52 Ancestors Week 51: Holiday

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme for Week 51 is "Holiday." There are numerous holidays at the end of the year. Do any of them spark memories of an ancestor?

Wrapped and ready to go!

    Christmas 2021 is only two days away at the time of this blog's posting. What better time is there to talk about the Christmases of years gone by? I've already discussed how my family would have Christmas eve parties where large amounts of seafood was served and how my grandma Ollie and her sisters would come over and join in on the fun. We'd have squid served in a variety of ways, haddock, shrimp and so much more. This is normally called "The Feast of the Seven Fishes" in Italian-American households. It's a thing. Look it up!

Christmas 1986: The '80s is strong with this photo.

    What I didn't talk about much in the blogs was how my grandmother would stay overnight and celebrate Christmas with us the following day. We'd pick her up at her house in Haverhill and she would sleep in our den. My grandmother spent every Christmas with us ever since grandpa Marco passed away in 1983. So, as a result she was always over at our house up until she passed away in 2002.

   I remember one Christmas with her pretty well. It was the Christmas of 1986. The reason why I remember this so well is because of how much fun my brother and I had that morning. While the presents were awesome, we definitely enjoyed having our grandmother there as well as my mom's sister, Linda. Presents are cool and all. But, having family with us was pretty awesome, too!

    I woke up early as kids usually do on Christmas morning and snuck into my grandmother's room. I was seven years old that day and my eighth birthday was only two days away. Grandma was just stirring and I smiled when she saw me. I sat on the bed and we talked for a bit about Christmas when she was little before my brother came in to get me. He wanted me to go downstairs and see the presents! I looked at him like "Dude, they'll be there!" Ollie said to go on downstairs. She was getting up anyway. The noise probably woke my parents and my aunt up, too!

Celtic pride since 1976, eh, James?

    My brother made a fair point. There were a lot of great presents under the tree and he wanted to dig into them. I'm not going to lie. I also wanted to dive in and see what Transformers or other toys we received. Jim and I staked out our corners of the tree and prepared to dig in!

    Suddenly, my aunt Linda came downstairs to take the dogs out and there was an even bigger ruckus. Jim and I look at each other like we were busted. Ratted out by a Britanny who needed to go outside! Our dog at the time was Tux and I think I posted a picture of him here before. He was a good boy.

    My parents eventually came downstairs once the dog was taken care of. We ran up to them and asked if we could open our presents. We didn't make a noise going downstairs! We were just ratted out by forty pounds of liver and white fur.  Our parents said we could open presents AFTER we had our breakfast. That was just plain cruel and unusual punishment to seven and ten year old boys We eventually agreed and had our breakfast.

Christmas joy right there! 

     My mother took a picture of the tree with all of the presents under them and we dug in. Naturally our presents were various era toys such as Transformers, Go-Bots and the odd Lego set or two. Every once in a while there would be clothes. Those got opened LAST! One of the best presents my brother and I ever got that year was a giftset of five transforming planes called "Aerialbots" who transformed into a giant robot called "Superion". That was the height of cool in 1986. Quiet.

    I noticed another present under the tree and I thought it was for me. I grabbed it and my father told me to check the tag. I was like "Okay...."

   

 I looked at the tag and it was from my parents to my grandmother. I laughed and then the following pic happened.

   I guess I got too excited during my dive that I forgot I was supposed to also hand out presents to everyone as I went through the presents. Whoops. Lesson learned. Hand out presents to everyone while digging for your own stuff. That's a much better look isn't it? I was seven! Give me a break!

    I don't remember what she got. But, I always laugh at this picture. It makes me look like I'm reluctantly giving the present to her. I'm not! Honestly! I do wonder what was going on in my aunt and grandmother's head at the time. I've gotten much better and handing out presents!

Yeah, This didn't last...

    Watching Jim and I open presents was of course our grandmother who always had a smile on her face and maybe a glisten of a tear in her eye at the same time. I noticed it when I was a kid and thought nothing of it. Now that I'm older, I imagined she was thinking of her husband, our grandfather. She always thought of him and I remember her saying something to the effect of how much he'd have enjoyed seeing my brother and I opening stuff on Christmas morning. I could tell now that she probably missed him. I always gave her a hug on Christmas morning and I supposed that helped her a lot.

    And speaking of hugs we have this pic on the right. Nice hug between brothers at Christmastime, right? Joy to the world and all that. Five minutes after this photo was taken the two of us resumed the hostilities between two warring factions of sentient transforming robots. The fate of the planet Earth hung in the balance! I love my mom's smile in this picture. She knew full well the peace would not last and once again the heroic Autobots would be facing the evil Decepticons.

Thank God I'm out of that  yellow onesie....

        I will always associate Christmas with the fun times I shared with my family. Christmas is a time to make memories and I have a ton of great ones with grandma Ollie since she lived closer to us than our other grandparents.  She just seemed to enjoy watching my brother and I play with our toys and interact. There are many other pictures like these! Trust me!

    The Christmas of 1986 was special to me not because of the gifts and everything.  It was special to me because it's the first one I remember really well.  For whatever reason Christmases before that point are a haze. Call it old age! That's what my family calls it! Sure we spent other Christmases together before and after that date. But, when I think of Christmas with my family I think of that day. We were all together and that's what Christmas is all about. Being with family, having a great time and making memories. We had a great party with family and friends the night before and continued celebrating till New Years. That whole week was an event and we were so tired afterward. It was a good tired and I honestly wouldn't trade it for anything. But, I don't think anything comes close to the first one I remember so vividly and I'm so glad grandma Ollie was there to share it with us!

    Like I said. Christmas is about family and I'm forever grateful my grandmother was there to share the holidays with us. It just made the whole week from December 24th to New Years Day so much sweeter! 

See ya next time!

P.S. The Superion giftset goes for like 600 bucks on Ebay, now if it's mint in box. Wow. Imagine being stuck in a cardboard/Styrofoam prison since 1986. Let the toys be free!