Christmas Stockings

Not my day to add....but nonetheless....I am getting out all my Christmas stuff and remembering the Christmas stockings...once they were filled up...didn't they just get laid out on the couch? With a big orange in the toe and lots of nuts....don't remember ever getting any little gifts or anything inside...Didn't we just use one of dad's old long socks! Just fruit and nuts is what I remember....then I think we just put everyone's fruit and nuts all back into a big bowl....probably back where they were to begin with! ha ha

Christmas Caroling

Who can forget going Christmas caroling every year. I'm not sure if Mom was the driving force behind that or not, it might have been Dad that really wanted us to go and Mom that was supportive.

And I'm not sure if we did that as a Christmas Eve activity or other nights before Christmas. But I do remember Mom putting together small to large (depending on the family size where we were going) tins of homemade cinnamon rolls ready to cook and we would leave it at the carollee's house for their Christmas morning enjoyment. We would vary the songs we would perform at each family's house, maybe we'd do Rudolph if there were little kids and different special songs depending on the audience. We would always end the performance with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

Hopefully, we wouldn't be invited inside because that was always a bit awkward, although standing there singing and people watching us from their doorstep was not exactly unawkward. It's the kind of thing you would only do in a group, right? But it's a great memory, thanks to Mom.

Maybe most unforgettable would be the times we went to the Blades and always sang Silent Night so Oma could sing along in German. Mom: "Oma loves that".