Winter has arrived in Michigan – we’re on our 3rd day of heavy snow – yesterday was swirly, twirly snow spinning down and around and to the ground. Today snow is falling quickly, like rain. It’s cold and beautiful and slippery!
“It’s a good day for a house,” Mom used to say. Yes indeed.
Hubbs is making omelettes and I’m wrapping presents. Christmas tunes play on the radio. We’re cozy, tucked in and content.
Reminiscing last night about the Christmases of our childhood, Hubbs and I laughed at how our parents always bought us board games. Well 1), because we asked for them but 2) setting up the board and figuring out the rules kept us all occupied for hours. In my home our dining room table often had a board game set there on a rather permanent basis – Monopoly, Clue, Masterpiece, just to name a few.
My oldest sister was the keeper of the rules and my youngest brother was the one most likely to bend them. Oldest brother sometimes played and sometimes he didn’t – by my middle sister and I were fierce competitors. The real fun started when our cousins and aunts/uncles arrived. Kids games were quickly moved to a back bedroom as the adults took over for Cribbage, Rummy, 7 card stud and Whist.
Hubby and I remember smokey clouds above the card table and counter tops covered in nuts, treats and ingredients for various adult beverages – Caesars, Harvey Wall-bangers and Rum/Rye and Coke. Nobody over did it, Bing and Dean played on the record player and sometimes they danced. Ladies wore dresses and pearls, slingback heels and peep toe shoes. Gentlemen sported dress slacks and buttoned-down shirts, jackets and sometimes a tie or a sweater. I remember Dad grinning as he took Mom for a twirl around the kitchen before guests arrived – I watched in my Church dress and white tights. Those moments stay close even though they’re both gone.
Coca-Cola was a hot commodity, too – that was a treat we rarely got. At Christmas time Dad would buy a few cases of pop to keep in the basement (ever cold) and if we were good – and only IF – we might get to split a glass of pop with a sister or cousin. Ooh what a treat.
Sipping on a glass of Ginger Ale, stealing Aunt Irene’s famous peanut-butter balls and winning at Masterpiece — now that’s a Christmas vacation I can only dream about today.
Forgery!! – A favorite from my childhood
**When you think back to Christmases of your childhood – what comes to mind? Did you play board games or card games in your family?Which ones? What tastes and smells take you back to the Christmases of your dreams?
