The beginning of such memories always began with one of my favorite pasttimes - the road trip there. Said road trip always culminated with turning the corner into my grandparents neighborhood. You knew you were getting close when we passed the neighbor electrician's house and his National Lampoon-style Christmas light display. I often remember dozing in the car and the brightness of the lights waking me up!
Depending on the year and who else was staying at the house I would occasionally sleep in one of the upstairs bedrooms, and sometimes in the downstairs room that led up to the kitchen. I remember waking up to the sounds of everyone having breakfast in the kitchen through the slatted doors. For Christmas trips we never slept in the back rec room that were our most slept-in sleeping quarters, since that was where the Christmas tree was and were Santa Claus left the presents. Which reminds me of the year they agreed to leave a video camera in the rec room to catch Santa - the next morning we discovered that it had been set up next to his plate of cookies and we got to see his arm reach in for his cookies in his red suit.
Christmas Eve day was always a great day of hanging out with the grandparents and often watching old Christmas movies on TV (while Dad and Grandpa watched various sporting events in the living room). In the evening, we'd get dressed up and head to mass at their local church. One thing that stands out is trying to find a parking space since the church is in the center of the town - and that part of town had cobbled streets (not sure if it still does). This sticks in my head, because at this age I was a tomboy and was usually wearing small-heeled shoes which were already a challenge for me to walk in, let alone on cobbles. Additionally, going to New York this time of year often meant ice, and even snow - which was odd for us since we lived in North Carolina and Virginia during my youth. This was often a time of year we would get to build actually snowmen and play in the snow - and for Christmas to boot! On the way to Christmas Eve mass we would discuss whether or not the local priest would be giving the homily or if it was a visiting priest - as the New Yorkers often talked faster making for a shorter mass :) Once we got back to the house my dad continued our annual tradition of reading Twas the Night Before Christmas to us. I remember one year it got a bit out of hand in altering the original words and Mom had to come in to get us to quiet down (Dad was definitely the instigator, and this added to the tradition each year of making up the best new words).
Christmas morning was of course fantastic. Grandma always gave the best boxed presents that matched a theme of whatever we were into that year. Grandma's dinner were always fantastic - regardless of it being a holiday. Often the day after Christmas we would go to another relative's house, they would come to us, and one year we even went into New York City! I remember after big family dinners all the cousins and aunts and grandma would gather at the dining room table and play Michigan Rummy.
Other random memories from Christmas was working on puzzles (always at Grandma's!), their silver (or white) fake Christmas tree, and enjoying their fireplace (seeing as how we did not have one in our house until we moved to Alaska). Growing up moving around so much, their home always felt like home even when new locations did not.
Christmas to me, is my grandparents.
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