MomRN2 at My Quiet Corner is hosting Christmas Memories today. The memories that I would like to share are from my grandparents’ house. Our family was blessed to live about three miles from my grandparents (my mom’s parents) and my great-aunts, who lived across the street from them. We opened presents at my grandparents’ house on Christmas Eve. My uncle worked for UPS, which meant he was the last person on the face of the earth to finish working on Christmas Eve. At least that’s how it felt to us four grandkids. I remember it being an almost physically painful experience each year as we waited for him to arrive so that we could “get down to business.”
My grandmother, who passed away this summer at the age of 90, was a pastor’s wife whose mission in life was to feed the world. She was a wonderful cook, and you never left her house with an empty stomach (my husband learned when we were dating that he’d better have an appetite when he got there, because she was going to feed him whether he was hungry or not). Some of her Christmas Eve specialties were real, homemade hot cocoa, homemade chocolate-covered cherries, and lots of chocolate chip cookies. There was always a huge pot of cocoa simmering on the stove, milky and steaming. The chocolate-covered cherries were laid out on wax paper.
If we’d been able to open our presents immediately, I’m sure the evening’s culinary offerings would have been largely overlooked by the kids. As it was, they were something to savor and enjoy, a focus for our attention during the endless wait. It’s not the presents that I remember fondly, but Grandmother’s cozy kitchen and those special Christmas Eve delights.
Joyful memories through the eyes of a child…you were blessed with such sweet loving Grandma!
Love how you realized the delights of your Grandma’s labors in the kitchen would have been lost has your Uncle not worked for UPS! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
I can just imagine a warm cozy kitchen and fabulous food smells everywhere! What a lovely memory of family life.
Your Christmas memories are as warm and inviting as your blog template…both are beautiful! I love this time of year because of the chocolate covered cherries and hot chocolate…lucky you to have experienced those as homemade and not out of a box or a microwave 😉
She sounds a lot like my MIL. The minute you walked into her house, she just assumed you were starving. What special memories, Mommie Dearest. I remember my grandmother’s kitchen, too, but I surely do not remember her making treats like this.
What fond memories! I can almost taste and smell all the goodies!!
What a blessing it must have been for you to be able to live so close to your grandma as well!!
Thanks for participating and sharing such wonderful memories!!
I never thought about UPS people and mail carriers getting home late on Christmas Eve — I appreciate them all the more now. Your grandmother’s kitchen sounds like a wonderful place!