The 12 Ghosts of Christmases Past. . .

 

Bad Dad and the Young Master at sunset on Christmas Day 2017.

Every family who observes Christian tradition, whether avid church-goers or not, has its own way of celebrating the Christmas season.  And as many of us do at this time of year, I've recently been thinking back over various Christmases past, how old I was, where I was, the people involved, and what we did to mark the holiday.  Here are a few highlights that come to mind. . .

 

1) Christmas 1972 (Saint Louis, Missouri) -- I was just six and received one of the most wonderful material gifts ever from Santa Claus. No, not a C+ for my Christmas theme, or even a Daisy Red Ryder Carbine Action Air Rifle, but rather a Lionel train with a figure eight of track!  No one had to worry about me shooting my eye out Christmas Morning though.  Instead, I played with the train set all day, throughout Christmas Week, and into the new year, enjoying the train and adding a few things to the basic set-up for several years thereafter as and when weekly allowance, subsequent birthdays, and Christmases permitted.

2) Christmas 1973 (Barto, Pennsylvania) -- 10 days or more ahead of Christmas, I recall watching the snow pile up outside the French doors to the floodlit side-yard with a wood fire on the hearth and watching The Walton's A Homecoming on television with my late maternal grandparents one Saturday evening during id-December.  And 1on the 24th, the midnight Christmas Eve (genuine) candlelight service at Saint Gabriel's Episcopal Church (Douglasville, PA) in unheated colonial chapel with plenty of snow on the ground, traditional carols led by the choir but the full congregation joined in with a gust rarely seen now.  There was also family tobogganing (grandparents included) a few times during Christmas Week on the big hill (quite steep in places) that ran from the meadow a good 200 yards down to the creek, into which I crashed through the ice later that same winter in January or February.  Luckily, only about 18" deep, so just wet lower legs, boots, and forearms.

3) Christmas 1977 (Barto, Pennsylvania) -- The snow began falling Thanksgiving weekend, and continued into April the next spring every few days.  We were in the midst of what some still refer to as The Snowy 70s.  That was also the year my sister improvised a luge track down the steep hill from the dog run in the woods behind the house down between the summer kitchen and spring house, around the corner of the kitchen stopping finally at the large Yew Tree just above the creek that ran in front of the house.  It became more extensive (and slightly treacherous for pedestrians trudging up the hill to feed and exercise the dogs) with each new snowfall and subsequent shoveling by my grandfather.

4) Christmas 1981 (Barto, Pennsylvania)-- Pre-Christmas snow that year and two open houses hosted by my grandmother and mother.  We had the Christmas tree decorated already in the living room, freshly cut yew boughs, and 12" tapers in the first and second floor windows, protected by hurricane shades, snow all over the ground outside, kerosene lanterns at strategic places to aid people coming and going from the area we used for parking across the stream, over the bridge, up the stone steps, along the front walk, up some more steps to the front porch and door.  Lights in the Norfolk Pine to the left of the front door, sleigh bells jingled as the door opened and closed, and wood fires going in both fireplaces.  And friends, family, and neighbors enjoying themselves in the spirit of the season.  One more magical experience that crosses my mind each year at this time.

5) Christmas 1983 (Barto, Pennsylvania) -- That year, my maternal uncle and aunt joined us with a new cousin born the previous July.  He was working on his preliminary/comprehensive exams for his Ph.D., so my aunt and cousin had already been staying with us post-Thanksgiving, to provide him with the mental space necessary to study and write.  After a snowy Christmas Eve with a midnight candlelight service at Saint Gabriel's once again, Christmas Day dawned bright sunny but extremely cold with several inches of snow on the ground.  The eight of us enjoyed a big breakfast, courtesy of my grandfather, fires in the fireplaces, and a day filled with gifts, laughter, and conversation.  Uncle, aunt, and cousin headed out in the cold late in the day for the trip to her parents outside of Philadelphia to have Christmas with them while the festivities continued between the five of us as we enjoyed Christmas dinner and dessert with coffee.  After the others climbed upstairs to bed, my grandmother and I sat by the fire in the living room as it died down and chatted about the day, as we each looked through books given to us by loved ones earlier in the day, while listening to BBC World Service playing in the background.  Already the morning of the 26th in the UK, I distinctly remember the half-hour Christmas edition of the musical request show Anything Goes with the late Bob Holness.  

6) Christmas 1988 (Barto, Pennsylvania and Southampton, UK) -- Christmas Eve, dinner, and gifts with my sister and grandparents at their house although I was living on my own 20 minutes away at that point.  Spent the night at their place in my old room and spent all day Christmas Day flying to London-Heathrow -- just days after Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland --  to join my mother and step-father in Southampton, England for the rest of Christmas Week and New Year's celebrations.  I somehow managed to wrangle two weeks off work at the busiest time of year for retail grocery establishments.  Anyway, I arrived early in the day on Boxing Day and was met in the Arrivals area by Mom and Stepdad.  We drove back to Southampton where I had a nap for a few hours followed by gifts and Christmas dinner late that afternoon and early evening.  I even brought a can or two of Libby's Pumpkin Pie Mix to my mother since she couldn't get that in Britain at the time.  She called me a few days before Christmas to remind me not to forget it.  Anyway, a wonderful two weeks followed with trips to Bath Abbey, Winchester and Salisbury cathedrals,trips to London, Stonehenge, and Lymington among other places plus a charming New Year's Eve party at the home of a colleague of Stepdad's during which I met and became acquainted with a bunch of academics from Britain, North Africa, and the Middle East.  An entertaining and interesting evening, not to mention visit, which I'll never forget.

7) Christmas 1989 (Barto, Pennsylvania) -- We waited to celebrate Christmas that year until Mom and Stepdad arrived in this country from the UK on the way for Stepdad top take on a new position at the University of Pittsburgh after the New Year.  So, Granny and I sat all day listening to Christmas music, talking, solving all of the world's problems as my grandmother used to say, and enjoying each other's company, joined now and then by my grandfather.  We had a fire on the hearth, a lovely evening meal for which my sister joined us, and the house decorated for the season.  Christmas arrived in earnest on the 29th that year when Mom and Stepdad finally arrived stateside.  If anyone ever tells you animals lack emotion, they don't know what they are talking about.  I'll always remember how my mother's dog Travis, who resided quite happily with my grandparents in her absence, danced around, hugged her, and cried when she walked in, and he heard her voice again.  It took an hour for him to calm down, but he didn't let Mom out of his sight for several days thereafter.  That reunion alone alone made Christmas '89 memorable.  Given the chance, (some) animals are more like us that we might realize.  In any case, Mom, Stepdad, and Travis headed off to their new house in Pittsburgh On January 03, 1990 to meet the container (loaded up in late November) coming from Britain.

8) Christmas 2000 (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) -- Already ensconced at Mom and Stepdad's Pittsburgh home for the holidays after a couple of short flights from Minneapolis-Saint Paul where I lived and attended grad school, I realized a day of two before Christmas, or possibly on Christmas Eve, how much I missed this crazy German-Swedish-American Ph. D. student with freckles and bright blue eyes who I had met in September of that year.  We actually sat just a couple of desks away from each other in a large office we shared with several other graduate teaching assistants and teaching specialists.  Anyway, the eventual Grand Duchess had just defended her dissertation successfully (we actually were both in the department for a few brief moments the day after her post-defense celebration to turn in our respective grades for the courses we each taught).  I knew she was with her parents somewhere in the Philadelphia area but had no address.  Otherwise, I would have borrowed a car and driven through Christmas night to join her and her family although she had no idea how I felt yet, so turning up out of the blue like that might have been a little awkward.  But I certainly mulled it over for several days thereafter.

9) Christmas 2004 (Merida, Yucatan, Mexico) -- The future Grand Duchess -- We finally tied the knot in June '06 -- joined my parents and me a few days after Christmas at their place in Mexico to meet the family as it were and enjoy the ongoing celebration of La Navidad, which lasts much longer than our commercially driven and dominated Christmas season here in the US, which is over to all intents and purposed by 12:01am on December 26th.  It's very different and much longer lasting in Mexico.  A genuine season if you will.  That visit was fun-filled as we introduced Sonja to the city, Yucatecan culture, and the wonderfully wacky expatriate community of which my parents were a part for almost 20 years.  Thanks to the antics of Mom's restaurateur friend Alberto, in particular, I have rarely laughed that hard before, or since.  You simply couldn't believe his observations about people, life, and the world.  His was a riotously funny, no holds barred approach.  Best of all, Sonja fit right into the family unit and life around us with no effort.  From my vantage point, it was as though she had always been part of things.  It's funny how when that last piece of the puzzle falls into place, often quite unwittingly, you just sort of know it.

10) Christmas Eve 2010 (Bloomington, Illinois) -- Walking around our Bloomington, Illinois neighborhood in the heavy falling snow during the afternoon with  the one-year old Young Master on my back while holding hands with the Grand Duchess.  The streets were completely still except for the odd passing car.  Our next door neighbor at the time, a lovely Canadian gentleman named Rob, noticed us through his front window and offered to capture a few family Kodak moments against the backdrop of the snowy sidewalk before we returned to our own house and mugs of hot chocolate.  We've got one or two of his photographs framed and hanging on the walls now, so the Grand Duchess and I reminisce about that particular Christmas Eve often.

11) Christmas 2017 (East Lansing, Michigan) -- Many of the nine years since we came to Michigan in Summer 2015, we have had cold and accumulating snow already in November and December (and once in late October) before things really crank up as January approaches.  In 2017, we had snow on the ground by mid-December, and it hung around for quite some time thereafter.  On Christmas Day that year, following gifts, music, and the familiar nibbling on seasonal treats, we suited up and drove five minutes up the road to a small network of trails and a massive sledding hill for two hours of family skiing and tobogganing during the latter half of the afternoon.  We finally headed  back to the car about 4:30, as the sun began setting, for the quick trip home, hot showers for everyone, a change of clothes, and Christmas Dinner.  When she was a girl and young woman at home, the Grand Duchess' family always had the BIG holiday meal on Christmas Eve with reheated dishes  and a few added things on Christmas Day, a procedure we continue to observe in our own house.  Anyway, the photograph at the top of this post shows the Young Master and I making our way to the car that Christmas Day, wonderfully tired, relaxed, and content.

12) Christmas 2022 (East Lansing, Michigan) -- Another Christmas with cold, snow, and family skiing on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, and on into New Year's.  Of course snow is not necessary for memorable Christmas celebrations, and there are many areas of the world where it's warm or even hot in December, depending on where in the world a person might find him or herself.  We can in part, I suppose, blame Courier and Ives for our idealized, snowy Christmas wishes.  That said, and to my mind, the presence of snow and possibility for skiing during the Christmas and New Year's period adds an extra something to the already remarkable season that makes the convergence of family, religious observance(s), and holiday meals or treats even more special. 

 

There have of course been other Christmas that were memorable in my more than half-century on this mortal coil, but these dozen stand out manly thanks to the family members present at the time.  I hope Christmas 2024 might join the list, snow or not.  If you have read this far, thank you for joining me on this Advent walk down memory lane during a chilly, gray afternoon here in Mid-Michigan.  The warmest compliments of the season to you and yours.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

Family skiing during Christmas Week 2022.  The Young Master is even taller now almost two years later.