Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Welcome 2010 Advent Adventurers!

Welcome Advent 2010 and happy 5 year anniversary! This event is hosted by Kailana from The Written World and Marg from Adventures of an Intrepid Reader and is a virtual tour of book bloggers sharing the holiday spirit.

I've participated every year so far and I have to say, this year I was wondering what I would even talk about and it was while reading my fellow Advent posters that a memory struck me from out of no where.

It's many, many years ago when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old. The entire family at the time - 6 adults and 4 kids would be at my Grandmother's house in Sault St. Marie in Canada. 9 times out of 10 there was easily 4 feet of snow outside and the tiny 3 bedroom house (with only 1 bathroom - seriously, how did any of us get anything done!) was always cozy and warm with the promise of Santa soon to come.

The memory comes from us 4 kids, 2 girls and 2 younger boys, too excited to sleep, creeping out of our beds and poking or parents to see if 'now' was the time to go see if Santa had come. When one of us kids was finally given the green light, the whole house was roused from what I now understand were very deep sleeps. (Back then, most toys had 'some assembly required' and 4am was early for those parents to get to bed). But us kids, having no concept of what adults were required to do were more than ready to get to the tree!

Now came the next excruciating part of Christmas morning.

Having to wait for those adults.

See, no one was allowed downstairs until everyone was ready to go downstairs. We were instructed to sit on the top step to wait as the adults got ready. Being impatient we swore our parents were dressing for a wedding at the rate they were going but looking back now that one bathroom did cause a bit of a slow down and no one was really getting dressed up or showering.

So there we are at the top of the stairs. Only the stairs weren't straight. There were three steps down to a landing and then the stairs turned right and then straight down. Even though we were told and a few times scolded about staying at the top of the stairs the four of us would sneak down to that landing and lay on our tummies. What the parents probably didn't realize at the time (although they probably did) was that there was a mirror at the bottom of the stairs, and if you angled your head just right you could catch glimpses of what was under the tree!

Presents from Santa were never wrapped so that mirror didn't just hint at what was down there, it gave it all away. But only if you could stay on that landing long enough to get a glimpse before being quickly told to get back to the top step.

And it's that memory that warmed my heart this year. It will be 10 years this February since my Grandmother passed and it's been even more years than that since I have spent a Christmas with those two cousins. But soon, there will be a child coming into our family (my youngest cousin is pregnant!) and it'll be neat to see Christmas from the other side of those stairs.

Thanks for stopping in and Happy Holidays to you all!

15 comments:

Court said...

Thanks for sharing this memory with us! It really reminds me of the magic I felt at Christmastime when I was a kid too! :)

Jennie Marsland said...

Nice to meet you! I really enjoyed your memory. Christmas is so magical for children, and you captured that in your post. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

What a great story! Thanks for sharing. I can totally imagine how hard it must have been for you kids to wait before being allowed downstairs (and for the adults to com out of bed!!).

Caroline said...

Lovely post. I swear I was there lying on my tummy and eying the mirror. It's all so magical when you are a child. You brought that back. Thanks.

Tami said...

Your post reminded me of many Christmases with my cousins that I hadn't thought of in ages. Thanks for sharing.

nath said...

That is a great memory, Cindy :) I wish I had some like that...

jan said...

What lovely memories and you capture the magical childhood moments so well.

Krissi said...

Ahhh.. what a great story. I love what a happy and strong memory you have of Christmas. Enjoy the new little one and have a very Happy Holiday.

CindyS said...

Court - thank you so much - I was hoping I could convey the feeling.

Jennie - nice to meet you too! And thank you - I guess I'm still just a big kid at heart. It was just nice to have a memory from so long ago resurface again.

Leeswammes - seemed like forever as a child - as an adult I'm always pushing to get up later!

Caroline - thank you so much! Sharing the memory just makes it even more special

Dave&Tami - thanks for dropping in and I think we all need to think back every once in a while ;)

Nath - I'm sure you have many sweet memories! I think knowing that next year there will be a newbie in the house has made me reminisce about Christmases as a child.

Jan - thank you!

Krissi - funny how I can't remember the gifts from under the tree but I remember those few minutes of waiting at the top of those stairs.

Happy Holidays to you all!

CindyS

Anonymous said...

I have the joy of seeing Christmas through the eyes of our two young grandsons. It is a joy :)

Jodie Robson said...

Dropping by late, I really enjoyed your post. I can just imagine you all itching to get downstairs!

It's really nice to meet people on this tour.

Oh said...

Loved this! the image of the little house, the snow, you 4 kids, teh idea that the adults had stayed up late assemblin toys - and then, nothing was wrapped so you could get a glimpse in the mirrow - oh, that mirror was the pivotal point.

I so enjoyed this and thanks for telling us about the magic in which we all believe - that is, family and Christmas, and family at Christmas!

Kailana said...

I still can't believe it has been 5 years! Thanks for joining in again, Cindy. I look forward to your posts.

Happy Holidays!

Aaron Vincent said...

I'm really loving all this posts about their Christmas childhood memories. That was a cute story. It made me smile.

Happy Holidays, Cindy! :)

Unknown said...

We had the same rule about going downstairs and seeing the tree before the parents were up. Luckily, my parents let us open our stockings (hung upstairs outside the bedrooms) while we waited. I'm sure they used that to buy some extra sleep time.

Thanks for participating and happy holiday!