#Saturday Night Genealogy Fun
Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It’s Saturday Night again –
Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!
Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision. Here’s your chance to sit on Genea-Santa’s lap (virtually) and tell him your Christmas genealogy-oriented wish list:
1) What are your most vivid memories of Christmas times past? People, Church, Presents, Santa Claus, Shopping, whatever.
My memories from childhood revolve around Christmas day, particularly Christmas morning. Santa would have come overnight leaving an unwrapped present under the tree for each of us kids. Our stockings would be filled with candy and oranges. When we got up we could play with our gift from Santa, but the rest of the presents were off limits until my grandparents arrived. Although it seemed like we had to wait ‘forever,’ they usually walked in the door before 7:30 a.m.
Even though presents were at our house, Christmas dinner was at my grandparent’s house. Dinner consisted of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy. I’m sure we had a vegetable like green beans but they would have been cooked on the stove with bacon and onions and not in the oven with cream of mushroom soup.
We had sweet potatoes, but again not cooked in the oven with marshmallows. Instead we had ‘candied yams’. The sweet potato was cooked, and sliced ahead of time. On Christmas day, the slices were dipped in butter and then sugar and fried.
Another dish that graced the table of my childhood was scalloped oysters. I remember one Thanksgiving or Christmas when us kids were forced to take a small amount and just taste it. When none of us liked the scalloped oysters, the adults must have decided they didn’t have to share their ‘precious’ scalloped oysters with us because we never had to take any after that.
Dessert was always pie: pumpkin, pecan or cherry — all made by my grandmother.
As an adult, one of my favorite experiences has been attending Candlelight Christmas Eve services at Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. Even though most churches have a Christmas Eve service with the lighting of candles and singing of Silent Night at the end of the service, this service is unique. Their service incorporates darkness, contrasting darkness and the light Christ brings into the world. With a focus on being the light of Christ, all Christmas Eve donations are given away to support children and families in need.
Another favorite ‘adult’ memory is of the night my brother, sister-in-law and I walked around Sar-Ko-Par Park in Lenexa, Kansas near my mother’s assisted living facility. The beauty of the park on that cold winter night and the lights was truly a moving experience.
