a tale of tails, tenacity, and tedium, as told by me, usually barefoot and bellowing

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Memories

This post is very special and very cool in it timing.

My six hundredth post and my fifty-fifth birthday are landing on the same day.  It is a day to celebrate.  I have enjoyed my journey through life and my journey through blogdom.  I have met many fantastically wonderful people and feel as if I know you personally although we have never met.  Thank you for sharing your life with me.

Families have many traditions.  My family had some strange ones and they came from Daddy.  I think maybe Mom objected but Dad won.

The first snow we were always set outside the house barefooted and in our gown tail straight from the bed.  We could not enter the house until we ran around it, not too bad because we only had a three room house.  Now, you may be shocked about this blatant disregard for the care of a minor but we loved it.  I do not know if this was a tradition handed down or if it belonged only to Daddy, I never asked so I will never know.  The purpose was if you got your bare feet in the first snow, your feet would be warm all winter.  I do not remember having cold feet but it could be due to the bread sacks Momma made us wear over our shoes as we walked to catch the bus or the bucket of coals we carried to the bus stop on winter mornings. I remember going barefoot in the snow and not having a second thought about it, not because I had to but because I liked the feel of the snow on my bare feet. I guess I have Daddy to thank for that strange habit.

Our second tradition, but not the last(I shall save them for other posts) was homemade wine on Christmas morning.  Yes, again we were minors and no, none of us drink in the mornings but Christmas was special.  Dad would make wine, Concord grape wine, Elderberry wine, Possum grape wine, and others according to what crop was good that year.  Christmas was our morning to taste the batch.  We had old snuff glasses and Daddy would fill them half full and give all of us a glass of wine, even Momma would have one.  Whether it was a good year or not, we would ooo and aaaaw over the taste to make Daddy feel good.  Christmas wasn't filled with lots of presents but we always had our wine and we always sang Christmas songs around the tree.

After opening the presents, Momma would fix a huge breakfast and we would all set around the table, warm inside from Christmas wine and a family tradition of love and togetherness.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your treasured memories with us. I remember wearing plastic bags over my shoes too (with a rubberband) the few times it snowed in GA when I was a kid!

Rural Rambler said...

What a great post this morning Gail! Nice memories and they are great things to have and share this time of year. Thanks :)

Rudee said...

Happy Birthday, Gail!

Thanks for sharing your traditions and memories.

I hope you have something special planned to celebrate your day.

Hugs!

ellen abbott said...

Happy Birthday! And a great post. Wonderful to have memories like that. I have nothing that even vaguely compares.

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

Happy, happy birthday to you Gail and congratulations on your 600th post. I enjoyed reading about your special family traditions. I can remember those slick bread-wrapper boots. No traction, I always wished I'd strapped a pillow on for the fall when I wore them.

Ya'll have a fab day celebrating your day!!!

Silliyak said...

Happy birthday kid!

Grammy said...

Happy Birthday!
Your traditions sound so wonderful. You were truly blessed with love.

Heart of a Cowgirl said...

What great family traditions and memories! I almost felt like I was there with you. :)
Happy Birthday and congrats on your 600th post - wow!

C-ingspots said...

I love your family's Christmas morning traditions...they sound beautiful and full of love! Thank you for sharing with us. I like the feel of cold snow on my feet too.

Silliyak said...

Oh and don't forget, studies have shown that the people with the most birthdays live the longest.

C-ingspots said...

Oh, almost forgot...Happy Birthday!!!

Pyatshaw said...

Happy Birthday, you youngster!
When we had chilblains, and we had a lot, dad would tell us to run out in the snow....but we didn't always have snow! Your snow was for prevention ours was for cure!

Irene said...

Happy birthday, Gail and congratulations on your 600th post.

Dog Trot Farm said...

Happy Birthday Gail and thank you for sharing those wonderful family traditions. I hope we bloggers get to hear more. Did you pass any of your childhood traditions down to your children?

Rural Rambler said...

Dang Gail I got so caught up on the sweet memory part I forgot to wish you a Very Happy Birthday and big old Congratulations on your 600th post!!!!!!!!!

Melbourne Girl said...

Have a great birthday Gail...I'm sure you will. Family traditions are terrific aren't they? Lov them. We had similar, Christmas day was the only time we drank alcohol. A shandy at lunchtime. A shandy is half beer half lemondade and it always had to be in the special glasses only brought out at Christmas.
Lesley

Pat said...

What wonderful memories! I love the story of running barefoot outside the house on the first snowfall!

A little bit of wine on Christmas morning does not an alcoholic make. Sounds like a wonderful time.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Happy belated birthday, Gail!!! And wow! 600 posts! Congrats!

I still put bread bags on my kids when it snows, if I forgot to buy winter boots before the first snowfall. lol! I think it comes from my own parents putting bread bags over my shoes when it snowed when I was a kid, too.
Funny how the tradition lasts over many generations like that.


~Lisa

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