Today I’m participating in the Finish The Sentence Friday extravaganza hosted by Kate’s Can I Get Another Bottle of Wine, Janine’s Confessions of a Mommyaholic, Stephanie’s Mommy for Real and Kristi’s Finding Ninee.
One of my favourite childhood memories is obviously Christmas Eve. What a silly question.
My hair’s all rolled. Finally. Mom’s snapped the last darn clip on the pink and yellow foam hair curlers and wrapped the blue gauzy thing around my head. I’m free to get up and move!
My parents have asked two of their friends over for dessert. Gerry, who to me appears to be 90 but is most likely as old as 50 and Ruby, my dad’s secretary, who is ageless. Neither of them are married or have kids. He always sits in the same chair at our house and is fond of a bitter drink that smells rather nasty. Dad constantly leaps up to top up his tumbler when it’s empty, which happens quite a lot. Ruby, has an unforgettable laugh. It’s really shrill and reminds me of a chicken. In a good way.
“Hey kids. Shouldn’t you be heading for bed?” Gerry asks from the depths of the chair.
“Of course. Look at the time. Off to bed all three of you. Santa won’t come if you’re still awake.” My mom says standing up with a yawn.
For some reason she and Ruby exchange smiles and I’m pretty certain a wink.
I don’t move until I’m sure Wendy and Mike are leaving and going upstairs too.
Wendy, a whole two years older, sighs and reluctantly puts down the glossy magazine that’s full of pictures of her favourite singer. Connie Francis.
I like the Connie with the last name Stevens. She’s prettier.
Mike, who’s five years older and really funny, unfolds himself from in front of the fire and adjusts his Davy Crockett hat so the tail is in front of his face.
“Yeah. I guess we’d better get to sleep. Don’t want Rudolph to be too scared to land.”
This time it’s Dad and Mike who exchange a smile.
How nice. I do love it that everyone’s excited for Santa.
Even though my curlers are pinching my hair so tight I could go bald in the night, I’m excited. Santa, who we saw just last week at Oakridge Mall, has promised he might just get me a Chatty Cathy doll.
I love Chatty Cathy. Even though she’s much bigger than Wendy’s Barbie she’s special! You pull on a circle thing that’s attached to a string that comes out of her neck and she talks! She actually talks.
“I love you” and “let’s play school.”
“Hey Frankie. You got any more cake?” That’s Gerry asking. Not Chatty Cathy.
Gerry loves Mom’s cake. I’m glad it’s not August. Ants don’t like December. It’s too cold.
“I’ll get them settled Frankie. You get the cake.”
Dad takes my hand and pulls me upon my feet. Together we climb the stairs.
“‘Night Kel. Don’t read. I’ve taken the flashlight away.”
Darn. I love looking at books before bed. Even though it’s hot under the blankets, the flashlight gives me lots of light to see the pictures.
I’m not going to go to sleep. I’m going to stay up tonight and wait for Santa and his reindeer.
Tonight will be the night I see him.
I just need to wait until Ruby and Gerry leave. Once I hear Mom and Dad go to bed I’ll creep down…
Yawn. Wait. What? Where was I?
I’ll creep downstairs and see him pull… Chatty… Cathy out of his sack and …
38 Responses
I always loved Christmas Eve as a kid and distinctly remember one year being so excited that I couldn’t sleep at all that night (I couldn’t have been more then 7 or 8 years old). I definitely was exhausted the day after, but not too tired to open all my presents and play with all of them. Loved hearing about your Christmas Eve and thank you as always for linking up with us!! 🙂
No – somehow we were never too tired to open those presents and play with them, were we?
I never got Chatty Cathy but remember sneaking downstairs to see what Santa left anf finding my mom at the table. I was just mad that she wasn’t in bed because no way was Santa coming while she was awake!!!
That is so cute, Kristi. Of course you were mad. Sheesh – didn’t she know Santa wouldn’t come if she was still awake?
Ha! I love this! I remember feeling all snug and warm in bed trying to stay up for Santa! One night I even tried to sleep under the tree but somehow woke up in bed! These memories are the greatest.
Ohhhhhh! Lucky you! Santa must have magically had you whisked off to bed. So cute. Funny how we slept so deeply when we were little, eh?
This brings back many happy Christmas Eve memories, my favourite day too ! We had a string of bells on our mantle, which I was sure was Santa arriving, but it turned out to be my Mum moving them in order to fill the stockings. I loved the cookies , milk and note for Santa with my daughters ! We had to be so careful to disguise our writing when replying back to Santa !
This is a real gem of a memory Jane. Thank you so much for sharing about the string of bells. I would have thought the very same thing when I was little. And yes – that disguising of the handwriting was delightful, no? I always used my left hand. Poor Santa – he must have come across as a little tipsy with his responses to M and H …
I couldn’t believe I ever really fell asleep and had missed Santa. I tried so hard to stay awake. I loved your story. In 1975 I wanted a doll named Baby Alive. I can’t remember what she could do, I’ll have to google that. Love it how your big brother played his part.
Isn’t it amazing how hard it was to stay awake? Wish I had a bit of that now. These days, my mind is flying so much it’s hard to go to sleep.
Very sweet! Had to laugh at the doll and the flashlight – for me, it was the Chrissy Doll, me being a Chrissy and all. I absolutely HATED that thing, and people just kept buying them for me. She had long orange hair and an orange dress (I never even liked orange back then), and when you pulled her hair, it grew, then you cranked it to shorten it. As for the flashlight, when mine was confiscated, I thought I was so slick … tied a string from the pull chain to my bedroom closet light, so when I heard footsteps in the hallway, I could pull the string to quickly put out the light. I’m sure the NEVER saw the light under my door. 😉
Hahaha – you’ve got me smiling over here! Orange hair that kept changing length? Delightful. Man alive you’re clever with the string on the bedroom closet light. Wish I’d thought of that.
Love how you’ve written this through a child’s perspective. I remember thinking the same thing every year, that I would stay awake and see my presents being delivered, but that never happened! You poor thing having to wear curlers to bed – sounds so painful! December’s pretty hot over here in Australia right now so ants and Christmas often go hand in hand! 🙂
Ants and Christmas? Yikes! They would have had a field day over at our house. The curlers to bed concept was a regular Sunday night ritual as well. I once went to school with one in my hair. Craig Murdoch, who was sitting behind me, delighted in tugging it out with a flourish.
I absolutely love Chatty Cathy! Oh the memories you have just brought back for me 🙂
Really? Oh that is very cool. She was great wasn’t she?
Oh I adore Christmas Eve. Pure magic. You paint a beautiful picture of it- I am literally watching it unfold in my mind. And I loved those foam curlers- when I was little, I used to pretend to shave my legs with them. Don’t ask me why.
Now that’s a new use for foam curlers! Not sure how effective they’d be – but certainly wouldn’t cause any damage in the slightest!
sweeeet story!!! love it! I never had a chatty cathy doll, but then again, I never asked for one. Didn’t play with dolls. Asked for microscopes and books.
Me, my brother, and cousins tried SO hard to stay up for Santa. We probably made it to midnight but we never caught him. It was fun trying. Lots of laughs! 🙂
And another of your comment gems found its way into spam. Yikes x 2. No Chatty Cathy in your life? Ask for one this year. Go on – ask. She’ll drive you crazy with her “let’s play school…”
Ahhhhh Christmas Eve through a child’s eyes. I love your little narrator. Such an engaging way to have done this – hats off to you 🙂
Also, CURLERS? Nooooooo!
Yesssss. Curlers. Every Sunday night as well. My sister and I would line up and wait out turn. The tightness of the rolling depended on how tired our Mom was…
Ohhhhh man, that sounds sucky! I had to have curlers in once. To be a bridesmaid. It was AWFUL. In all the photos I have such a grumpy face on, like a pig in a wig. It was awful!
You’ve only had curlers in once? You are blessed. Am loving the pig in a wig vision. Perfect summation. Care to share a pic or two?
Some of my favorite memories are also of Christmas ~ I don’t know how we slept, or even how my children manage to sleep that night!
Yet we do! I used to always try and stay awake but somehow never managed it!
Aw, this is sweet. I remember those Christmas Eve nights – the anticipation killed me. I LOVED it!
I know – for me it was all about Christmas Eve and the anticipation. Christmas day was more often than not a bit flat!
This is so adorable! Christmas for the kids really is magical. It’s kind of weird to be on the parenting end of it now….sometimes I’m glad when it’s just all over! But, I know it’s still magical for my children, so that’s fun to watch too. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by my blog! xoxo-
It is magical for us to watch Christmas through our kids, isn’t it? I know what you mean about it being weird to be on the parenintg end of it though. I still sometimes get a reality jolt and a “how did this happen?” flash …
I love this post! It felt like a flash from my past!! Thanks for bringing back the memories!
My pleasure!
I love the way you wrote this from your childhood point view. That made it so fun to read! Even as an adult, is there anything better than Christmas Eve. I get terribly excited laying out all the gifts from Santa (even though my five year old is the only one who still believed) and I am always the first one up in the morning because I love to see the wonder in their eyes.
I disliked those curlers with a passion…little pink and yellow torture devices!
Hahaha! Little toture devices indeed! I’m with you on that and on the Christmas Eve excitement front. So much fun. I get up early too!
You reminded me how memorable Christmas Eve is for children. I’m going to think more about that this year with my kids. Perhaps this is the year they’ll be old enough to remember.
Hope this is the year they do Jean!
Chatty Cathy! What a blast from the past! I just loved her – she was so fancy, what with the magical cord that made her speak. My sister and I made elaborate plans every year to sneak down and get a peek at Santa but never quite did. Too sleeeeeeeeepyyyyy….. zzzzzz
Another Chatty Cathy fan. Another reason to like you Mo.