Andrew's Sick Christmas

I think it was the Christmas of 1986 or 1987. We are living in Durham, NC in our house on Revere Rd. This was to be the first Christmas that Andrew would be old enough to be less impressed with the wrapping paper, bows, and boxes and more involved with the concepts of presents.

I can remember how excited he was as the presents under the tree magically increased but this year we didn't have to watch him like a hawk to prevent him from opening gifts too early. So we were excited as well.

On Christmas Eve, we likely had a bunch of ward members over for dinner. That was our tradition. The Chapel Hill Ward was a home away from home. Most people our age were far away from family so the ward became the family. This was especially true around Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Krampus - The "Real" Story

In typical German fashion, there is a companion to St. Nicholas known as Krampus, the Black Santa. I say this is typical for the Germans as they excel is scaring children into obedience. In my mind, the entire macabre suite of Grimm Fairy Tales was designed by these rather grim brothers to warn children that if they stepped out of line they will be dealt with quite harshly.

In that same vein, Oma and Opa had a children's book called Max und Mortiz. It was in German, of course, but it had lots of pictures so when we were young, Oma would tell us the story in English.

Max and Moritz were two mischievous children that would play tricks on the villagers. Their final trick was on a farmer who was carrying sacks of grain for his ducks. The boys poked holes in the bags causing the farmer to lose all his feed. Angered by this prank, the farmer put the two boys in the bags, ground them up and fed them to the ducks.

Ah, to be German....

Krampus

I just want to know if I'm the only one who remembers hiding under the kitchen table after hearing the story of Krampus from Grandpa? I was so scared to move or do anything bad. Krampus scared the crap out of me when I was younger and now scares Kayl just the same.

Jacob's First Heiss Christmas

One of my favorite Christmas memories was the Christmas 1996. This was the first Christmas with Jacob in our home.

We don’t know much about the first four and half years of Jacob’s life and I am not sure how much he remembers of the time before he came to our home first and a foster child then later as an adopted son. But my best guess is that he had very few fond memories.

As usual in our house, the Christmas decorations started going up just after Thanksgiving and it all started with the tree. During the weeks before Christmas, more and more presents appeared under the tree and Jacob would check each morning to see if any new presents had arrived. He couldn't read at this time so he didn't care if the presents were for him. He just wanted to see if there are any new ones there.