The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Teresa Heilevang on December 06, 2011, 07:09:06 PM
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This month I would like everyone ( if you want to) to post things you get about Christmas..
If you have a thought about Christmas.. a memory.. a funny.. a song..or just something someone sends to you that makes you feel good and might make someone else feel good that pertains to Christmas.. This is the place to put it..
I wish everyone good health, happiness, laughter and love this season.
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I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid.
I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"
My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.
Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" she snorted...."Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."
"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun. "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.
I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping.
For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.
I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church.
I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!
I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.
"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."
The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.
That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it.
Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.
Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."
I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.
Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.
Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were -- ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.
I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.
And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus!
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Dang allergies :'(
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A quick funny:
The new DRTV Trees ......totally represents this 'warped' bunch.......... ;) ;D ;D ;D
(saw them at Sam's the other day)
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Growing up in Miami in the early 70's, Village Pines Elementary would have a " Christmas Snow Day",...A couple of large ice trucks, with some form of "blowers/grinders",...would coat as much of the front yard of the school with 3 to 5 inches of slushy icy (to us, it was snow)...to have a "White Christmas"....
We would dress up in the only "Winter Clothes" we had,...a sweater or two, an ugly knit cap, mittens, and an old hand me down coat,...and play in that "snow" until it was gone.... It was a S. Florida Christmas, in a different time. As a "kid",...it was a memorable time. Now liability and possible lawsuits have ended all that. :'(
Decades later, I took my Mother's ashes to the Gulf Stream with my younger sister Christina, 48 miles off the coast of Wilmington, NC, just NE of Frying Pan Shoals on Christmas Morning 2005. I borrowed my neighbors 36' Bertram for the trip. It was a priceless sunrise, and fulfilled her wishes and brought me closer to God, and my Sister.
Moments like this will always be with me until I leave this Earth. Moments in this thread, are all worthy of sharing.
Thank you Marshal'ette for the chance to express them.
Merry Christmas DRTV!
Tom W.
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I remember one year, my two brothers and myself saved all our allowance and birthday money all year to buy my dad a new shotgun. My dad told me he was getting my older brother a shotgun. He told my older brother tha I was getting a shotgun and he told us both that he was getting my younger brother his first .410. It was a crazy year everybody got new shotguns. The secrets were kept all around. We refer to it as the James bond/I spy Christmas. I miss my Pop he died Dec. 6 1999. Today is 12 years hes been gone and I think about him every day. If you still have your dad, spend as much time with him as you can. I would give anything just to sit and talk to him again.
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I had a big family (I had 9 living grand and great gran parents in all) when I was a kid, with many fond holiday memories.
One recurring tradition on my mother's side was for my great-grandmother to rent the American Legion hall just down the street from her house. It was the only way we could all get together under one roof. I remember they had one of the big de-milled guns from WWII out front and my cousin and I would play all over the thing. As we got older, my cousin went through some troubling times....but eventually got on track and enlisted in the USMC. Just a few weeks before he was to embark to Paris Island, he was over at a friend's house and as his friend was showing him his dad's new .357 magnum, my cousin was shot in the chest and killed by his friend with the "unloaded" gun.
Up until the big gun was removed from the Legion grounds, every time I passed it by, I remembered all the Christmas Days spent there playing 'Army' with my cousin.
I think my all-time favorite Christmas morning was the year I got a Silver Streak electric train set. First year they came out and I was 10. I was always fascinated by trains, and wanted a 'real' electric train set. Heck, I wish I had one now, and if it weren't for the gun 'hobby,' I'd probably have a room full of the things set up.
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2285/2262712905_fa64fd91f2_o.jpg)
Merry Christmas all.
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Guess I'm lucky because all Christmases were/are special to me and none really sticks out. I always got something I wanted and as usual needed too. Even though Dad bought the tree, sometimes waiting until the last minute, the house wasn't decorated (complete w/fake fireplace) until Christmas eve. We All went to bed and Santa decorated while we were sleeping and we never heard a thing! It was always amazing to us how he was able to get so much done in such a short time and eat cookies and drink milk too! We would always take movies showing Mom showing off our gifts as she handed them to us to put away after NY and one of the gifts we were given when we got older was a tape of all those Cristmas memories. Mom and Dad are gone now and our family isn't close but the "WarmFuzzy" memories still persist.
Thanks and God Bless M
Richard
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Merry Christmas y'all.
I remember in the early 1970's that my Grandfather/Grandmother bought me the Adam 12 action figure with the squad car. Loved that show when I was a kid. The later years they bought me the SWAT Figures, SWAT Van, Starsky and Hutch Figures. Grandpa always bought me the cool stuff.
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Christmas of '63, I would have been about 6, my brother about 8 and we shared the gift of a Mighty Mo cannon that shot a hard plastic cannon ball some distance. It was definitely an outdoor toy if there ever was one.
Well, Pat and I set up fort in the LR and aimed the cannon down the hall to the dining room waiting for the enemy. My sister came out of the kitchen carrying a glass milk bottle (remember those?) in her hand and we had our target. ;)
With a bit of adjustment and some ranging estimates, we let fly the howitzer and blew that bottle clear out of her hand, sending broken glass everywhere!
Needless to say, Pop wasn't happy and our Mighty Mo cannon was sentenced to the rubbish pile for the next weeks refuse pick up! Our punishment was much more severe!
;D
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One of my Aunts, (Mom's Brother's wife ) must have REALLY disliked my mother.
One year for Christmas she bought me a drum set.
I have never had a lick of musical talent, but I loved beating on my drums. ;D
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Christmas 2007. The last year I was able to get all of my immediate family together in one place. My Parents, my wife's parents, all of our kids and their wives, and all of my grandchildren. Since then our parents have passed away, and one of our sons moved away. We've had some more grandchildren added to the group, but I still wish our parents could be here to see them.
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Christmas of '63, I would have been about 6, my brother about 8 and we shared the gift of a Mighty Mo cannon that shot a hard plastic cannon ball some distance. It was definitely an outdoor toy if there ever was one.
Well, Pat and I set up fort in the LR and aimed the cannon down the hall to the dining room waiting for the enemy. My sister came out of the kitchen carrying a glass milk bottle (remember those?) in her hand and we had our target. ;)
With a bit of adjustment and some ranging estimates, we let fly the howitzer and blew that bottle clear out of her hand, sending broken glass everywhere!
Needless to say, Pop wasn't happy and our Mighty Mo cannon was sentenced to the rubbish pile for the next weeks refuse pick up! Our punishment was much more severe!
;D
I remember seing the Mighty Mo advertized. Thanks for resurecting the memory.
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http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=ER13610552
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It's the "theme" of recurring relationships, events or practices that standout.
Family from grandparents long gone to children that have grown into adults are most favorite memories.
Putting up outside lights resonates also.
Then there are the fireworks. In my area of the world people used to start to shoot fireworks before Christmas and carry on until New Years. Christmas Eve was a great time when we'd have family over to visit and blast fireworks day and night. Christmas morning boomers were M80's, silver salutes and cherry bombs....at first light.
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http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=ER13610552
Cool card, I was expecting something more..... uh.... well... you know-feminine ;D
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Christmas in my family was usually very happy, very positive. They all went that way, very warm glow just thinking about them.
The process was this - you had to have breakfast before we could go into the tree. My folks channeled us down the back stairs, one stood vigil between us and the living room with the tree. We could not even see past them. Breakfast at the counter in the kitchen, then we lined up by age (youngest first), as my Dad got the 8mm camera and klieg lights (you think I'm kidding?) ready to film the procession into the living room. Dad would fire up the lights when we were all finished and dishes in the dishwasher (I think we were one of the first in the neighborhood to have one) and the 4 flood lamps (200W each I think) would light up that whole half of the house - and warm it up too.
Dad would film as we marched in, and the film kept rolling as we looked over what Santa brought and then opened each of the other presents.
When my brother returned from flying helicopters in Korea was a big year - he was supposed to have gone to Nam.
We always went to Christmas Eve services at the small Congregational Church I grew up in, and listened to the late Earl Marks, a professional operatic tenor, sing O Holy Night a capella. It was hard for us tough guys not to have tears in our eyes after he finished. I still can't listen to women singing that song, it has to be guys, and tenors at that.
This year, I got an early treat, completely unexpected - my granddaughter came to spend the night and we got to go to Chuck E. Cheese (yeah? ? ? ? ? :-\ :o ::) ) - her favorite these days (she is 5 after all). I haven't seen her since her Mom and Grammie moved out in a huff last January. It was fantastic, and I'll leave it at that.
At CEC:
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Geoff...She is so precious.. I'm glad you had that time with her..
I have a million memories ~~ Because every Christmas was special to me... and still is.
My family was close as close could be and we still are all together every single Christmas. I am so blessed to be able to say that I have had my boys and their wives and my parents with me every Christmas.. We play games..eat, drink and have so much fun.
When we were little, Daddy always would joke and say that he was going to build a great big fire in the fireplace to see if Santas whiskers would hold up when he came down the chimney. Then tease my sister and me all week long about it.. :D~~ funny now but it wasn't at the time..
Mama will be with us of course...but this will be the 2nd Christmas that my daddy will be gone.. I'm sad when I start to think about it.. but I also know and believe with all my heart that he will be with us and be having as much fun as we are..
He'll be able to mingle and see us..but we won't be able to see him.. But I will feel him there....and I'm sure he'll be with the guys when they TRY to beat us girls in the games this year..
It will be another special wonderful Christmas.. but will be just be a different kind of special.
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I'm actually looking forward to this Christmas more than usual. I'm heading up to Portland Wednesday to pick up my son at the train station, coming down from Shelby MT. Its special because he's an adult now, well 18 anyway, out of High School and had to spend his OWN money to come down and see us. I loaded up on ammo this fall, built some new target stands and a steel plate rack for some family fun and hope to do some reloading on a buddy's press with him. Maybe work on my old Flatfender smoke some cigars and all the stuff we've missed out on. One of my fellow engineers has a son that just got out of the Rangers and I"ve been helping him with his Milling Machine, anyway I'd like to sit the two of them down over lunch and maybe relight the fire under my son's butt.
In a house full of women, it'll be a welcome change, even if there's some sibling rivalry. ;D
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Forgot to mention - my Marine is coming here Christmas Eve for a week!
Early I know, but I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.
And it couldn't hurt to remember the Reason for this Season.
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And it couldn't hurt to remember the Reason for this Season.
Right on Pathfinder. Merry Christmas to all my DRTV friends. Hope you have a happy and safe New Year also!
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I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid.
I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"
When I was a little kid my mother always pulled a Santa Claus prank on me. We always got up very early to open our Christmas gifts on Christmas morning. As soon as it got light out, and I was preoccupied with my presents, she would position herself by the bedroom window, then shout out, "Bill, come quick, look it's Santa Claus!!" I being a kid who didn't know any better, ran like hell down the hall to get to the window in time to see him riding off on his sleigh. Of course I never made it on time, and she would always say, "You just missed him!!"
She did it once too often. One year I was in my stocking feet, and in the process of tearing a$$ down the hall, I couldn't put the brakes on fast enough when I came to the bedroom. I slipped and cracked the side of my head on the door jam, giving me a real nice gash that took the hospital emergency room 4 stitches to close on Christmas morning.
My mother couldn't have felt more horrible. Nothing like a prank gone wrong that hurts your kid to make you feel like crap on Christmas morning. My dad added insult to injury by really laying into my mom on the way to the hospital. It really didn't phase me that much because all I wanted was to get back home and play with my new toys. Afterward my mom explained to me there really wasn't a Santa Claus. I was beginning to question his existence myself, but never thought my mother would lie to me about things like that.
That was 1957, and I was 5 years old. My mother never forgot that, and reminded me of it until she died. The scar went away after high school, but not the thought. When you're a kid things like that are more important than life itself.
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Wish you all A Merry Christmas,May the Joys of the season Fill your heart with goodwill and cheer.
May the chimes of Christmas glory Add up more shine and spread Smiles across the miles,
To-day & In the New Year.
God Bless you all.
shooter32
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I actually have alot of bad memorys of chrismas, which I won't get into.
This will be my sons 1st, sadly his mother won't be there. :(
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Well TAB, I hope you have a great day off doing what you do best. I hope that your belly gets full of food that you may like or not like. I hope and pray you are surrounded by people who you do not like so that you are not alone. I hope and pray that when you look in the mirror that you may not only see yourself, but others who actually give a damn about you as a person and appreciate your thoughts. And last but not least, I hope you understand that there are people on DRTV that actually want you to be happy in general. Merry Christmas. ;D
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Home at Mom's house for the first Christmas in 18 years. rode my motorcycle out here to New Mexico for the holidays. can't stay long because I return to work soon, but it was worth the freezing on the bike and sore bottom from over 27 hours of road time. and now for my next trick... the return trip. :)
Merry Christmas all..
deepwater
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in 1972 I was a radio traffic analyst working the air defense desk, when about 1630L on the 17th of December, the alarms on our opscom circuits started to scream... I ran to the surveillance and warning center, as the first of the pre strike target coordinates came over the chatter roll....for what would be known as the "Christmas Bombings (North VietNam)" or Linebacker II ... target complexes at Ha Noi, Kep, Phuc Yen and surrounding airfields, POL, and others in the Red River valley....when I attempted to mark the locations on our plotting board with colored grease pencil, I quickly produced worthless unintelligent blobs due to the number of overlapping B52 strikes involved... we lost a lot of crews in the next two weeks
seasons greetings to those young men and women that quietly and professionally monitor those that would do us harm... may you safely return to your loved ones
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My Marine showed up on schedule last night after Church services, on leave from the Corps. Haven't seen him since August. Second great gift this year.
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My Marine showed up on schedule last night after Church services, on leave from the Corps. Haven't seen him since August. Second great gift this year.
Outstanding, Path.....enjoy your time together!!!!!!!
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still waiting on the wifey.
My son did what he does every day... eats sleeps and poops. Ok so there was a little bit of playing with rattle and a bit of crying, but at just under 4 months old. He is just about able to roll over.
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still waiting on the wifey.
My son did what he does every day... eats sleeps and poops. Ok so there was a little bit of playing with rattle and a bit of crying, but at just under 4 months old. He is just about able to roll over.
Sounds a lot like my daily routine except I get out of bed long enough to visit the forum. ;)