Christmas Gift Exchange

I got another one, I shared this last year too. We had the family artificial Christmas tree that my parents got in the 60s, used it for years. It had a wooden pole that had the colors in the holes that matched the branches with the same colors on the ends, to make sure the tree was shaped correctly in that triangle shape from top to bottom. Well, after years, the colors wore off the ends of the branches and the tree sometimes would have the bigger branches near the middle rather than the bottom, and we had to move them.....again. We put it up in a hurry, remember we were boys, 5 boys one girl, so six kids. We also had those colored 4 watt bulbs and we had to clip them on the branches. Dad told us to be careful and not break them. Then my mother would save the tinsel on a cardboard piece and slip them in a bread plastic bag, we would would use the same tinsel from year to year. We would just throw the tinsel on the branches and my mom would get upset at us boys for just throwing it Willy Nilly in clumps on the tree, she would tell us to drape it more sparingly in places. Lastly, we put the cardboard manger scene up and place the figurines in the manger. My mom did not like it when I placed my green Army men by baby Jesus. I thought the manger looked like a cool hide out for them. We usually had a Christmas album playing on the record player, usually the old classics, while we put up the tree and manger scene. And we always liked to watch Charlie Brown Christmas, or the Grinch Stole Christmas.
One year my sister got a Barbie townhouse with an elevator. I used to use the elevator to put my Star Trek action figures in to go up and down and pretend they came on the bridge of the Enterprise. I never did get the Star Trek Bridge set with the transporter.
 
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Now, I like gifts, but I have grown fond of placing items in the stockings rather than trying to get a lot of big gifts, and it makes it challenging to think what gifts would fit in the stockings. My daughter got smart and got a HUGE stocking, just in case I found a bigger gift!! :D And she still has the smaller stocking. :p
 
Not sure if we've been doing it long enough to qualify as a tradition but for many years we've been going to the same tree farm the Sunday after Thanksgiving to get our Christmas Tree. We'll have a big breakfast that morning then fill a thermos with cocoa before hitting the road. When we get there we'll walk for a couple hours looking at hundreds of trees that are really nice until we find "the one". My son helps me cut it down then there are several young men riding around on tractors who take care of the rest. I told my wife that when I was little finding a tree as nice as the worst looking tree on the farm would have been reason to celebrate.

Growing up my brother and I looked forward to the day when we would take a ride looking for a tree. More often than not we would end up with a Cedar or White Pine. The most memorable tree was one we got when I was a teenager. We had been searching for a long time when we found a tall tree close to the rode. It was much too tall for our home but the top looked perfect. Against my mother's wishes my father agreed to let me climb the tree and cut the top. Everything went smoothly and I was as excited as I was proud when I climbed down. I could see the look on my parents faces as my father stood the "far from perfect" tree up. My parents are not ones to waste anything so we headed home to make the most of our tree. I can't describe how disappointed I felt inside but the disappointment went away once the tree was decorated. To this day my mother still says it was the nicest tree we ever had.
 
I was wondering if anyone actually tried to find a tree that was not the biggest or prettiest, much like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, to give it a chance and decorate it, to show that even though it was not the so-called "best tree", it was still a good tree, not given up on. You know there is a moral to this thought coming, that I am so glad that our Lord does not give up on us simply because we are not the best people, we are full of sin, but still claims us as His own, and makes us something special through His gift on Christmas Day. He loved the unloveable. We just have to accept His gift into our hearts. Something to think about.
 
We put up our fake tree too, very thin about 7 feet tall, decorated. We, mostly my wife, is decorating the house too. My daughter hopefully will make it for Thanksgving and we wanted it up for her to see. Growing up I never did go with my family to cut a real tree, but after I got married, we went a few times with my wife's grandparents to get a real tree. That was cold, went to a tree farm and I remember how hard I had trying to cut the base of the tree with a saw, until her grandfather held the top of the tree to ease the binding on the bottom. I was a surbabn kid, did not use saws too often!! :D

When my daughter was younger we would also go to a certain section of town to see the lights on the houses. One near by was known as Ho Ho Land. And another closer to home was put up by a local family that owned a bakery in town, a lot of cool displays. Our little town would also have some of the bigger homes in the old section of town ( where the money is) all decorated with fancy old fashioned and grandiose trees and decorations on a Candlelight Tour. A lot of them professionally decorated. That was fun, and I have not been on that tour for years. Old Victorian homes with big parlors and entry ways.

Some of the most fond memories involve Christmas Eve services at our church, we sang hymns, had families sing together or read poems, very meaningful and we passed a lit candle to each one beside each other, and sang Silent Night.
 
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Our church is looking into an AM transmitter to cast the service out, and everyone can drive up, and rather than passing out candles, it will be bring your own light via flashlight, cell phone, candle, etc to avoid close contact passing it out. Since it will be outdoors anyway, and probably cold, the service will be about 20 minutes.
 
JK Knives said:
We have a street in town that they call Candycane Lane, everyone decorates.
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my dad has a cool neighborhood like that, they have a couple "Candycane Lanes"

where I live they aren't necessarily so intense, but we have a couple well done up houses here too

It makes me happy to see people in the holiday "cheer"

festive, like :thumbsup:

time to break out the hot rum drinks!
 
Hijo de Luna said:
my dad has a cool neighborhood like that, they have a couple "Candycane Lanes"

where I live they aren't necessarily so intense, but we have a couple well done up houses here too

It makes me happy to see people in the holiday "cheer"

festive, like :thumbsup:

time to break out the hot rum drinks!
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yay man!! @Hijo, noticed your avatar and the name, I guess you are a late night person?
 
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cbach8tw said:
yay man!! @Hijo, noticed your avatar and the name, I guess you are a late night person?
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some nights, some night

but I'm trying to get away from days that end at 4am and start at 4pm :rolleyes:

working and studying and depression/etc do not a cool combo make

I can manage either one with pleasure, but not the dogpile.

I'm anticipating the holidaaze approaching already, so I can have some external factor to blame again for this horrid malaise

used to be a in bed at 2130 wake up at 0630, but that has definitely changed after hitting 30...
 
I miss my parents of course, since thy have gone on. After my mother passed, my dad and two of my brothers would come to our house to celebrate Christmas for a couple of days, I miss that.Dad would like it because that was one of the few times he could have Oyster stew, not exactly good for your cholesterol, but it was good on Christmas morning. We used oysters bought at a local mom and pop shop, 2% milk, butter, salt and pepper, and some bacon grease. Good stuff.

Does anyone have any funny stories of gifts that were just not quite right or a joke? You know, the kind that says it is the thought that counts, but in actuality we know was just a bad idea? My father liked the old Andy Griffith show, so I found a CD of him singing old church hymns.....It was much later in Andy's life so his voice had gotten a little shaky. Later on, my father gave it back to me. :D I think I have it in the middle consul in the truck. I should just play it to remind me of him.keep the stories or traditions coming, I have enjoyed this thread too.

I just realized. I may have gotten off track from the Christmas exchange with this thread with my stories. Is that ok or should I start post in the Whatever thread?

Oh well, until I find out, I have another story. While not at Christmas, it is from Thanksgving. We used to eat at my wife's parents for the holiday. While the food was cooking, we would get in a vehicle and just drive down some country roads for a little excursion, my wife's grandfather would just relate stories of how things used to look before all this modernization!! We would see a few trucks parked on the side of the road as some people kept alive the hunting tradition on Thanksgving morning. Also our church would have breakfast in the fellowship hall for early morning hunters who wanted a warm meal before they went out to hunt. I never actually helped with that ministry but thought it was nice.
 
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