December Meme
Dec. 26th, 2014 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
la_samtyrToday's topic: Birthdays
A lot of people know this as Boxing Day or St. Stephen's Day but to me it will always be Grandma's Birthday.
(More under the cut because I tend to yak a lot and go off on tangents. Sorry.)
My Grandma R. (Mom's mother) was born on this day, which meant that the holiday season was even more hectic and busy than usual.
Grandma and Mom (and me) would start major holiday baking *before* Thanksgiving because any of the family who weren't able to get away for Christmas came to visit for Thanksgiving. The baking marathon would continue through Christmas and on into the New Year. There was also a large group that often showed up during the summer too, usually for the 4th of July.
Since Mom's side of the family was very large and extended (I am talking *big*, as in around 20 - 100 family & friends showing up at various times from T'Day through Christmas/New Year's Eve/Day), this meant that there were always people coming and going during the holidays and *everyone* (i.e., grownups) wanted to have a special visit with Grandma -- which meant that all of the kids would wander over to our place (my parents and I) since we had the dubious fortune of living next door (and yes, I mean that literally.) And the adult males would come over as well, to watch the football games on tv and drink beer with my dad.
Back then, I was still young enough and air-headed enough to think this was a lot of fun -- and yes, it was in some ways. But it was also a tremendous amount of pressure and stress and "not-fun" stuff, and Mom and Grandma tended to bear the brunt of it.
I think the smallest holiday meal I remember was about a dozen people; most of them (meals) were 20+. In the summer it wasn't so bad because we could be outside. But winter? That was harder. For one thing, the men all watched football. In those days, that meant only one tv and three channels, so us kids had to find something 'quiet' to do so as not to interrupt the game. (And that was tricky because Monopoly is not a quiet or relaxing game. Scrabble, yes. Chess/checkers, yes. But not Monopoly.)
After I graduated high school, I became much more aware of just how much work all of this entailed which meant things were less and less less 'fun' and almost a time to dread. Of course, after Grandma died, people came less and less to visit. It was almost as if they forgot where we lived, y'know? (Funny how they could always find their way to Grandma's house even if they were in Antarctica...)
Gradually the holidays became quieter until now I do very little. But I'd give almost anything to be able to visit with my grandma one last time.
A lot of people know this as Boxing Day or St. Stephen's Day but to me it will always be Grandma's Birthday.
(More under the cut because I tend to yak a lot and go off on tangents. Sorry.)
My Grandma R. (Mom's mother) was born on this day, which meant that the holiday season was even more hectic and busy than usual.
Grandma and Mom (and me) would start major holiday baking *before* Thanksgiving because any of the family who weren't able to get away for Christmas came to visit for Thanksgiving. The baking marathon would continue through Christmas and on into the New Year. There was also a large group that often showed up during the summer too, usually for the 4th of July.
Since Mom's side of the family was very large and extended (I am talking *big*, as in around 20 - 100 family & friends showing up at various times from T'Day through Christmas/New Year's Eve/Day), this meant that there were always people coming and going during the holidays and *everyone* (i.e., grownups) wanted to have a special visit with Grandma -- which meant that all of the kids would wander over to our place (my parents and I) since we had the dubious fortune of living next door (and yes, I mean that literally.) And the adult males would come over as well, to watch the football games on tv and drink beer with my dad.
Back then, I was still young enough and air-headed enough to think this was a lot of fun -- and yes, it was in some ways. But it was also a tremendous amount of pressure and stress and "not-fun" stuff, and Mom and Grandma tended to bear the brunt of it.
I think the smallest holiday meal I remember was about a dozen people; most of them (meals) were 20+. In the summer it wasn't so bad because we could be outside. But winter? That was harder. For one thing, the men all watched football. In those days, that meant only one tv and three channels, so us kids had to find something 'quiet' to do so as not to interrupt the game. (And that was tricky because Monopoly is not a quiet or relaxing game. Scrabble, yes. Chess/checkers, yes. But not Monopoly.)
After I graduated high school, I became much more aware of just how much work all of this entailed which meant things were less and less less 'fun' and almost a time to dread. Of course, after Grandma died, people came less and less to visit. It was almost as if they forgot where we lived, y'know? (Funny how they could always find their way to Grandma's house even if they were in Antarctica...)
Gradually the holidays became quieter until now I do very little. But I'd give almost anything to be able to visit with my grandma one last time.
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Date: 2014-12-27 03:50 pm (UTC)Me too. And my aunts and cousins and both of my parents - I miss those days too. A lot.
**hugs you**
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Date: 2014-12-27 09:29 pm (UTC)My DH's birthday is the day after Christmas so that makes for a lot of shopping, a lot of 'celebration' and nothing quiet at all. Add in the vagueries of weather, etc, and you've got a holiday season that is anything except relaxing.
It's too bad that people didn't continue to keep in close contact after your grandmother died. Someone in the family will want to codify all of your history, etc., and a great opportunity to interview a lot of people has been lost.
- Erulisse (one L)
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Date: 2014-12-27 09:33 pm (UTC)