Christmas Past

I am having bloggers block tonight.  I have a lot on my mind, but none of it is flowing out in prose form.  Here is is, five days until Christmas and I thinking of the Christmas's past.  There have been a lot of them, 43 to be exact.  The memories may be muddled up a bit, but they are still warm and fond in me.  So indulge me as I take this trip...
There was the Christmas that I had asked for a Corningwear dish set and baking set.  When I was little, my letter to Santa often included a detailed list from the JCPenny catalog.  I am sure that he just used the catalog as a guide.  Anyway, I had asked for these two sets and they were not under the tree.  I don't remember being disappointed that Santa didn't deliver but I do remember Mom giving Dad a look.  Dad disappeared upstairs and returned with a couple of unwrapped cardboard boxes with JCPenny labels clearly on them.  Apparently Santa DID used the catalog.  Anyway, my dad presented me with these two boxes and explained that Santa had left them in my parents bedroom by accident.  Now, you may wonder why Santa was in my parents bedroom, but it made perfect sense to me.  My sisters and I would sleep in my parents bed on Christmas eve as my parents went to midnight mass.  We would fall asleep in there and they would put us in our own beds when they got home.  Well, I am sure that Santa peaked in on us and the two boxes slipped out of his bag.
I remember the year that I got the Fisher Price Hospital and an additional Fisher Price playset.  In this playset, there was a one seater airplane.  I put one of the people in the plane and crashed it into the Hospital box.  Mom was a little appalled at that until she saw that I had the ambulance come from the hospital and pick up the injured pilot. The Fisher Price Hospital was really topnotch and world reknown in treating airplane accident injuries.  I am sure that the pilot went on to have a fine life with a lovely wife, a nice cabin and a black eared dog.   For the record, Fisher Price toys from my youth were the greatest toys ever.  Sheila had the school with the wooden people.  I was younger so I got in on the plastic people.  I had the Castle with purple dragon, two horses, royal family, knight and huntsman.  The A Frame house came with bunk beds and a jeep.  The hospital had an ambulance and a baby.  My friend Susan and I would set up entire towns on her front porch.  She had the airport and the house.
There was the year that I got roller skates and it was so nice outside, I was able to roller skate in the backyard with only my blue IC windbreaker on.  I wiped out pretty nicely that day. 
Christmas Mass at Immaculate Conception was always kind of magical.  IC was what I thought the Pope's church must look like.  I had seen pictures of the Pope's church (and that's what I thought it was called, too) and IC looked pretty similar.  There were pillars on the altar and paintings on the ceiling.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Anyway, Christmas at IC was magical.  The choir was up in the choir loft singing, the church smelled of incense, the altar was all decked out in its finery, the priest, in his best vestments.  The Nativity was nearly life sized compared to my size.  My mom and dad were in the choir so I was in the pew with my sisters and brothers.  I don't think we paid a lot of attention to the mass, but we sang along with the chior, especially when they belted out the Hallelujah Chorus at the end.  We had been listening to Mom and Dad practicing thier parts for weeks so we could sing along to those parts.  I still only know the alto part.  King of Kings (Hallelujah Hallelujah) And Lord of Lords (Hallelujah Hallelujah) And he shall reign forever and ever (and he shall reign for ever and ever) Hallelujah Hallelujah. After that, Sheila, Crissy and I would get a little carried away and try to sing all the parts at once.
So there is it, a small trip down the Christmas lane.  I expect a couple more before the season has passed.