Advent Calendar - Shopping with 5 Children

My Dad used to take all five of us children shopping for Christmas gifts for my Mother.  And, yes, he did it at the same time.  We each had $1 to spend.  Now, there is a 9 year age span, so we older children could help a little with the younger ones.  But we were all in the store together.  We went to J.C. Penney and Hinshaw’s in Arcadia, California.  Both of these stores were on Baldwin Avenue. 

Each of us children also bought gifts for each of our siblings.  That meant that Mother or Dad had to take us shopping so that we could each find four gifts.  Again, I believe we had a $1 limit for the gift.   Of course that meant that each of us children had 6 gifts to wrap:  one for each parent and one for each of our four siblings.  There were a lot of presents under the tree.  In many ways I think I was more excited about watching family members open the gifts that I bought than as in opening the gifts they bought me.  Christmas morning was exciting.

Advent Calendar - Stockings that Grow

Can you imagine stockings that grow, and Grow, and GROW?  My Grandmother knitted Christmas stockings for all of her grandchildren.  All 9 of them had Santa faces knitted into the front of the stocking and an ornament knitted into the back.  Just hanging, they are about 16 inches long and about 10 inches around.

However!!!! Think of how a knit sweater can stretch.  Now, put lots of things into a knit stocking:  apples, an orange, nuts in shells, and a few small wrapped gifts. 

After Santa arrived, the stockings were now about 30 inches long and about 18 inches around. 

Advent Calendar - Other - Underwear?

Just a thought:  For some years my husband's work group collected toys and donated them to a school for homeless children.  Walt and I started buying packages of underwear.  What?  Yes, packages of 3 undershorts, or 3 t-shirts, or 3 pairs of panties.  We would buy them on sale at one of the major department stores;  and in various sizes.  We hesitated to do this the first year.  The feedback from the school staff was so positive that we did it for the next few years, until Walt was no longer a part of this work group.

So, if you want to donate to a homeless shelter, or a home for abused spouses, or some group like that, consider underwear.  It may not be as exciting as a toy, but it may last a lot longer.  Another option is coats, jackets, gloves or hats.  Just a thought. 

And thank you to all of you who think of others, both at this time of year as well as at other times. 

Thankful Thursday - Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories

Dear Thomas and Bloggers,

Thank you for the memories.  A few times this month, I haven't felt the Christmas spirit.  To change that, all I needed to do was to read your blogs (or even those of the past few days since I missed some of the daily reading).  Thank you all.

Advent Calendar - White Christmas programs at school

Do you remember “White Christmas” Concerts?  I was in the orchestra during elementary school and we would play at different schools for their program.  The children would bring cans of food wrapped in white tissue paper and put them under the tree, at the front of the auditorium.  The school chorus would sing, some of the classes would have a short skit, and the orchestra would play as the children walked up. 

My high school performed Handel’s Messiah every year.  The solos, chorus and orchestra were all high school students.  I don’t know how good we were, but the memories are great.  I played cello and even now I “hear” the cello part when I hear the Messiah, whether on CD or in person. 

In the 1950s and 1960s we weren’t very aware of non-Christian beliefs, and the children who would have been uncomfortable with the religious activities at school. 

Advent Calendar - Phoenix To Arcadia

For years we drove from Phoenix to the Los Angeles area for Christmas.  In the 1980s, with 2 children in the car, and Interstate 10 not completed, we drove through Wickenburg.  If you live, or have lived, in the Phoenix area, you’ll know what it’s like to travel rural desert roads.

Then, when the interstate was finally completed, EXCEPT for the interchange in Phoenix, we just drove I-10, day or night.   For a few years we would stopped at Griswold’s restaurant. It was always decorated so nicely for the holidays.  It was in Redlands on the south side of the interstate.  This smorgasbord restaurant had some great recipes and I still have two of their recipe books.  There was a gift shop also, and we really enjoyed walking through it.  Unfortunately, both the Redlands and the Claremont restaurants closed many years ago.

Sometimes we would stop in Blythe at the Courtesy Coffee Shop.  We haven’t been there for years, but it was something that our children expected, and it was about half way through the trip. 

So, for years we packed two children and gifts, and drove 7-9 hours to celebrate Christmas.  Because sometimes because Walt had to work the day we planned to travel, like Christmas Eve,  we’d arrive very late in Arcadia.  My parents were always up, even if they had napped before we arrived.  Then to get the four of us settled.  But this was the beginning of the family visit.

Advent Calendar - Child-Friendly Dinners

My mother started two special dinner traditions.  The first one certainly made the holidays easier for us as parents.  Because young children often need naps, especially with the excitement of the holidays, Mother started having dinner begin at 4:30 or 5 instead of 2 to 3.  This began with my two children, the first two grandchildren.  Oh, did this help.  The children could have their naps and wake up when they were rested.  AND they had time to wake up before sitting down to dinner.  So no grouchy, tired children.  This is still the tradition, as some of my other siblings had young children and came for dinner. 

The second tradition was that the youngest people were always served first and we went up in age.  This worked especially well when a parent, or parents, needed to fix plates for the young ones.  So, the children’s plates were fixed and the children sat down. They chose which table they wanted to sit at.  Then the adults served themselves and sat in empty seats.  This avoided a “children’s table” and an “adult table.”  And the adults who sat with the children enjoyed the time talking with nieces, nephews or younger cousins whom they hadn’t seen for a while.  The children learned to carry on conversations during dinner and had good examples as to table manners at a holiday dinner.  Also, there was an adult or two to help cut food, get seconds, etc.  And it was a lot of fun.  (I often chose the “children’s” table after my children were grown.)  After all, I could always talk with the adults, but to get a child to sit down and talk to me when there was lots to do and many things to play with was more difficult.

Even now, with all adults, the youngest at dinner serves himself first.   And now often the youngest adult is over 40.  We do this even when we visit and it’s not a holiday.