It is Pronounced Santa Claus. Not Santy!!

By now you all know that I had two cousins. Brothers. Who were named after the Christmas drink Tom & Jerry. We were the three youngest in the family and actually they were my 2nd cousins. All the rest of our cousins were considerably older than us. My mom was the youngest of seven children which is the reason for the extreme age difference. 

Over the years Tom, Jerry and I became more like brothers and sister. We all went to high school together. We all hung out together outside of the family parties. And eventually my husband and Jerry became great friends. 


Despite the fact that we were cousins we were always called "aunt and uncles by our children. Over the years the original Rochte family split into new family groups as all families do. Like the branches of a family tree spread in different directions. But for some reason, Tom, Jerry, and I stayed together even though we descended from two different branches.

Now both Tom and Jerry have passed away and I miss them both very much.

However, I do remember one particular Christmas Eve party at my Aunt Maire's house when I wished both of them would have never been born!! And it involved Santa Claus!!

Tom and Jerry had been in trouble with the Aunts ever since they opened their presents. I, as usual, was the perfect little angel -- kissing up to the Aunts every chance I got. I knew how to play the game. 

In those days the Aunts had huge dining room tables. A Florida condo would fit in the space those tables took up. My aunts always had tablecloths on those tables. It was a great place to beat up a cousin without getting caught. 

Somehow on that Christmas Eve the Aunts figured out I was missing in action. And they rescued me. 

This is what happened: 
Tom and Jerry got in a lot of trouble with the Aunts.
The Aunts took their new Christmas toys away and hid them. 
When my cousins wanted to know what happened to their toys, the Aunts told them Santa Claus took them away. 

Unfortunately for me the Aunts didn't say Santa Claus. They said Santy. 
Santy  sounds like Sandy (my name) and that gave my cousins a really good excuse to beat the snot out of me underneath Aunt Maire's dining room table.

Back in those days many people referred to Santa Claus as Santy. A lot of time it sounded like Sanny without the T. I can remember hearing "Sanny Claus. To this day I don't know why. I haven't heard the term in years. I might not even be aware of the pronunciation if it were not for the life-threatening situation that I was in at the time.


 

Our Special Family Christmas Drink Recipe

The 5th prompt on the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories is about Christmas recipes. It is my favorite so far because it allows me to tell one of my favorite stories about my mom's crazy family. It is bittersweet however, because there are only two of us left now who remember this wonderful group of people-- me and one of my older cousins. 

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My family always made a special drink for Christmas Eve back in the days when the whole family still got together. It was called a Tom and Jerry. It is a combination of raw eggs, sugar, butter, cloves, and nutmeg plus rum, brandy, or whiskey. It is sort of like hot chocolate for adults without the chocolate! It is not Eggnog. Never was; never will be. It is served hot! It is smoother and you can drink a lot more of it and my family did. 

The Tom and Jerry originated in the mid 1850's and was not named after the cartoon cat and mouse. It was a very popular drink well into the 1950's. I think it must have been replaced by Eggnog for some reason. Possibly it was too labor intensive and it does contain raw eggs. I still have a few of my mom's set of Tom & Jerry cups. Yes, you drank it from special cups with the name "Tom & Jerry" in gold on the front. 

My mom and her sisters always took turns having Christmas Eve. I was just a little girl with two cousins who were close to my age. The family was made up of my parents, three sets of aunts and uncles. four sets of married cousins, plus us three little kids. We had a ball. It was always a lot of fun -- probably due to the Tom & Jerry's. 

I was the oldest of the young cousins and for a few years it was just me and one other cousin who was four months younger than me. Then one Christmas Eve a miracle happened. My cousin's mom went into labor. Of course, all the adults had been drinking Tom & Jerry's so they had to go through the whole group until they found someone who was sober enough to drive the expectant couple to the hospital. They picked my uncle who was a policeman!

As the three of them were leaving for the hospital someone yelled, "Hey, if it's a boy name him Jerry." That made perfect sense. You see my other cousin's name was Tom and it had suddenly dawned on my family that if they named his new brother Jerry we would always have Tom & Jerry's for Christmas.

It was a boy, born on Christmas Eve and they did name him Jerry!! 

Even after we no longer made the drink for Christmas Eve and the special cups were packed away in the attic, we could still celebrate with Tom and Jerry  every Christmas.

Christmas Lights - When One Goes Out, They All Go Out!

Nothing says Christmas like a bunch of tiny bright lights. But when one goes out they all go out and that seems to be what has happened in my "neck of the woods" this year. Last year the majority of the houses on the cul-de-sac next to my house were beautifully decorated. And a good of portion of the houses on the country road where I live sparkled with decorations of all sorts and kinds. This year all is dark except for my house where everything that doesn't move gets lit up! 

Every year for the ten years I have lived here my granddaughter has helped me put up the Christmas lights. It has achieved official tradition status over the years. I have six huge Christmas trees that my husband put along the driveway when we moved here. They were intended for privacy but look great with lights of red, green, blue, multicolor and clear. Every year they get taller and we add more lights. 

But the rest of the street and the road are dark. I can't figure out what went wrong. We have a great electric company and the rates are very low so it can't be that. Gas prices are way down so it doesn't cost that much to fill up the car. Kroger is almost out of lights on its shelves so they must have gone somewhere. Not here though. If you go across the line into the county next door almost every house is decorated. But as soon as you cross the county line back to where I live, the lights go out. 

Food prices here have skyrocketed and Kroger dropped its double coupon policy. That could be it. Maybe it is a choice between the Christmas feast or Christmas lights. How sad. Let's hope it's not due to a lack of Christmas Spirit too. 

Or possibly somewhere a couple miles down the road, one light went out and they all went out. 

Grandma and the Reindeer

My mother hated the song "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer". She actually called a radio station and ripped them to pieces for playing the song.It was the most embarrassing moment for me and my family -- EVER!

It was like. "Mom it is a joke." 

"It's a  song."

"Don't take it personally."

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Guess who takes it personally now!

First of all, I don't have blue hair. Actually it is a rather beautiful shade of grey. 

Should we open up her gifts or send them back? That is very offensive. At the time I thought it was funny. Not so much any more. I get what upset my mom. I have to admit that now I change the station when I hear this song. But, also, I rarely hear it any more. Thank goodness. Perhaps too many grandmothers complained!

So here is my list of my favorite Christmas songs.

#1. I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, Gayle Peevey

#2. Wonderful Christmastime, Paul McCartney

#3. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Barenaked Ladies

#4. White Christmas, The Drifters

#5. My Grown Up Christmas List, Kelly Clarkson 

And anything Peter Paul and Mary!

 

The Christmas Card Wreath

If the ghost of Christmas Past were to visit me in the middle of the night, she would take me back to the days of the Christmas card. And yes, it would be a she because it has always been the wife's job to send out the annual Christmas card. Or worse, the dreaded Christmas letter. 

I no longer send out cards because I finally realized the only reason people were sending me cards was because I had sent them a card, and they were only returning the favor. So it didn't really mean anything.

But I have a metal wreath frame that holds cards and eventually turns into a huge Christmas wreath. I have a dresser drawer filled with old  cards from Christmas Past and I use those old Christmas cards to create a wreath of memories from days gone by. The best part is getting the cards out and reading the names of friends and family who are no longer with us. And yes, I do include those crazy Christmas letters.

To be honest with you, I miss making out that Christmas card list. Updating all the addresses. Spending hours sitting at the dining room table addressing envelopes. Sealing envelopes. Applying stamps. Going to the post office.

I would love to do it all again but it has lost its meaning. I would love to send a Christmas  card to someone but I don't want them to feel obligated to return the favor.

The Perfect Christmas Tree!

Long before the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree was introduced to the world of television in 1965, my uncles had the yearly task of creating the perfect Christmas tree. I don't know for sure, but I think they were in direct competition with each other. It was a long drawn-out procedure that involved saws, drills and extra tree limbs. 

If you are picturing a bunch of grown men drilling holes in the trunk of an evergreen tree, you're headed in the right direction. They filled in the "holes" in the tree by inserting additional tree limbs in the holes in the trunk. The result was a beautiful, full, live --  but somewhat "artificial" Christmas tree. The ornaments didn't "hang" on the tree. Instead, they sort of laid on the tree.

The whole process took a couple of nights to complete. It was slow, tedious, and especially annoying for me and my cousins who were waiting to decorate the trees. And, I might add -- not patiently. 

This contest ended with the advent of the aluminum artificial tree. My aunts had a lot to do with that. They weren't too thrilled with the annual tree contest either. Now the tree was stored in a box in the attic. It was silver and came with a light wheel that made the tree change colors throughout the evening. It didn't really look like a Christmas tree but it could be up and running within an hour. By this time the uncles were enjoying television and they were more than willing to put an end to the contest. 

Years later,  when my kids were little, I decided to go in the opposite direction and we went to the tree lot to look for a tall, skinny, ugly Christmas tree. Like a Charlie Brown Tree. The owner of the lot was really glad to see me and he disappeared to the back of the lot and returned with my "perfect" tree. Everyone thought I was nuts until the tree was decorated. It turned out to be beautiful. The ornaments "hung" on the tree for once and you could see the beauty of each and every one. 

After my late husband and I were married, I dragged him to the tree lot and embarrassed him by requesting my tall, skinny, ugly tree. He had a fit, to put it mildly, and my kids thought it was funny. Of course, he changed his mind after the tree was decorated and he became a fan too. 

Now I still have the same kind of tree 40 years later, only it is my grandkids who think grandma's off her rocker. Of course the tree is artificial now and lives in the spare bedroom from February to November. 

Christmas trees have come a long way since the 1940's. We still have the real ones but I don't know anyone who "creates" the perfect tree with a drill and spare branches any more. Most people my age have artificial trees and they stand in a basement, garage, or spare room when not decorated. We leave the real tree hassle to the younger generation and we reminisce about the "old days". 

A Degree in Genealogy Science?

I have been working on lineage papers for the U. S. Daughters of 1812. For some reason when I went thru the records for myself, my husband, and my parents this time, it was like my life was passing before my eyes. 

Tonight I found out that an old friend of mine is losing her battle with Alzheimer's. I can't explain the feeling I have had over the last few hours. Shock! Of course, sadness. The usual bitterness and anger. But more than that is the realization that her life may have passed before her eyes a long time ago.

This afternoon at the Lucas County Chapter OGS board meeting, we were discussing program choices for the coming year. Health and DNA took a front seat at the table. It is important that we research not only our family history, but also our health history. We have only discovered the tip of the iceberg on this new frontier. Genealogists have a lot to contribute to society. We have been overlooked for too long.

How many universities offer degrees in genealogy science. Yes, it is becoming a science. And it should be recognized as a valuable contribution to the community. Just sit and listen to a bunch of family detectives discuss how and where they found a valuable piece of information. It's amazing. It is so much more now than just a birth certificate or a family bible or a bunch of letters from the Civil War stuffed in the rafters in a barn. 

It is knowing where to go. How to fit pieces of the puzzle together. How to analyze your results.

So my friend is losing her battle. Maybe it is time to put the pieces of her family tree together. Maybe the answer to saving her descendants lies in her genealogy science.

Let's hope so!