TBT - Ben & His Brothers Remember Christmas

Ben kindly put this blog post together, and I didn't even have to twist his arm.  I wanted these memories to be shared in his words.

Ben made this ornament at about age 5.

Brett recently asked the brothers and I to recount some of our Christmas memories growing up. All of the brothers contributed some thoughts and I've compiled them. This was a wonderful exercise that brought back many wonderful memories. 

Christmas always involved reading the Christmas story from Luke 2. We all waited as patiently as possible while dad read from the bible. It was a great moment to focus on the reason for the season and enjoy being together as family. We often had a fire in the fireplace as well. We had a wood burning fireplace that all of us brothers spent many an hour splitting wood for. That fire seemed mesmerizing during a cold day. You could just sit by that fire forever and soak up the warmth. We would often stand as close as we could in our pajamas to the fire and hold our clothes up to warm them up before we put them on. Mom also would make Chex Mix during the Christmas holidays. This was a staple during cold winter fishing or hunting trips. It seemed like it had the ability to warm you a little when you ate it. Mom always made a huge batch of it and it seemed like a lot of work. I think appreciating where it came from helped it taste that much better.  

As for specific holiday memories we all had a few that stood out. Josey shared one about a present for mom that stole the show. In his own words; "One year, after all of the presents had been opened, Dad snuck out back.  I remember looking out the window to the backyard and saw Dad pushing a dolly with a very long rectangular box.  This was before we had the back porch and there were just two old steps to get into the back door.  Dad hoisted the dolly up the stairs and rolled it right in the middle of the house.  Seems like Mom kept asking what in the world it was.  I'm pretty sure the box said "Yamaha" on it, as Mom said afterwords that she was convinced that Dad had bought an outboard motor for himself!  -That just made the surprise that much sweeter.

"So Dad finally, slowly opened it up, milking every anticipated minute he could with his silent, mustached grin.  Mom looks in the box and sees what it is and immediately bursts into tears: it was the electronic piano that now sits in the dining room.  They hugged and cried together for what seemed like forever."

Mike remembered a certain present one of us boys got one year. It was a battery powered robot toy. We loved that thing. It would whirl around in a predetermined pattern and flash its lights and blow smoke. Then it would declare in a classic robot voice "I am an atomic powered robot. Please give my best wishes to EVERYBODY." We would listen to that thing over and over and over. I'm sure it must have driven mom and dad crazy. We probably wore the batteries out within the first couple of days we had it because we would run it non-stop. 

John remembered getting a bike for Christmas along with a bonus story. He recounts; "I remember the year distinctly that myself, Michael, and Benji all got identical black bikes. We loved those things!  They replaced a single bike that all of us had to share. That bike I had received from a neighbor when we lived at the trailer, so I was either five or six years old when I got it. I remember riding it there. It was a big white Schwinn. It even had a banana seat. The back tire was Square (flat), and it had ape hanger handlebars. it also had white plastic captain America armor that you could put on and off the bike to make it look like a motorcycle. I'm sure it was awesome when it was new, but we were sure grateful to get our own bikes. The old captain America bike then got stuck in the shed where it sat for the next two decades.

"I also remember the year that I got a bow and arrow for Christmas. We set up the target in the backyard and had a great time. Then I shot Mikey in the arm (on a dare, he bet me that I wouldn't shoot him), and got it taken away."

Most of all I remember being together and that we all loved each other. Christmas was about family and being together (except for that year when John had a high school job working at McDonald's and they called him in on Christmas day. I distinctly remember that should have been against the law or something because Christmas was about being with family not frying egg McMuffins). We never had a bad Christmas. We spent it together and had some great memories.