The Ghosts of Christmas Past ...

Now that the out-of-town family has gone back to their homes I'm sitting here thinking about memories of Christmas past.

My family has always gone for the "serial" Christmas celebration.  A few days before Christmas, Mom and Dad would load us up into the car to drive around Tulsa and look at Christmas decorations.  Then we'd go home to open presents.

One of my earliest memories is of waking up in the middle of the night and watching Santa Claus leaning towards the fireplace.  I had been sleeping on the sleeper sofa in Grandma and Grandpa Halls' home on their farm just north of Siloam Springs.  I'm reasonably sure this was a dream ... but the one constant about Christmas was that we NEVER spent Christmas day at home.

We usually woke up Christmas morning on the farm with Grandma and Grandad Sisk ... since there were fewer people there and more sleeping space.  The Christmas tree was always one they had found on the farm, cut down, and decorated with old glass ornaments.  We'd wake up Christmas morning and open presents and, after a hearty farm style breakfast, head in to visit Aunt Annie and Mary to open the next round of presents and eat more food.  Then there'd be a traditional Christmas pot luck lunch with the Carter family at Reba's house or a traditional Christmas feast with the Hall family at Grandma and Grandpa Hall's house.  Mid afternoon we'd head to the Halls if we had eaten lunch with the Carters or the Carters if we had eaten at the Halls ... and open more presents and more food.  Generally Christmas was a marathon eating day!

Since Judy and I were one of very few youngsters on the Sisk/Carter side of the family, we got lots of individual attention.  The farm house didn't have central heat ... only a wood burning stove that wasn't putting out much warmth by morning.  Some winter mornings it was hard to get out from under the pile of blankets into the cold air, but somehow it was easier on Christmas morning.  I remember the peanut brittle that Grandma made and helping Grandad make popcorn balls!

There were generally around 10-15 kids, plus Uncles and Aunts when we gathered at the Hall's house.  Grandma Hall always made something for everyone ... and had to work most of the year to do it.  She knitted and crocheted hats, vests, mittens, sweaters, etc so that everyone had a package to open.  The Christmas tree I remember the most was a Norfork Pine house plant that eventually grew so tall I'm not sure how they ever got it out of the house.  The tree has birds' nests and birds year round as decorations, but a few extra decorations were added for Christmas.

The family farm is long gone, as are many of our connections to Siloam Springs.  We've got other Christmas traditions now, but I hope my kids have fond memories as they look back at our family Christmas gatherings.