Yes. This means that, once again, I am going to remember as many details as possible about all the holidays I've experienced--this time, the holiday is Christmas. But I'm only going to remember what happened on December 25 itself--not Christmas Eve or Boxing Day. New Year's Day will come later.
2010--Matt, Nan, and Allie came over in the morning. My parents had the fireplace on. Nan's family sat on the couch, my parents sat on the rocking loveseat, and I sat on a chair near the buffet. I looked in my stocking, and got a cheap orange watch, and a Taylor Swift CD. For my presents, I got a cookie press and a quesadilla maker, and a Peanuts chess set from David. I got my mom a New Testament commentary and my dad a book called Presidents and Prophets. I wondered what my inactive sister and nonmember brother-in-law thought of these churchy gifts. I got them a family gift of Despicable Me, and Matt seemed impressed it had a Blu-ray disc. My dad gave my mom an iPod Touch. I think I added my new music to my computer's playlist, and then we went to my grandparents' house for a Christmas brunch. It was sunny on our way there and my mom was complaining about how we weren't having a white Christmas in Utah but we would in Tennessee, since we were leaving later in the day. At breakfast we had an orange syrup. Jesse asked me what I got for Christmas, and I told him about the quesadilla maker. Chancey had bought expensive gifts for his brothers. He gave me a little flier for his Revv energy drink to give to my brother, since my brother had talked about how this drink had carcinogens. Peter told me we had to bring Franklin back from Tennessee, and the way we could do it would be to have me ask David some science question. He would get so long-winded, and while he was talking my mom could sneak Franklin out. We went home, and I started watching It's a Wonderful Life, but I was unable to finish it before it was time to leave, so we packed it to watch in Tennessee. My mom had packed a package of tools to give to my brother in her carry-on. When we were standing in the security line at the airport, I saw a sign that said you weren't allowed to have tools in your carry-on, and told my mom, but she still seemed to think it would be fine. I was mortified when she eavesdropped on a family's conversation, and piped up to tell them that her underwire once made the metal detector go off. That's not something you tell strangers! I pretended not to know her. After we went through security, they came and told my mom she couldn't have the tools because they could be used to open a window. I apologized to my mom for not having tried to convince her earlier not to pack them in the carry-on. So she called my dad to pick them up, and was crying over it. I was sitting to wait for her, and the airport people asked me to move to another bench. We were sitting near a bookstore in the airport, and in the display window they had the new biography of Thomas S. Monson, which I thought was interesting, considering all the non-Mormons who surely went through the airport. There was a man with a thick beard and tight pants, who I could tell was a Mormon. When my mom came back from having delivered the tools to my dad, I commented on her crying, and she said it was just stressful. I think I looked at a display of CDs and DVDs at an electronics store in the airport, but didn't get anything. Our plane had an insane amount of noisy kids. My mom sat by the window, I sat in the middle, and a girl who had to sit away from her husband sat on the aisle. I remember her looking back to her husband and non-verbally communicating about how noisy the plane was. I happened to glance at her iPod and noticed she had Elvis Presley on there. Later in the flight, she pulled out the conference issue of the Ensign, so I knew I was sitting next to another Mormon. Later in the flight we had a conversation, and she said she had graduated from BYU and her husband was still attending. She was from a small town outside of Nashville, and I asked her what it was like being a Mormon in a small southern town. My mom told her she was going to see her Chinese grandsons. When we landed and we stood up, the girl told me she liked my Peanuts shirt. We stopped at the restrooms in the Nashville airport, and I saw her outside of them. Then we went outside to get a taxi, and all the taxi drivers were foreign. On the way to David's house, we saw one accident at an on-ramp. When we got to David's house, it was icy. I for some reason thought their door would be on the side of the house (since I'd never been there before), so I started going to the side, and my mom told me it was right in front of us. She told the taxi driver, "He doesn't know where he's going," and I didn't think the taxi driver cared. David and Ya-ping had a Christmas tree lit up, and David told us that the next day's church had already been cancelled due to the weather. Even though it was after 10:00, Preston was still awake. We went into his room, and I said "Hi Preston" and he said "Hi Uncle Mark." I was glad he knew who I was. He showed us the Pokemon cards he got for Christmas, including a special one that had a picture of him. Franklin was sleeping in his diaper in a crib. I wanted to see Baby, since I'd never seen him before, so I opened the door to the room where he was sleeping. But he was awake. Since I could tell he was moving, I left so as not to disturb him, but it was too late. He started crying after I left, so his parents brought him out. He was sick, and he would stare at my mom and me, and then start crying. David said he must have been thinking about me, "That guy looks like my daddy cut in half." We stayed up for a while, and I told David I liked the chess set he got me. My mom asked me if I wanted to watch the rest of It's a Wonderful Life that night, or wait until the next day. I said I wanted to watch it that night, but reconsidered and said it was already midnight so Christmas was over. My brother remarked about having an OCD brother.
2009--I slept downstairs, and in the morning Nan had Allie wake me up. Allie seemed a little hesitant about waking me up. Preston and Franklin had slept upstairs, but for some reason Preston still needed to come up from downstairs.
In my stocking I got a game--Set?--which to this day I haven't played. We got a lot of Dum-Dum pops in our stockings. I had previously mentioned to my sister that the only kind of lip balm I liked was Burt's Bees, and she took it a little far at Christmas. Allie got me a little tin with four Burt's Bees sticks, and seemed pleased when I thanked her for it. Nan got me a Burt's Bees gift set with lip balm, cuticle cream, lotion, and face wash. David and Ya-ping got me a Balderdash game and told me I had to use it at college. My parents got me a keyboard (the piano kind, not the computer kind). Franklin was excited at all his Elmo gifts:I got him a little round Elmo and a round Snufflupagus (however it's spelled), and when David opened it, he remarked about it being Snufflupagus. Ya-ping told Franklin to thank me. He stared at me, and Nan laughed and said, "Are you and Uncle Mark having a stare-down?" Finally, he did his little characteristic blowing a kiss without the blowing, which we all found both hilarious and adorable. Allie got a lot of games, some of which were Spongebob-themed. Preston and Allie both got little MP3 players. Ya-ping got Susan Boyle's debut album, and later played it, and I didn't know who Susan Boyle was. After the presents were opened, I pulled out the Children's Songbook and played Christmas songs on my keyboard at the table. Nan and Allie went to Matt's house, and when they came back, she told us that he had proposed and got down on one knee and asked Allie if he could be her dad. He gave Allie a necklace and Nan a fake ring until they got a real one. I ate white fudge with cherries that my grandparents had brought over the day before. I got on Facebook while eating lots of candy from my stocking. I made a status about how it was strange to think that a year earlier, I had been stranded in Edwall, WA, and wished everyone a Merry Christmas, which a convert from my mission, Katelyn Heath, "liked." Chancey had made a status about knowing the true meaning of Christmas. Jesse commented with, "You can't be George Bailey this soon after watching It's a Wonderful Life," and I commented, "Did your small heart grow three sizes today?" Someone else commented that his heart had always been that size. When the Thompsons arrived, Chancey told me he liked my comment on his status, and Jesse laughed at my lack of enthusiasm. After dinner, Cameron and some of the Thompsons played poker at the table, and I heard Cameron say a four-letter word. I was standing by the buffet, and he said, referring to me, "Who is this?" I and my mom laughed, and he said, "No, really, I don't know who it is," since he hadn't seen me since I'd been home. He was amazed when we told him who I was. In the evening our home teacher, Mike Taylor, dropped by, and my mom told him that Susanne was engaged, and he said, "Let me see," referring to the ring, but they told her it was just a fake ring. We watched White Christmas. Ya-ping laughed at the scene when the men take over the sister act. My brother said Rosemary Clooney must have been cast for her voice, because she didn't have the looks, and then he said that the other female lead was anorexic because her legs were too thin and she was a dancer, which meant they were muscular. Then we watched It's a Wonderful Life, and in the scene were Mary hides in the bushes, David said, "This is about as raunchy as they could get under The Code," but said it was "perfectly adorable raunchiness."
2008--Elder Love and I woke up in the home of the Christensens, outside the tiny town of Edwall, WA, since we had been snowed in the night before. Since they lived in the middle of nothing but wheat fields, the snow drifted quite terribly. This is their front gate:
The Christensens adopted their grandchildren, and in the morning Sister Christensen had her five-year-old daughter (granddaughter) Bailey look at my T-shirt, and she excitedly said "Snoopy!" The Christensens had given us a bunch of spare gifts and stocking stuffers--very dark chocolate, cheap mint chocolate, bowls with an old-school Kellogg's cornflakes Christmas ad on it, a mug, and a book full of Christmas stories. Elder Love and I had brought our presents from Sister Barnett, and opened them to find hand-knit slipper things. Mine were blue and Elder Love's were green. The Christensens let us call our families. My dad said he was glad I called earlier because they didn't have to worry about talking to me since my mom was leaving for Nashville in the afternoon. Allie told me she had seen on the news that Santa Claus was on his way, and said, "It kind of freaked me out." I told her, "You sound so big," and she said, "I know, because I'm five." I talked to my mom about how we were going to watch Mary Poppins later. Then Elder Love talked to his family. We went in the Christensens' shed to help him with their snowblower. (Actually I didn't do much helping--it was all Elder Love.) I played with Bailey by pulling her around on a sled. The snow had drifted up on their trampoline so that you could walk on the snow over their fence (although I didn't do that). At one point I heard Bailey call out for help, and I looked and she was suspended by her clothing on a bush. None of her was touching the ground. I rushed over to help her down, but I wish I would have taken a picture first. That may sound mean, but when I told her mom/grandma about it, she said I should have taken a picture. The snow plow plowed their road, so we were able to leave. Sister Christensen made us sandwiches before we left. On our way back to Davenport, I asked Elder Love about his phone call. He said he talked to his nephew Gabe, and his mom had accidentally told Gabe it was Uncle C instead of Uncle T. I told him about my niece saying, "I know, because I'm five." When we were in Davenport, we stopped at the Stackhouses', who had invited us over in the morning, but obviously we couldn't make it. While we were in our car, just before visiting the Stackhouses, we saw "Brother" Murray, the husband of a very inactive couple we had befriended, who lived almost across the street from the Stackhouses. From our car Elder Love called out to him, but he didn't recognize us, since it was dark, we were in our car, and we weren't in our proselyting clothes. We visited the Stackhouses, and then went back "home" to the Herrons. We showered and then watched Mary Poppins. I made some spiced cider on the Herrons' stove, and felt guilty about the spills, but I made sure they were cleaned up. I ate a bunch of Christmas candy, including the gumdrops an inactive sister, Sister Wolfrum, had given us. At the part where the cook slams the wall to make the pictures go straight again, Sister Herron and Elder Love laughed. At the part where Andrew the dog talks to Mary Poppins, the Herrons' Scottie, Butch, was very attentive to the TV. Elder Love also laughed when all the bankers were nodding at each other in their song.2007--Our mission president had given us permission to sleep in this day, so we did. Elder Chun said he was going up to open his presents, but I told him he could go without me, since I didn't have any. But he told me he saw some for me. So I went upstairs too. The Welshes had a Christmas tree in their living room, but they also had one in their side room, and underneath the tree in their side room, lo and behold, was a pile of presents, all of them addressed to "Elder Medville," except for one which was addressed to "Elder M" and one addressed to "the greenie." They were all from Santa, except for one from Mrs. Claus. I got quite the generic haul--a container of peanuts, a container of Slim Jims, a package of breath mints, some lotion, a pair of Snoopy pajamas, some ugly size 11 slippers, I think some Chapstick, and some other stuff. The Welshes also gave us stockings, but all that I remember was in them was deodorant. The Welshes provided us Christmas breakfast, including homemade applesauce to put on our waffles. Elder Chun borrowed my camera and took all sorts of random pictures, but now I can't find any. I called my family, and told my parents how we had been tracting earlier in the week and only three people answered but all said we could come back. (But none of them turned out to be really interested.) My sister reprimanded me for having sent a Christmas card to Allie but not mentioning her. Elder Chun talked to his family. For five hours. So much that the Welshes made him get off their phone, so he used our phone. This was a double no-no, since we were only supposed to talk for 45 minutes, and we weren't supposed to use our phone. I don't know why, but we weren't. He was trying to justify it by saying he had a big family. If I had been less green and a better greenie, I would have told him to get off the phone so we could be obedient, keep our appointments (since we entirely missed one, without even calling them), and watch the Disney movie we were allowed to watch. But I didn't do any of this. We went to an appointment with one Sister Summer, but her family wasn't there, and we had another dinner appointment, so we told her we'd be back. We drove to the Kearls' house up a mountain. At dinner I sat next to a man holding a baby, so I dished out his food. When we left, Sister Kearl gave us a box of crackers cheese, and sausages. She also gave us a bag of Dove dark chocolate, and told us they had antioxidants, and her black granddaughter laughed at her for prescribing chocolate like a medicine. We went back to Sister Summer's house, but I think before that we sat in our car and Elder Chun recited 1 John 4:7 to me. Sister Summer's house was awkward, because we just sat there while all her family (all of whom were nonmembers) opened their presents simultaneously. One teenage son explained to us about how excited he was for his somewhat nerdy gifts. Then we visited a member family who lived up in the mountains because Elder Chun wanted to wrestle their son. We shared a Christmas message, and then Elder Chun changed into some spare small clothes they had so he could wrestle. Somehow the conversation turned so that I said I didn't have an athletic bone in my body, and one teenage daughter said that was sad.
2006--In our stockings we got those little 20 Questions games that guess what you're thinking. Allie got a toy dog called Lucky that responded to voice commands, and this giant storybook pillow:
I got a cheap MP3 player and a stereo, which I thought were interesting gifts, since I didn't listen to that much music. I said I thought they probably got the stereo more for them since I was going on my mission in less than a year. (And when I came home from my mission, the stereo was, indeed, in the living room...) I got my mom the DVD of Miracle on 34th Street.I remember being in my room trying to find Christmas music on the radio on my MP3 player. I was wearing a Christmas shirt and Christmas socks, and I might have been wearing green shorts. We went to my grandparents' house and brought our 20 Questions games. My grandpa was sure he could outsmart it, but was annoyed when it guessed he was thinking of a pig. Chancey tried to outsmart it by thinking of nothing, but it guessed it. Quin and Jesse would laugh at its guesses, since some of its guesses conflicted with some of the answers they would give it. When we got home, we watched It's a Wonderful Life and I watched the TV version of The Miracle on 34th Street, which was on the DVD I got my mom. I did this while eating candy cane Kisses from my stocking and while my mom slept on the couch. I was surprised at the scene they added to the TV version, when Kris Kringle rather violently beats the antagonist in front of a room full of children.
2005--Santa Claus had set up a toy piano for Preston in the corner, along with a guitar, and Preston was so interested in his piano that he wasn't interested in any other presents, such as the small toy guitar Nan got him. Allie got Cinderella and Snow White dolls. I got the second season of The Munsters and the DVD of The Year Without a Santa Claus, which included Rudolph's Shiny New Year. I also got the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory soundtrack. TV Land was doing their annual Merrython, so that morning before church I watched the Christmas episodes of Green Acres and The Addams Family in my room while "napping," after I did my scripture study. Allie took one of her dolls to church. I thought it was a little big to take to church, but her mom and my mom said it was OK because it was Christmas and she was a little girl. Church was unusual because Nan came and because we sat on the left side of the chapel, instead of our customary right side, and we only had sacrament meeting. After visiting my grandparents, for some reason the Thompsons decided to come over to our house. While we were loading up from my grandparents', Chancey was carrying a dish my mom had brought and slipped on ice, shattering the dish. I rode home with the Thompsons, who were listening to 103.5 because they were doing all-day Beatles as a Christmas present. We watched It's a Wonderful Life. I remember them laughing when the dancers were unwittingly on the edge of the swimming pool, and then when George said in the next scene, "This is a very interesting situation." Near the end I remember thinking what a great movie it was. After it was over I remember being in our hallway upstairs and Chancey said it was really good, but when I asked Jesse what he thought of it, he said it was "all right." After they left I watched the Christmas episode of The Andy Griffith Show on the Merrython and had some eggnog. After I was in bed and it was after midnight, I watched TV Land's "Top Ten Holiday Moments."
2004--In my stocking I got a Monkees CD, which I was not excited about (but ended up liking). I got four Game Boy games--Warioland 2, 3, and 4, and the Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga (which my cousin's kid took last summer...hmm...). I got a portable DVD player, and was really surprised to be getting something so nice. My dad got some elk-skin gloves, and cheered when he got them, which was very surprising since he so rarely shows emotion--even less than I do. It was later said that he got the award for the best reaction, although my reaction to the portable DVD player was pretty good too. I started playing Warioland 2, and my brother started playing the Superstar Saga, which he took to my grandparents' house where Quin played it too. My grandparents gave Allie a little musical toy train.
2003--I got a Warioware game (at least I think that's what it's called--I haven't played it in forever) for my Game Boy Advance. I got Allie a little texture book about kittens. We went to my grandparents' house, and I remember sitting on one of their chairs playing my Game Boy, wearing my Charlie Brown Christmas tree shirt and red and white socks, while their acquaintance Scott Grow walked by. My aunt Sue complimented me on my shirt. I'm thinking that this was the year that on the way home my brother took a picture of the road with a new digital camera, and remarked that it was Christmas and the only colors in the picture were red and green--red from the taillights and green from the freeway signs. But this might have been 2004. When we got home, I wanted to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas, but David was watching his new Moulin Rouge and explaining what was going on in one scene, and I didn't think it was appropriate for me to be seeing a movie about prostitution. So instead I went in my room, got out my little keyboard, and looked at Christmas hymns. This actually turned out to be better than A Charlie Brown Christmas would have been. It started snowing and I thought it would be wonderful if it snowed all night so that everyone got snowed in and had to spend time with their families.
2002--I got two Game Boy games, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. I remarked about getting two games based on movie sequels. I got David Citizen Kane. We went to my grandparents', where I got a cheap public domain DVD set of The Andy Griffith Show and the musical Oliver!. I was wearing a Christmas light tie with a red shirt. I remember looking at my grandparents' Christmas songbook for New Year songs. My brother wanted to watch a scene of one of the newer Star Wars movies, and said something about it being fates battling. I made what I thought was a clever comment about which one would have to win for us to be together at Christmas, alluding to the Christmas lyric "Through the years we all will be together if the fates allow."
2001--I believe this was the year I got my Game Boy Advance. I also got the box set of the Peanuts holiday specials. My mom said she had planned to get me the first season of The Simpsons but got me that instead. I was glad she returned The Simpsons then, and I'm especially glad now. While my parents were downstairs sleeping, I watched the Peanuts specials I hadn't seen before: You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown and This is America, Charlie Brown: "The Mayflower Voyagers." I think I also watched A Charlie Brown Christmas. Then we went to my grandparents' house, where they gave me gifts my mom had actually picked out. One was a 10-tape VHS set of public domain episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies. The other was the Warioland game I already had. I said a very unenthusiastic "thanks," and my mom asked me if I already had it. I said I did. She said that the guy at the video game store had told her it was Wario 3, but I explained it was Wario 1 and Mario 3--Marioland 3 was the same as Warioland 1. When I explained this my cousin Renee said, "What?" After we left my grandparents', I went to Susanne's little apartment, where she had her Christmas tree up, and I watched an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, the one where Jethro thinks he's in love with a stripper, while I waited for my parents to pick me up. When we came home, I remarked about how I was sad Christmas was over, and my mom said, "I'm sorry." After they went to bed, I went downstairs and watched The Simpsons at 10:00. It was the Christmas episode from 1999 when Bart accidentally burns all the Christmas presents.
2000--I was still in bed in my room when Susanne arrived, and she made me get up. She got me a blue banana chair. I also got a National Geographic card game and a toy keyboard. [I got my mom the Broadway recording of The Sound of Music on CD.] We went to my grandparents' house where they had their Samoan friends visiting. I remember being upstairs and hearing their friends singing a Christmas song in Samoan from downstairs. I thought hearing it in another language was really cool, so I perked up, excited, and my dad wondered why I was excited. Later I joined them, and they sang regular Christmas songs, as well as singing "Happy Birthday," putting in "dear Jesus," which I found unconventional. I remember playing with my keyboard at my grandparents' house--talking about how it only had one preset Christmas song, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," and how it also had the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song and "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls.
1999--Nan, Dave, and I all slept in the family room with the downstairs Christmas tree on. My parents had said we could open our presents as early as 3:00, so at 3:30 I woke up and woke up my siblings. They wanted to sleep more, so they told me to wait another hour. So instead of going back to sleep, I sat up, eating my sister's Starbursts. I had discovered that you could take a red one, break off a little piece, roll it, and then bend a yellow one around it, and it looked like a hot dog. After an hour I woke them again, but they told me to wait another half hour. So at 5:00 I woke them, and said I would go crazy if I had to wait longer. My brother said, "Let's wait five more minutes," just to see what my reaction would be, but angrily unplugging the Christmas tree was as crazy as I got. Per tradition, my parents made us sing to wake them up. I wanted to sing "O Holy Night," even though I didn't know many words. My brother said it was his strong bass voice that woke them up. I got a tiny one-and-a-half-inch nutcracker (which was really an ornament, and my grandpa later said it could only crack a birdseed). I think I got a chess set, and I got a colorfully illustrated out-of-print copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, as well as the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland, which I watched that morning. [I had bought my mom a craft book, and I had decided to do a treasure hunt for her to find it. It was an abysmal treasure hunt. One of my clues was something about "a polluted city," which meant my bedroom--because it was a mess and because the window looked out to the valley. My mom didn't get that. Another clue was about something "recently broken." My mom asked what the Thompsons had broken. But I had to explain it wasn't something they broke; it was the garage door, which had quit opening a few days earlier. The present itself was in the sun room.] Then we went to my grandparents', where they gave me holiday nutcrackers from Zim's craft store. We were up in their family room, and Sue was telling us how on the way there they were listening to the new Weird Al CD Jesse had got with the Star Wars spoof of "American Pie," and she had been singing the lyrics of the original song while the boys were singing the Star Wars version. I thought it must have been quite the singing party. Joey was sitting on the floor with headphones on, listening to his portable CD player, singing along to his new Britney Spears CD. I remember no one said anything, but there was kind of a mutual feeling in the air between my family and the Gildersleeves about how strange it was, especially since his nine-year-old singing sounded like moaning. I remember going to the duck pond with Jesse (it was quite a warm Christmas), and I remember thinking how much I liked my new nutcrackers. The big pond was frozen over except by the fountain, so we watched as the ducks would swim where there wasn't ice, near the fountain, and then get up and walk on the ice. Then we went to the smaller pond, which was completely frozen over, and Jesse for some reason put his foot on the ice, and it went through. He wanted to go back to my grandparents' after that. Then we went home and I decided I wanted to watch A Christmas Story, since I hadn't watched it that Christmas. I watched it in my parents' room, and a few hours later, my parents woke me, because I had fallen asleep. I hadn't just dozed off, I was veritably asleep. That's what happens to an eleven-year-old who gets up at 3:30 a.m.
1998--My brother gave me a Wallace and Gromit desktop calendar from Barnes and Noble. I got a Furby. At that time I was huge into a series of fruit and vegetable toys, and I was excited that morning when I got all of the Nutra-Fruit Heroes, except for Shakes Pear, which I already had. My friend David Christensen had already given me Awesome Apple, so my mom said she would take back the one she got me (although I didn't see anything wrong with having two). I also got the Nutra-Fruit Heroes backpack. My sister also got her own Power Prune. That morning I decided I wanted to watch a Wallace and Gromit film before going to my grandparents'. As we were loading up the car, my mom had a popcorn box. I asked her what was in it, but she wouldn't tell me, so I knew it was for me. I took my Furby, as well as all my Nutra-Fruit Heroes in their backpack. (Later Rhys asked me if the backpack was my stocking.) All the Thompsons had received their own Furby, so there were six at my grandparents' that day. My grandparents had two of what I call living rooms, a front one and one off of their dining room. I was in the one off the dining room when I opened the popcorn box, which had all the remaining members of another fruit toy family, the Fruit Seedies. Then I was playing with them in the front living room when Sue asked me about them. I told her all their names, and when I said "Tutti Grapefruitti," she repeated it as "Tutti Grapefruit," and I remember thinking she obviously didn't catch the pun on "Tutti Fruitti." Then I remember being down in their family room. David sang lines from "The Christmas Song": "And so I'm offering this simple phrase to kids from one to ninety-two." Peter was trying to sing along, only he didn't know the words, so his singing was delayed. I pointed that out. I also said that was a dumb lyric. Joey came down and excitedly told us that all the Furbys had been placed in a circle, and one said, "We sing," and they all started singing, but Peter and I didn't believe him. I remember we were trying to figure out our Furbys' names, and I thought mine was Koko, but I realized that was just a word it said. Christmas was a Friday, and my cousins (and I, to an extent) always watched ABC's TGIF, which started at 7:00. I had noticed that the first show in the TGIF lineup was preempted that night for some skiing special. When 7:00 came and that non-TGIF show was on, my then-uncle Wayne was complaining. I said, "Well, it's Christmas," meaning we were lucky to get any TGIF at all, and he said, "So?" But I was OK with this; I preferred to watch Kids Say the Darndest Things on CBS at 7:00. One of the questions they asked the kids was how much a house cost. We were all too young to know how much a house cost, but one of the kids said something about a house price "in Malibu," and Joey laughed, I think because he thought the kid made up "Malibu." I was sitting on the futon-like chair, and I remember showing Quin my banana named Slam. Jesse was playing Pokemon on his Game Boy, and Rhys came up with a blanket to cover him. Jesse objected, and when Rhys covered him, he said he lost the game because he couldn't see. He kicked Rhys and started crying, and his mom reproved him. Rhys had a stunned look on his face, like he didn't know why he'd just been kicked.
1997--I got [a Tamagotchi, and] an M&M machine for Christmas that came with M&Ms from Nan. We had Christmas at our house since my grandparents were on their mission. I remember thinking I was clever saying "Talofa" to them when we talked on the phone. The Thompsons came over, and I remember Quin being on our landing and calling out to his mom that he was going potty. She yelled "No!" and he wet his pants there on the landing. (Fortunately it wasn't on the carpet!) A little later I remember seeing a puddle on the landing and wondering if it was melted snow or if it was from Quin. My dad told me it was from Quin, but I wasn't convinced, so I unwisely decided to smell it, but I wisely didn't step in it even though I didn't smell anything.
1996--In my stocking I got a keychain that was a little bottle with seashells and a seahorse, a bag of pistachios, and a pack of Fruit Stripe gum. My brother and I got matching green six-inch-tall nutcrackers. I got Mario Paint for the Super Nintendo. My mom told me the Thompsons were getting their own SNES, so it would be nice for me to take my new game to my grandparents' house so they could play it. But I decided that since we were going to Fillmore afterwards, I didn't want to take it, since I would have to take the mouse and the mousepad, and I didn't want them to get lost or broken. My brother told me I didn't really need the mousepad, but I didn't believe him or ignored him. At my grandparents' my aunt asked me if I brought my new game. I said, "No, 'cause I would have to bring the mouse," and she said, "I would think they could just use the controllers." I thought she obviously didn't know anything about Mario Paint. My grandparents gave me Tetris Attack for my Game Boy, but I wasn't too big into puzzle games; I preferred Mario and Kirby. The Thompsons were all in the basement, enthralled in their new Nintendo. Then we went to Fillmore. I remember my brother saying he didn't like Fruit Stripe gum because it was good at first but lost its flavor really quick. A lot of pistachio shells were collecting in the bottom of my stocking. I was excited when I discovered that the Tetris Attack game had Yoshi and other Mario characters. This may have been when I was excited my paternal grandparents had chocolate-flavored candy canes.
1995--In my stocking I got a Gumby keychain and a ceramic nativity. I got a red nutcracker. I remember having a discussion that it was red and white, which was bad because they were U of U colors, unlike my blue nutcracker from the previous year. But I determined that the top of the crown was a blue part, and since it was higher up than all the red, it was OK. On top of the blue was a little gold ball, which my brother said represented some other team we liked. My siblings got me Christmas decorations--a little building that was Santa's workshop that opened up to toys on the inside, and a Santa figure holding a doll and something else. I got a reading lamp. We went on a treasure hunt for my last present, and as we went downstairs I noticed a note on the doorknob, so I was going to read it, but my mom told me not to read that one yet. She said that (noticing a clue before you were supposed to) hadn't happened before. Ultimately I ended up in my room where I found a tepee my mom had made. Then I remember playing with my reading lamp while my dad listened to his new Abbey Road CD; I distinctly remember "Octopus's Garden" playing. We were going to my maternal grandparents' house and then my paternal grandparents' house in Fillmore. I wanted to take my stocking but my family discouraged me; my sister said she was just taking some candy. But I took my stocking anyway, including my red nutcracker. At my maternal grandparents', I remember Nan sitting on the couch and the imprint of the candy in her back pocket staying on the cushion, including the imprint of the candy canes. This may have been the year I thought I was clever by rearranging my grandparents' NOEL decoration to say LEON, and Wayne changed it back, which I resented.
There is an incident that I don't remember if it happened in 1995 or 1994. My gut tells me it was 1994, but some of the details tell me otherwise. Since I don't know, I'll put it here. My maternal grandparents gave us a Bumble Ball, which they turned on while it was still wrapped. Then we took it to Fillmore. Some kids I didn't know, including my aunt Michelle's niece, were outside playing with it. I was selfish and resented that, so I sat and sulked in the car. None of the adults knew why I was sitting there. My mom came out and asked me if I, um, defecated in my pants, and I was silently appalled she would suggest such a thing. Then my cousin Kadee came out and told me she liked the necklace I had given her in our cousin gift exchange.
1994--I wore my Halloween costume, Santa Claus, on Christmas morning. In my stocking I got an apple, a banana, an orange, and a tangerine, and found the white chocolate Santa I had put inside earlier in the month. My sister got Sylvester (the cat) slippers. I got a watch with a black band, and a blue nutcracker. My grandma Judy had given us all kitchen towels, which my mom and everyone else laughed at. Mine had purple and pink flowers on it. Christmas was on Sunday, and I remember in primary opening exercises someone--Sue Palmer?--asking about what we did on Christmas. Our next-door-neighbor, Taryn Pay, talked about opening presents. We went to my maternal grandparents' house. My grandpa asked me if my watch said "tick tock," then listened to it and said, "Or does it go tock tick?" We went to Fillmore, and I asked my grandma why she got us dish towels. She said, "So if your brother or sister is using yours, you can say, 'Hey! That's my rag!'" As a six-year-old I accepted this answer--but now I don't.
1993--We got blueberry candy canes and butterscotch candy canes in our stockings. (I could have said blueberry and butterscotch candy canes, but that would be ambiguous--what a weird flavor!) We went on a treasure hunt before we went downstairs to find the big present--the weight set we dubbed "the moose" because the bar on it resembles antlers. We went to my maternal grandparents' and got ready to go with them to San Diego, but my dad couldn't come with. I remember him calling April December.
1992--I got my mom a cat ornament. She saw my name on the present, so she gave it to me, but when I opened it I told her it was really hers. We also got her pink socks. Our family got a copy of Hook--on VHS, of course.
Other posts in this series:
The Ghost of Independence Days Past
A Pillowcase Full of Trick-or-treat Memories
Remember Every Detail, Volume 3: Thanksgiving
Thanks for the walk down memory lane. I can't keep all the years straight.
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