Catching Santa Claus Anyone?
At this time of year, we always have to remember the joke growing up of Dad (Don) threatening to catch Santa Claus by laying a rope with a loop out on the floor so that when Santa would step in, he would yank on the rope and catch Santa. Of course, when we were little, this was part thrilling to imagine, and also part horror that it might actually happen! This was apparently an old trick of Grandpa's that he played on them. I don't remember us kids talking about it with each other and wondered if any of the other Dad's tried to play this trick on their kids.
Bob, the equally mischievous one, of course, found this to be an hilarious story and tried it a couple of times on Shane, who pretty much had the same reaction that we did when we were little.
I hope everyone is having a good Christmas making fun memories with your families.
posted by Patti @ 7:21 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
I only remember this story from the Memories of Dad (grandpa) book that they put together after he died. What a great story! What a funny guy! Maybe we will have to try this with our kids.
I like the Christmas memories idea for a blog post assignment. Let's hear some more everyone!
I remember hearing this as Dad (Marv) and the brothers trying to catch Santa to scare Elaine. Still, a classic that I am happy is getting handed on down through the generations...
Hmmm...I would have thought that Dan and Ron would have been more than willing to go along with the joke when you were little. St. Nicholas' Feast Day is December 6th when you'd leave your letter out for Santa and he'd pick it up and leave a bag of nuts and oranges and maybe some candy if we were lucky! The drama was always that we were sitting there watching TV and then all of a sudden this bag would come flying into the room. I don't know if this tradition came from Mom's side. I never kept it up with Shane. You can find all kinds of information about St. Nicholas on the Internet.
I loved St. Nicholas day. I didn't know it was Dad at the time but he would always chuck the bag of goodies down the back door directly down the basement steps then run to another door, come in and shout, "What was all that noise???" and we were off and running to see what St. Nick had brought. And who could get to the candy first.
The throwing in the bag came from Grandpa. Mom told us his story when we were kids how Grandpa would throw a bag of fruits and nuts onto the porch on the farm and then run around the house banging on the windows. Can you imagine how that must of sounded if you were little.
One of my recollections of St. Nick was when a friend of the family actually dressed up as St. Nick and came to visit all of us on the evening of St. Nick. Mom still has that picture of all us little kids, some frightened by his appearance and some of us generally thrilled that he actually existed (when we still believed in the fantasy).
I can't say that I remember the rope story.
I don't recall anybody throwing our nuts into the house, the bag of goodies just "appeared" in the porch mysteriously. Maybe St. Nick was tired by the time he got to our house!
I remember watching Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer on TV at Christmas when we were little - that's when it was a fairly new show back in the 60's. We'd hurry up and get supper eaten and the dishes done so we wouldn't miss the start of it - because it was only on once and it wasn't shown again til the next year. We were giddy just waiting for that to come on!
Nope, Darlene, St. Nick didn't throw his bag of goodies in our house. I'm not sure how they arrived, just know they did. And if you look at the picture of all of kids standing with St. Nick (I think Mom and Kay U. are in it) Mom probably looks pretty tired. Annette wasn't at all thrilled to see the jolly old fellow standing in our back porch (so all six of us were all there).
Do remember taking a drive to Breda one Christmas eve with Dad, with all of us kids in the car, to see the Christmas lights in town. When we all came home and walked into the house Santa Claus had already arrived and left all his presents under the tree. Mom claimed she hadn't heard anyone come in. Said she was in the cellar doing laundry. What a surprise! Now wonder how that all came about?
Yeh, I remember that. BOY were we gullible!!
I also remember setting out a bucket of oats for a snack for the reindeers. When we checked the bucket to see if the reindeers had found it there was a big indention in the center that always looked like they came and had a bite to eat too. Funny all the things you remember. But they were sure fun at the time. Yes, we were all pretty gullible at the time. But they make great memories! Unfortunately, not living on a farm, I have to make new memories. But I sure hope that our children take them with them as they grow up and raise their own children one day.
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