Christmas 1954

Every year after opening our gifts on Christmas eve (Santa's gift was saved for Christmas morning!) Mom would line us up at the tree and take a pic of us with our new goodies. Obviously this year we all got PJs! We have a lot of these pics for every Christmas, but I am noticing that the only ones with high school teens in them are me. LOL... the boys probably activated their independence MUCH sooner than me! These were wonderful days and memories. We weren't a large family, just the 5 of us. Our relatives lived in other states and money was tight so we weren't able to travel to see them or vice versa. But that was all we really knew and it was made special so therefore very fond memories! On Christmas eve, we would have Oyster stew for supper. It was a tradition. I hated it. And to this day that is the only tradition that I don't understand. When mom knew we didn't like it she still kept that tradition! lol. I am sorry to say that I never asked her why, but after I was the only one left at home, that tradition went away. After supper, we would hurry and clean up the dishes so we could get started! We would sit and sing Christmas carols together. None of us balked, thinking that was "nerdy"! Then time to TEAR into our presents. One present at a time, one person at a time, so that we could all enjoy seeing what the other had gotten. The BIG present was always saved for Christmas morning. That was the "magical" thing about Christmas! After the presents were opened we had a short time to play with our gifts, model any clothing we received and enjoy the homemade fudge that mom made. (Our Aunt Betty's recipe) Then time for bed! Wash up, brush the teeth, leave out a plate of cookies and milk for our much anticipated invisible visitor and jump into our snuggly beds to dream of his visit accompanied by 8 reindeer and one very special one with a red, glowing nose. I don't ever remember being disappointed. Not even the year that I was in second grade and my brother took me into my mom and dad's walk in closet and showed me my brand new Debbie Reynolds doll in a box on one of the shelves. Even though my bubble had been a bit burst at that point, still deep inside there was still that magic in my heart... maybe he really does exist. Kind of like when I was a high school student at Y camp and walking through the woods, carefully looking under the ferns and at holes in the trees to see if I could catch just one little glimpse of the fairies that lived there!