10 on the 10th: November!

Ah, November! I do love this month! It is a month of gathering with family, going shopping, and eating! Oh, yes! November is a fabulous month! Interestingly, the month is also National Blog Posting Month in the US! While other countries celebrate it on different days, we also have Thanksgiving to plan, celebrate, and, perhaps, lament! And, of course, there is Black Friday! This month’s 10 on the 10th is about holiday memories. I wanted to make it about holidays from November through the end of January to encompass all kinds of holidays. So, here we go! My holiday memories…

In no particular order…

1. I don’t know why, but we didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving with my dad’s side of the family. We always went to my Grandma Luderman’s house for Thanksgiving. We would have all of the traditional Thanksgiving fixin’s…turkey, dressing (with and without raisins…ewwww), mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry salad, and jello salads! One of the things I also remember is my cousin would disappear when it came to cleaning up after the food! There weren’t that many menfolk in my family. The estrogen levels must have been sky high at every celebration! So, I’m not sure if they watched football or not.
2. I’m kind of piggy backing off of number 1 here, but it also holds true for Christmas celebrations, too. After eating and cleaning up, it was time to play. I like to think Grandpa Luderman got to live his childhood with us. He had all kinds of good toys! There were go-carts, snowmobiles, a pony and carts. If there was snow, Grandpa would open the gate to the large field beside the house. We would go whizzing down the hills on all different kinds of sleds! The snowmobile was really fun in that field, too!
3. When I was about ten, my Grandma Rose had a stroke and was in the hospital during the Christmas holiday. On that Christmas Eve, my dad and I left mom’s parents’ home and drove to see her. I can remember it as if it were yesterday…the cold drive over the highway, seeing the snow drift across the road, and spending that time with my dad.
4. This is a generic kind of Christmas memory. I always worried about how Santa would make it into our house because we didn’t have a fireplace! My dad actually took me into the basement one time and showed me the chimney so I could know Santa would be just fine! Just a side note…this will be the first time since 1989 I haven’t had a fireplace to decorate for Christmas …le sigh…
5. While we didn’t go to my dad’s family’s place for Thanksgiving, we did go for Christmas…sort of! When the whole Rose side of the family got together, there were lots of people! My Aunt June, Dad’s oldest sister, had this really amazing house. There was a complete bar in the basement as well as a regulation size pool table (we were not supposed to touch it…guess who did)! Aunt June would host the Rose Christmas celebration a week or two after the actual day. I was so self-centered I didn’t realize this was also my cousins’ celebration with their grandma who just happened to by my Aunt June! My mom was a wise woman and knew those kids would be opening Christmas presents so she had small gifts for us. One year, I got a travel chess set! Surprisingly, food was really not the star of this get together. It was the gathering of the clan! Sadly, after my dad’s passing, we didn’t see as much of his family.
6. For our first Christmas, Nigel and I had a very special Christmas tree. Right outside my bedroom window at my mom’s house was a huge Blue Spruce tree. Mom had it cut down right around Christmas time that year. We got the top of it and used it as our Christmas tree.
7. After we had kids, my mom and brother would come to our house for breakfast on Christmas Day. The menu was usually scrambled eggs, bacon (lots of bacon), cinnamon rolls, and orange juice. Of course, the kids had to show off their Christmas presents from Santa. Many years, we would also all go to a movie in the afternoon.
8. One year, we bought our oldest some kind of gaming console. I don’t remember which one it was, but it had a Mario Brothers game with it. Nigel and I kept it unwrapped and hidden. After the kids were in bed, we would play that game for hours! We had a blast!
9. The only New Years tradition Nigel and I even vaguely have is to make cheese dip with crackers. That’s it. We don’t make it a point to stay up until midnight though I usually am as I am a night owl.
10. In 2009, I got home from school after Nigel. I couldn’t get the garage door to open and thought how that was one expense I really didn’t want at that time of year. Nigel came to the door and motioned me into the house. Then, he told me I needed to look in the garage. I was so tired and just a bit angry because he wouldn’t just open the garage door. Nigel finally convinced me to go into the garage. The man had bought me a brand new Saturn Sky! It was silver with black leather interior. It was fabulous! And, yes, I felt extremely guilty for being mad at him!

Wrap it up, Marsha!

As I look back over my list, I am struck by the only one that involves an actual gift is the last one. The rest involve moments spent with my family, laughing, eating, arguing, and loving. Holidays can be the very best of times as well as the most miserable. They are times when we celebrate, and we remember. So, can we talk? What are your memories made from? Do you have strong childhood memories? Or, are your memories more current? Please leave a comment or two, and we can talk. I will respond as soon as possible, I promise!

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Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style, My Bijou LIfe, Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, The Grey Brunette, and Away from the Blue. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, Being a Wordsmith, and I do deClaire and Mummabstylish. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I’m a co-host on the Weekend Traffic Jam (here). I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month. I also host Final Friday Print Mixing on the last Friday of the month as well as 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!

And, now it’s your turn!

Please link up your favorite 10 on the 10th posts as well as baking, cooking, decorating, fashion, DIY! Please do visit some of the links! If you don’t have a blog, here is your chance to find a new one!

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