Quote:
Originally Posted by redwitch
Two Christmases really stand out for me. The first one was truly magical. We were in Munich, Germany. My mother being German followed the old traditions faithfully. That meant no tree until Christmas Eve. We went to Midnight Mass and still no tree. Of course, being 4, I was very fretful and truly feared the Krist Kind could not find our house or leave his gift under the tree if there was no tree. We got home from church and the tree was in the living room -- it was the biggest tree I'd ever seen. Under it were the gifts from the Krist Kind thanking us for our year of devotion. To this day, I still don't know where my parents hid the tree until Christmas Eve, let alone got it decorated and out.
The other was in St. Petersburg, Russia (Stalingrad) back them. This was in the mid-50s and, of course, religion was pretty much banned in the Soviet Union, even the embassies had to keep religious celebrations pretty quiet, which meant no decorated trees or buildings. I was so sad that we couldn't celebrate Christmas properly and, of course, wondered how St. Nicholas and the Krist Kind could possibly come to this country where they were so hated. Of course, both came as planned but it was still a sad kind of Christmas Eve. I went to bed expecting Christmas Day to be pretty anti-climatic. Instead, I woke up to a true winter wonderland. It had snowed during the night and St. Petersburg was all glistening white with its beautiful gold domed buildings. We, as a family, exchanged our gifts, had our Christmas breakfast and then played in the snow all day. It has become one of my favorite memories both because of the sadness of a nation that could not celebrate and the beauty that came.
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My memories are no where as significant as yours. Red. Yet, memories are memories and I have another one...maybe when I was about 5 or 6.
My family was poor. Not because they did not work because both my parents were teachers. It was because my dad had heart problems and needed a lot of medications that were not covered by insurance back then. By the time he bought his meds, we had little income to live on the rest of the month.
We kids never asked for much at Christmas. Not that we didn't want presents but because we just appreciated anything we got. However, down the street was a small grocery market. It had a shelf running above the produce section where gifts, for purchase, were displayed. My eye caught the BRIDE DOLL!
That was it...the Bride Doll...and I wanted her so bad! I asked to go to that little market every day so I could stare at that doll. I loved her so much and wanted her for my own.
Christmas Eve came and I had a nightmare. I dreamed that Santa didn't come to my house! I dreamed he passed me over. I woke up crying and crying and crying. My mom and dad tried to console me. Nothing worked because I was convinced Santa wasn't coming.
Well, to make a long story short, we had Christmas in the middle of the night. I got to open my present from Santa and it was my beloved bride doll.