Well for a the longest time we were estranged from my toxic extended family so it was just the 4 of us, mom dad and my uncle. Those christmases were magic everything was different. There was just an awesomeness to everything the lights the decorations the music everything was just different. It was a quiet Christmas but it was homey! It would consist of me getting up bright and early (much to my parents dismay esp my mom!) and I would turn on the lights and leave them on all day! We wouldnt start with gifts right away we would usually wait until after breakfast so mom and dad would go cook whatever it was going to be that year could be pancakes and egg waffles (non eggo)and eggs or sausage and eggs or bacon and eggs. While they were doing thaf I might be on the floor of the living room or on the couch watching the Walt Disney World Christmas Parade! After the parade wed call my uncle down (party pooper who would roll his eyes at the parade likes next to nothing fun) eat breakfast, after breakfast it was gift time. They were merciful and would let me go first. I was spolied rotten! I dont know if they felt guilty because at the time I didnt know my toxic family or what but the pile of gifts was amazing, and strategically broken down too, as we celebrate from st nicholas day through to epiphany so for those there would be one gift for those and christmas eve but the motherlode was christmas day even new years eve & day there was a gift! We would make cookies a week or so before, wed send cards, most of the shopping was done at our local mall Woolworth for underwear & stocking stuffers, the toy store, book store, clothes store, Things Remembered, the nail salon, the tool store, Hallmark, Fannie May, might have gone to Toys R Us, Best Buy, Service Merchandise, Silo, Carson Pirie Scott, Target, Sears, Jc Penny, Kohls, Madigans, The Disney Store, The WB Studio Store, WTTW store, and the liquor store. Extremely rarely Marshall Fields or Walmart (Walmarts were kind of shitty by us in the 90s). Hell even the grocery store, there was none of this online shit! Shopping was a workout, a family activity! Id go with mom help her for dad and her brother dad would be getting things for me but would get a bag from Carsons to hide the toy bags, then id go with dad and buy for mom. Mom might then go get her nails done for christmas or a wash and set or both! Some years we even dropped our packages off at the gift wrapping station and got them wrapped. Wed then go get a well earned lunch from the food court! EVERYTHING WAS DIFFERENT, BETTER! So after I opened my gifts for me that was it id start playing with what I got while everyone else was opening gifts I remember the paper being everywhere wearing the bows and ribbons on my shirt and head in fact we all had a bow or ribbon somewhere on our person! Wed usually open gifts without the tv, most of the time there were christmas cassette tapes in the radio, after gifts it might be 4 or 5 in the evening and dinner would be started, could be anything, a ham, crown roast, rib roast, seldom was it ever turkey that was relegated to Thanksgiving! While dinner was cooking wed put on the tv and watch video tapes or an interesting Christmas show. Sometimes if his schedule allowed dad would even decorate the front of the house this was before our decorations would get stolen after that he never bothered again! <not on christmas was just saying! The whole thing was just magic it was a winter wonderland filled with merry whimsy joy and fun, it was chaos it was hectic, but it was home.
We still do most of the same stuff the toys gave way to practical things or decorative pieces or gift cards so the once magnificent pile dwindled to a powdered sugar dusting. The Disney World Parade evolved over time into an infomercial with like 5% actual parade and yammering blow hards which this year the actual parade percentage shrunk down to 2% while the rest was a concert experience mixed with pointless palavering! The Dinner this year was a ham, cookies were made house decorated then boom it was all over, a flash in the pan, a lightning bolt out of the blue a firework. The next day no christmas music on the radio, no holiday tv programs no nothing it was like it didnt exist. It just seems like everything goes by too fast Id like to be able to enjoy it more and try to slow it down, does anyone have any tips or tricks? It seems like instead of magic its somehow turned into an ordinary day!
Im not even going to bother with the awful christmases I spent with my ext family only one was good! the rest it was all drunken stupid rude shit and im better off cutting that cancer out of my life!
and in all the nice stuff I got and it was a nice time
