Remembering Down Through the Years

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My early childhood memories of Christmas were spent with my grandparents. We all met there after church. There were probably 10-12 of us. We set around the living room to open gifts. We each took our turn. Presents were opened carefully saving wrapping paper if possible. Then we thanked the person who had gotten the gift for us and then we moved on to the next person. My grandmother was an economist. She even saved the tinsel off the tree. I can recall spending many an hour carefully putting the tinsel on a card to save it for the next year. That is why when I was married to my third husband the celebration seemed rather bizarre. I have been married 4 times. (I finally learned that I don't play well with others and am no longer a marriage candidate)My third mistake- I mean the marriage was to a narcissistic personality. He had a big family of three sisters and two brothers. Our Christmas day was spent at his folks'. When we opened gifts there were probably 20-25 people in their mom's and dad's small living room. They didn't each take a turn. Instead, they chose one of the kids to go around handing out gifts. Each person would just rip open their gifts to see what they got. It seemed almost barbaric as opposed to what I was used to. I can still remember the small living room with a sea of wrapping paper for a floor. The image is from my collection down through the years.