. I was, and still are, so damn lucky to have experienced that.

Once, I remember my sisters were quite ecstatic, literally crying loudly with tears of joy one Christmas when they found a portable record player "Santa" left for them in the basement. "Mommy , mommy, daddy daddy look ! Come here quick!! " they screamed. I will never forget the sound of their voices that evening as long as I live. Not to be left out, I got some cool stuff too. I got a box of Tinkertoys that year that I would play with for hours building stuff. Kept me amazed for hours on end. Like I said, simplicity ruled.

One year I got my own electric train. It wasn't the high priced Lionel, but rather a Marx-- a very good and well made train and not as expensive and pricey as the Lionel version. Dad and myself would set it up in the basement on a big wooden ping pong table and enjoy it together for hours. I think he liked it as much as I did because he grew up with almost nothing. What really stands out in my memory is him having his big ol' arm around me holding me close as we both enjoyed watching the train go round and round on the track,,,,together. I still have that train today, thank the Lord, despite various moves and life's events. I even had the engine "refurbished " last year so it runs like new. My wife requests I set it up around our tree, so I'm off to do that after writing this.
Thank you for starting the thread, Dennis, and merry Christmas to all!!

 

[texasmr2]

I was too young to remember the good family Christmas traditions such as dinner. The only ones I still have memories of are the ones were I felt undeserving of the gifts bestowed.

After the TRUE BOSS, the glue of the family, went to be with God our holiday traditions crumbled and were just dust in the wind.

It is what it is!

Merry Craziness