A Christmas Story from me; When I was a child, Christmas was very special, because it was a time for my family to come together, Aunts, Uncles, Grand Parents, and Cousins. It was a time in my life that was most memorable because we Italian’s knew how to celebrate the birth of Christ. I can remember the Latin, the smell of incent when we would attend Christmas Mass at St Mathews Catholic Church, it was a site to see. Let me back up to few days before Christmas, my father would drag a huge Frazier Fur into the house to be used for a Christmas tree and my mother and him would decorate it with lights, colored balls and tinsel. I would sit on the floor and watch the old Lionel train whistle around the tree, to only derail after a couple of laps and then hear my father cuss as he put it back on the tracks. Lol Christmas eve was really a tense time for me because of the anticipation of Santa Clause coming. “ yes I did believed in Santa Clause up until I was 8” I remember leaving out cookies and milk for old Santa near the tree, so he would leave me the toys that I wished for. I remember my mother Muffy, telling me to get upstairs to bed, but I was so excited I could not sleep. I would lay there so I could hear the thump of the sled on the roof, but I could not last because then I would finally succumb to Mr. Sandman. Christmas morning I would awake to the sounds of the train under the tree. I would run downstairs to see the glory of the lights and what Santa had left me. lol I have no clue why my parents wrapped all those gifts, because I made a mess of the place in a blink. Lol It was a glories time. Christmas dinner was on the big table in the dining room with the Christmas Turkey in the center waiting for my relatives to come. We had candy’s, pies, cakes and Italian pastry’s on the buffet. It was great. Then as I got older, I left home for the Army, at the time in 1964, it was what young men did. I served 3 years in the military, only going home once for Christmas. When I did return it was not the same, the closeness of the family had faded with the death of some of my relatives. Christmas in the military was ok for what it was; we had turkey, mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, yams and all the fixings. I remember a fellow soldier who was in the Vietnamese Army that I invited to the mess hall for Christmas dinner, I had some looks and a few negative comments from other US Soldiers but they got over it, because I had a reputation for not taking bull shit well. Lol I was taught from birth that Christmas time was a time to give and celebrate the birth of Christ. I was taught not to be selfish and share because like that time with the Vietnamese soldier, who more than likely is not on this earth today. He had nothing; he never experienced what I have experienced on Christmas Day. My gift on Christmas day is to make another person happy. If you have family and want to share the feeling I get, then invite someone home to share Christmas with, then you will know the true meaning as I do. I am sorry to say the family died off but they left me with the good memories of Christmas Past.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 20:55:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015