Happy Holidays
Whatever the reason birthdays in our house were no big deal. I know that I had a birthday party somewhere along the line but to be honest I can't remember when it was - no card, no gift and no day off - the lawn still needed mowing, the potatoes still needed peeling.
I wasn't the only one without a birthday party. Linda was shocked when she asked Mom what she was going to do for Ronnie's birthday when he turned 9 or 10 and Mom said, "nothing." Ronnie was probably the only one of us to get a birthday cake that year - after Linda made it.
Not only did we not celebrate birthdays, we didn't celebrate Mom and Dad's anniversary or any legal holiday unless Dad got time off. This was a sore point for Linda as I never seemed to remember the occasions that meant so much to her. I try but still drop the ball from time to time.
There were two holidays that were religiously honored by the Riggan family - Thanksgiving and Christmas. Dad was always big on family and these were family holidays.
Thanksgiving was always celebrated at the grandparents. Fortunately they lived close to each other so we made Thanksgiving lunch with the Riggan side and dinner with the Wade side. Granny Riggan cooked chicken and Granny Wade cooked turkey (Granny Riggan was more adapt at wringing the necks of chickens ). Later, after Grandpa Riggan passed on, the events were held at Granny and Grandpa Wade's until Granny got smart enough to let Aunt Addie have Thanksgiving at her house.
Thanksgiving was great as you got to see all of the aunts, uncles and cousins on both sides of the family. The kids ran around and screamed like banshees. The food was plentiful and we ate like there was no tomorrow. Fried chicken, turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans or peas, sweet potato pie with marshmellows on top ( I was never keen on sweet potatoes but I loved marshmellows ), cakes, pies and three flavors of ice-cream - for a kid, this was heaven.
Preparation of the meal was left to the women. The men of the Riggan family talked on all kinds of subjects and slipped outside and had a snort out of sight of Granny and Pa. Us boys ran around screaming and hollering getting into all kinds of mischief. The girl cousins were older and they went off by themselves talking about what ever girls talk about.
The Wade meal was served later in the afternoon. Digestion had not kicked in from the feed at Granny Riggans' but we kids seemed to find room for more food. Grandpa swore we had hollow legs.
The men of the Wade side were more sports minded and Grandpa usually found a ball game on the little 19in black and white TV. The women gathered with Granny in the kitchen to help with the food and later the clean up, all the while cackling away like the old hens the men folk said they were.
When we were younger the play time was all fun and games but as we got older we tried to fit in with the adults, but I was not into sports so other avenues were explored.
One year when I was a teenager we went to Granny and Pa Wades. They lived out on the Bethpage Hwy on a small farm. Everyone showed up, even Uncle Roy (better known as Uncle RC) and Aunt Jean from California. Uncle John (better know as Uncle AJ ) and Aunt Sammy drove up in a VW Beetle.
Now this was a long time ago and try as I might I can't remember all of the players involved. I do know that I, brother Pat and at least one or two cousins were feeling kind of mischievous that day. Uncle AJ had parked his VW in the driveway appropriately along side of two trees which happened to inspire us to pull a prank. It took some doing but we picked up on the rear bumper and dragged it to the side then picked up the front of the car and moved it to the side. After several minutes of dragging the car this way and that we finally had it positioned between the two trees and there was no way it was going to be driven out.
Uncle AJ was pretty good about the joke and everyone got a good laugh - we didn't even mind dragging the front end around so the car could be driven out.
As Granny and Pa Wade got older the Thanksgivings were moved to Aunt Addie and Uncle Harold's house in Hendersonville. The house was an old colonial home built back in the 1800's that Uncle Harold had restored, and it was large enough to accommodate the whole family which had enlarged due to marriages and births. The location didn't seem to matter - this was a family gathering and everyone enjoyed themselves.
Christmas was the holiday of choice, especially for us kids - Santa Claus, presents, candy canes and toys. This was the one time each year when everybody was happy. I can't remember a bad
Christmas.
There was an unwritten law that Christmas Eve was spent at home. Christmas Day we went to the Grandparents but Christmas Eve was at home.
Christmas was the one holiday that had a build up that started back around September. The anticipation gained momentum daily until the morning of Christmas Eve. By this time Mom was ready for Santa Clause to arrive but the game had to be played out.
After months of looking at the Sears catalog toy section and showing Mom and Dad the pictures and describing what each toy could do and why we had to have it Mom and Dad were exhausted. We kids were so hyped up on anticipation we didn't need sugar but we sneaked a piece of candy anyway.
Christmas Eve started with Mom getting the house ready because there would always be extra guests to stop by later on. Then she would start cooking - not that we wanted to eat - what we wanted was to open " just one " of the presents under the tree. We spent the entire day around the Christmas tree which had some presents under it. We tried to guess what was in each of the brightly wrapped gifts. Somewhere around 6:00 or later Dad would show up, preceded or followed by friends or co-workers, some who brought gifts or at least fruit or candy.
Dad was a sucker for Christmas. He could no more wait for Christmas Day than us kids. Later in the evening we were told we had to go to bed. Santa Claus wouldn't come if we weren't asleep - what 7 or 8 year old kid was going to sleep on Christmas Eve? As we lay quietly in our beds wide awake but pretending to be asleep, we could hear noises in the attic. Soon Dad would come in and wake us up because Santa Claus had been there and left all kinds of great stuff. How Santa got those toys in the attic was a mystery as we had no chimney or outside attic access. Dad said it was Santa's magic. I quickly discovered that Santa started storing toys in our attic way before Christmas but the question remained - how did he get in the attic?
Sometimes Dad would take us for a ride to see the Christmas lights in the neighborhood and when we got back Mom would be there telling us that we had just missed Santa. Sure enough there were all kinds of toys and gifts. Thank goodness Mom was there to let Santa in the house.
At this point the Genie was out of the lamp and no way was he going back in. The sugar canes, cookies and anticipation had reached a peak and we were awake for the night. Wrapping paper, ribbons, bows and name tags were everywhere, the crescendo of noise was deafening but this was Christmas. One year, when we lived on Colonial Circle, Granny and Grandpa Wade came to visit on Christmas Eve. I was probably 8 yrs old. Several gifts were in large boxes and after everything had been opened we played with the toys and the boxes. Grandpa watched and was amazed to the point that he said, "hell, if I had known how much fun those boxes were going to be I could have saved myself a lot of money ". It was not important that we didn't always get what we wanted. By the time Christmas morning rolled around we were thrilled with what we got and couldn't wait to show off to our friends.
Dad was always the one who couldn't wait to see the expressions on our faces when we walked into the living room after Santa had come. The little kid in him would come out as he helped us assemble, figure out how to operate and then play with the toys. Many times it would be after midnight and we kids would still be going strong but Dad would poop out and leave Mom to stay up with us until one by one we couldn't hold our eyes open any more. This was somewhere around 3-4 in the morning. As Pat and I got older we would be the baby sitters so Mom could get some rest also.
Christmas morning started the whole show over again as we loaded up and headed for Granny and Grandpa Riggans' house. More anticipation, cookies, candy and presents. Later we would cross the raging Cumberland river on a rickety old ferry and visit Granny and Pa Wade. More anticipation, cookies, candy and presents. Oh, and don't forget the Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. I realized years later why many adults would say, "thank goodness Christmas only comes once a year ".
Brother Pat and I are only 15 months apart in age and we usually got the same major gifts from Santa. One year we each got BB-guns, another we got 3 speed English racer bicycles, and when money was tight we shared the gift like when we were teens and got a Philco radio which we listened to all night.
Christmas continued on in the same manner for many years - then we kids got older, Grandpa Riggan passed away and the Riggan clan seemed to venture down different paths. We still visited Granny and Grandpa Wade but the Christmas Eve tradition at Mom and Dad's house was the highlight of the season. The family expanded as we kids got married and started to have kids of our own but all of that didn't matter as Mom expected us to start arriving by 6:00 - come hungry, and friends were welcome.
The Christmas Eve's spent at 301 Jacksonian Drive were some of the most memorable. Just imagine Mom and Dad, five adult kids and spouses, as many as four grand kids, a couple of neighbors, friends and co-workers all gathered into a small house. Add to this the smoke from 7-10 people smoking pipes and cigarettes. Finally the time would come to open the gifts,. Imagine everyone in Mom's small living room opening presents. There would be ribbons, bows and wrapping paper two feet thick on the floor but that too was a part of the tradition, as was Dad passing out the gifts and helping the little ones to figure out their toys.
We of the Riggan family may not be all that great about remembering birthdays and anniversaries but few families could hold a candle to our Christmas Eve gatherings. It was nice to have a night where everyone was happy to see you and only good things were said and at the end of the night you went home with a smile on your face. We were always a Norman Rockwell style family full of goodwill, cheer, love and togetherness .
Linda and I left Nashville in 1978, Dad died in 1985, Christmas Eve was never really the same after that. But the tradition carried on no matter where we lived. Linda grew up with a different tradition of opening gifts on Christmas morning but the spirit soon got to her. Even when it was just the two of us we opened gifts on Christmas Eve and I would save the one biggy gift for last. When our boys came along the tradition continued as it had for many years. Christmas Eve was spent at home.
Today our boys have their own families and friends. They still come over on Christmas Eve but we are slowly becoming the grandparents to be visited on Christmas Day. The spirits of Christmas 's Past are many and as time passes they seem to run together in my mind - but they linger. Still, I can't remember all of them, but neither can I remember a bad one.
That twinkle in my eye this Christmas will be for my first grandchild (a Granddaughter), due December 22, 2012. I am looking forward to meeting her and passing the Christmas Eve traditions to my son.
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This Christmas turned out to be a mixture of feelings both good and not so good. About the tenth or eleventh of December, 2012 Linda was rushed to the hospital where she was placed on a ventilator, her congestive heart failure had risen up with a vengeance and she almost died that night. After three days the ventilator was removed but she needed bypass surgery but they also needed her heart to be stronger so they kept her in the hospital.
On December 15th MJ was born in a hospital a couple miles away, Linda was unable to get to her hospital. When Marie was released to go home the nurses who attended to Linda talked the doctor into letting Linda meet her new granddaughter in the lobby downstairs.
Linda wound up having her operation, it was risky and she stood a good chance of not pulling through. Christmas and New Years was spent in the hospital, it was mid January before she could come home.
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