Saturday, December 2, 2017

Second on the Second

From December 18, 2009, The Friday Five:

Five Christmas memories that were rather tragic at the time, but now are rather funny.

1a. When I was very little, we had a small, silver tinsel Christmas tree that stood on top of the coffee table. The ornaments were all the same. 4 dozen fuchsia with silver glitter balls. No lights. We had a spotlight that had a disk fitted over it. The disk was cut into 4 different colored quarters so whatever was illuminated would turn colors: red, green, yellow, blue. Like some psychedelic crack house.

1b. The reason we had the artificial tree was because The Brother (6 years my senior) climbed the real live Christmas tree at the age of two. Or rather he tried to climb it and the tree toppled over. Broken lights, broken ornaments, frightened baby. You would think by the time I arrived and was out of the toddler phase, the parents would have figured no one was going to try to scale the tree and gotten a real Christmas tree.

2. When I was 9 or 10 years old, Ma decorated the living room in what a fellow Italian once described to me as Nouvea Guinea. The sofa was white and gold and covered in plastic. Moss green and gold accents for curtains and throw pillows. The silver tree got dumped for one exactly like it in white. Four dozen gold ornaments, all the same, replaced the four dozen fuchsia and silver ornaments all the same. That year, I received a white and gold parka. A picture of me wearing the jacket was taken in front of the tree. I'm camouflaged.

3. Even though I felt bad about breaking some of the fuschia ornaments, I broke some on purpose. I wasn't fond of those pink ornaments.

4. When I was five years old and my cousin, Denise, was six. We had identical organza party dresses my mother bought for us. Hers was peach and mine was turquoise. We were visiting over her house (a triple decker in E. Boston). It was pretty close to Christmas and excitement and tension was high. I don't remember the cause, but we had a knock down, drag out, cat fight. Ruffled panties and petticoats whirling. Yelling and screaming as we yanked on each other's banana curls. Amid all this caterwauling in walked Santa Claus. Hand to God, the man himself! Red velvet coat, shiny black boots, and belt, red hat with white pompom and his snowy white beard. He yelled at us for being naughty and fighting. Threatened us with coal in our stockings. We instantly stopped fighting and started hugging each other, crying and consoling each other because we were getting coal for Christmas.

5a. Because The Brother was so much older than me, he must have gotten annoyed that he couldn't snoop around to see what gifts he was getting. I was 7 when he spilled the beans. Being the good friend I was, I decided to share the news with Himself. We grew up next door to each other. He's a year younger than me. I'm not sure he's quite forgiven me yet.

5b. To take the sting out of the news, The Brother took me on the Christmas gift fishing trip. He found where Ma had hidden the stash. All the gifts were wrapped. With infinite patience, he showed me how to carefully remove the tape, open one end of the package, and gingerly remove the item. We'd open things up oooh and aaah. Then he would slide the item back in the wrapping paper without tearing the paper! and seal the gift up. Ma had no idea the packages had ever been tampered with. On Christmas morning, we would act surprised in all the right places. By the way, my ma worked outside the home full time so we were left alone to our own devices. What your mama don't know, your mama don't mind. It's the reason I decided to stay home to raise my girls.

Do you have any funny Christmas memories?

This is part of Bleubeard and Elizabeth's Second Time Around. Want to play? Share an old blog post, any topic and post it again. Then link up with Bleubeard and Elizabeth to see what other Second Time Arounders have shared.

21 comments:

  1. Omg, we had the same colored disk light in front of our rotating tree when I was growing up (it was the IN THING back then after all) ... too funny lol

    Loved this post with all your personal stories/memories, these are the things we never forget I suppose. BTW, my brother and I fought pretty much all year long, but oddly enough, I used to read him the book, (still have it in fact) "The Night Before Christmas" just before bedtime on Christmas eve when we were kids (he is three years younger than I). You look so cute in that pic!

    Have a great weekend, CJ!

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    1. I recently saw the rotating light and almost bought it in a fit of nostalgia

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  2. Love the photo of you taken in your camouflage jacket. You evidently enjoyed fun and fights with your family. I don't remember us ever celebrating anything at home. Have a good weekend, hugs, Valerie

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    1. I was fortunate to have a really good childhood.

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  3. This post was soooo fun that description of your tree with spotlight cracked me up haha loved the photo shared too
    Happy second on the 2nd hugs Kathy

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    1. The tinsel tree was ugly as sin, but the spotlight was pretty cool.

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  4. When I was small we always had a real tree. My grandmother told me before I was born, they had a tree just like yours with the revolving ring and everything. But, since my grandfather wanted something more traditional, we always had a real tree. LOVE how you looked in front of that tree.

    I'm simply thrilled to read about that time in your life and how that brought back so many memories for you. Thanks so much for sharing this second look with us today, dear CJ.

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    1. Just before The Brother was sent overseas to Viet Nam, my parents asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he had said a real Christmas tree. For the 2 or 3 year that he was in country, we had a real Christmas tree.

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  5. Aw, you look adorable in your 'camo' coat!! I peeked at my presents one year but then on Christmas morning it was such a letdown that I already knew what I was getting I never did it again.

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    1. We really enjoyed seeing what we got ahead of time. Once The Brother outgrew the snoop age, I we never went on the gift phishing expeditions

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  6. OMG, CJ, this was such a hoot, I was laughing out loud. What great memories. And weren't/aren't you the cutest thing ever.
    MY brother was awakened to screams one year and went rushing into the living room thinking someone had broken in. His X had been decorating the tree and it fell over on her. She was only 5 ft and couldn't get out from under it.

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    1. I shouldn't laugh at the X, poor thing, but I can just picture her. Help me! Help me! :-D

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  7. You just look fabulous in your 'camo' coat!!What a lovely post with all those great memories!
    Happy Second on the 2nd!
    Happy weekend!

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  8. i love the photo and the story. You were the devil child a few times, weren't you? I was never that bad but Mom would think if I just shook a box I was a devil child and she would have told me that. My mom scared the pants off of me sometimes. Do you have a different style tree youself now? Hugs-Erika

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    1. For quite a few years, we always got a real Christmas tree. Himself, lover of Christmas lights, would spend 3 or 4 days positioning lights on the tree. The joy started wearing thin one year, and on Black Friday, he found a deal on a pre-lit Christmas tree and that's what we have now.

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  9. I see you!! Loved your stories! The only funny(ish) one I remember was when my brother decided to turn the lights out while my Mum was at the corner shop and walk around with a lit taper and the decorations my Dad used to criss cross across the room caught on fire! We were just stamping on them when my Mum came back - she was not happy!!! Hugs, Chrisx

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    1. :-O Yeah, I can understand her not being happy, but she was probably more frightened that you could have been hurt.

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  10. I love this post CJ!!! I love the picture of you, with the matching coat to the tree! My middle brother and I always fought too! He would put a pillow over my head! I hated that! I only remember one year, where we had a real tree, which we chopped down from our backyard. It was leaning to one side, but I loved that tree so much!

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    1. That tree must have been so special coming from your own yard

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