Mystical, magical Santa Claus
I can remember when I was young (about 6-9 years old) how the excitement would build in my household before Christmas day. My six brothers and sisters and I were told every day that Santa is watching. So, as you can imagine, everyone was on their best behavior around Christmas time. We were all a little nicer to each other, our rooms were picked up a little better, and we made sure to go the extra mile to get on the “Nice List.” It was a long night when I thought I heard Santa and his helpers in our living room. I remember thinking I could actually smell Santa smoking a pipe!
At the Crawford house, it was always busy during the month of December. My Dad, being a newspaperman, always said it was the busiest time of the year. Mother usually took care of all the Christmas gifts, and most of them were clothes and shoes that we all needed. Dad would always try to find that special gift that we, as a family, could use.
Every family has their own traditions, and one of our traditions took place on the night before Christmas. We would travel to both our grandparent’s home, Mimi and Pops, and my greatuncle’s home, Uncle Charlie and Aunt Elizabeth’s. We would all load up in the station wagon. Usually, we would fight over who sat where but not on Christmas Eve. Knowing that it was only hours away before Christmas day would arrive, we were too full of excitement to worry about who got the window seat! It was always fun to arrive at Mimi and Pops’ log cabin. My Dad’s brother, Uncle Nate, and his family would be there, too, which made the Christmas Eve event all the more special. All of the kids would play hide-n-seek throughout the house while the adults visited with each other in the kitchen and living room. My favorite part of the night is when Mimi called me over to her side and held me close to tell me how much she loved me as she did all her grandchildren. I can almost feel her sweetest hug and kiss on my forehead. After exchanging gifts, we would all load up and go to my Uncle Charlie’s house. The excitement was unbelievable, knowing that Santa was coming to our house in just a little bit. Uncle Charlie had an enclosed porch where he proudly displayed miniature towns, and his Lionel train set traveling throughout. It took up the entire porch. It had several trains and crossings. I was captivated by watching the trains travel through the tiny plastic towns. Uncle Charlie had the coolest train set. After a quick visit, we would load up once again in the station wagon and head home. I always wanted to sit by the window; I didn’t care if it meant I had to sit in the very back. It was a very high priority for me to sit by the window so I could look out and see if I could spot Santa’s sleigh high up in the sky.
Once home, we all quickly got ready for bed and fell right off to sleep.
There was one special Christmas that I can fondly recall. I woke up to the sound of hammering and clanging. Not only did I hear the noise, but I could also smell the scent of a pipe. I only knew how a pipe smelt because one of my Dad’s friends, John Bassaham, smoked one. Everyone knew that Santa had a pipe, so I thought that I had to be Santa assembling our presents! Oh, how I wanted to go see what was going on in the living room. My imagination could see Santa and his little elves just working away. So, I quietly jumped out of the bed and slowly opened my bedroom door. I carefully walked toward the living room, but before I reached the doorway, I started having second thoughts about what would happen if Santa saw me peeping; I decided to quickly get back in bed so as not to scare Santa. I remember I stayed awake for as long as I could so that I could hear Santa leave, but I eventually went back to sleep.
The next morning, my brothers ran into our room and were yelling, “get up, get up, Dad said Santa came last night.” No one was allowed in the living room until we were all ready to go in together. When we walked through the door, there was a ping-pong table set up in our living room. It took up most of the room, but we didn’t care. We all played ping-pong all day and into the night. Everyone had their special technique to be able to beat the other. The ping-pong table eventually ended up in the garage, and everyone in the neighborhood had fun coming over to play. It was one of the most memorable Christmases at our home in Tennessee.
Christmas is a time for making special memories and cherishing those memories that are close to our hearts. My wish is for everyone to have a safe and special Christmas with family and friends.