Mom & Me Four Archive

...for what I'm hoping will be a Christmas podcast. I noticed, this morning, that the movie, The Santa Clause was showing this afternoon on one of the cable channels. This has been one of my daily duties since the Christmas season officially kicked off around Thanksgiving: Checking the daily TV listings for Christmas movies I know my mother would like (aside from also playing the ones we own). This isn't easy. She isn't a Christmas wimp. Just because a movie's about Christmas doesn't mean it will appeal to her. I was especially pleased about the appearance of this movie, because I rented it a few years ago and she loved it, although, today, she didn't remember ever viewing it and loved it anew.
    After watching the movie, Mom and I worked into a discussion of the "new" Santa Claus traditions and information contained in the movie and how these compare with old Santa data. This is a subject close to my mother's heart, since she is Mrs. Christmas.
    As we talked, I began wondering about what she remembers about Christmases in her past. I held myself back from asking, though, because, I decided, depending on what she could remember, this might make for an interesting (at least to our extended family) podcast. As our conversation dwindled, it occurred to me that, if I want to set the stage for the most memories possible, I should consider purposely trying the technique I accidentally discovered when she and I talked about her grandfather's book of worship, reviewed in this post, second part of the post.
    I hit her with the Christmas podcast idea and explained the technique I was planning on using. "You're about to take a nap, Mom. I'm going to run through a list of Christmas related subjects I'm curious about in regards to your life. I don't want you to respond right now. I don't want you to work at remembering anything. I just want you to listen, then we'll pack you off for you nap. We'll see how much you remember later this evening, after you've slept on it, awakened, and distracted yourself with our evening activities. Once you're relaxed, we'll warm up the microphone and hit the tracks." I mentioned to her, as well, that it took a night sleep for her to remember her and her soon-to-be aunt's attic cleaning adventure, and we're not limited by a schedule, so, if we don't get much tonight, we'll consider tonight a second prep session and revisit the subject tomorrow. Sounded like a good idea to her.
    As I rambled through a seat of the pants list, every time I noticed her brow wrinkling or her mouth opening to say something like, "I just can't remember," I'd stop her and say, "Mom, don't think. Just listen. Don't worry about whether anything's coming forward right now. Just listen to what I'm asking."
    For my reference, and use while we're recording, here is my remembered list of Christmas related subjects, probably including some new ones that I expect will reveal themselves as I type:

• What's the first Christmas you can remember?
• What's the first Christmas gift you can remember?
• What about gifts you bought or made for others? What were some of those? Do you remember reactions to them?
• Since your mom was a minister's daughter, did you go to church on Christmas? If so, what were the services like?
• What kind of Christmas decorations do you remember? What were some of your favorites?
• Did you ever believe in Santa Claus? Did you stop believing in Santa Claus? When? How did it happen that you found out "the truth" about Santa Claus? How did you feel when you found out?
• Did you or any of your siblings ever discover your parents being Santa Claus?
• When did you open gifts? Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or both?
• Since you guys moved around a lot, where were some of the various places you spent Christmas? How were your celebrations affected by where you lived?
• How often were relatives involved with Christmas?
• What were the traditional Christmas foods?
• Do you remember any Christmases that are connected with tragedy? What were those like?
• What has been your favorite ever Christmas gift to give? To receive?
• When you made your own family and began your own Christmas traditions, how did they contrast with those with which you were raised?
• How did you spend Christmas as an adult, before you were married, when you were away from home? How about in the Navy?
• Was the stocking tradition something that came from your born-into family?
• Do you remember how your siblings felt about Christmas? Your parents?
• Did your family ever host a down-and-out person or family for Christmas?
• Was your family ever down-and-out over Christmas and, therefore, hosted by another family?
• What are your favorite Christmas songs and Christmas stories? Which of these songs and stories were introduced to you by your family?
• Do you remember anything about how [my] Dad felt about Christmas? Did he ever talk about Christmases in his youth?
• Any particular memories about any specific Christmases involving the family you made?
• When did you become aware that you have an unusual affinity for Christmas and Santa Claus?
• Have you ever experienced what you would consider a perfect Christmas? If so, what was it like? If not, what is your idea of a perfect Christmas?
• If you could meet Santa Claus, what would you say to him?
• If you could be Santa Claus, would you change anything about Christmas? If so, what?

    I'm sure I'll think of more before and during our recording session (or sessions, whichever the case may be). I'm not promising results. A lot will depend on Mom's memory. It's possible, too, that it will take more than one recording session to successfully bring forth all my mother's memories, attitudes, opinions and stories, assuming we are successful. We'll see how it goes.
    I may also include New Years material, depending on how successful we are with this project.
    So, anyway, we'll see what comes of all this...
    ...later.