as the holidays approach, i often think of how, in my youth, my mother always made them so "special." yeah, forget norman rockwell, i'm talking about a turkey falling on the floor and an extra special movie experience.
the year was 1983, which puts me at about the age of 5. i don't remember going to the movies with my parents very often, but i do remember this fateful movie-going day.
my mom took me to what she thought was going to be the Disney movie Mickey's Christmas Carol. My mom has an unmatched love of the story (the original, not Disney's per se) and has DVDs of most every version from the original until now. That day, we went to the theater near Great Clips and Children's Palace. She got the two tickets and apparently didn't actually know the title of the movie -- and was never questioned about it.
We got popcorn, sat down, watched the previews and the movie started. I didn't actually know what was happening on the screen and I don't remember necessarily being bummed about it, but Mickey and his friends never showed up.
What did show up is now a Christmas classic: The fantasic tale of A Christmas Story.
Remember the part when Ralphie's mom covers his eyes at the leg lamp? Yep, pretty sure she covered my eyes while Ralphie's mother covered his. How post-modern.
Of course, at 5, I had no idea of what was going on; the only other movies I remembered going to at around that age were E.T. and The Fox and the Hound. But the experience made her laugh and cringe at the same time and the legend about the time her Christmas-movie-bonding experience went slightly awry -- in a way only SJS could create -- has lived on.
my mother is big on "tradition." not necessarily creating tradition, or following any sort of family traditions we have in place, she's just big on the idea. so every year, at every holiday, she decorates her house as though she were living in a grand victorian home that was filled with delicious scents, fabulous decorations, sounds of a happy family singing around a piano and, perhaps, servants making sure it all goes off without a hitch.
however, the reality is that she decorates her house, bakes and stays away from the family (which, given our family, i say is fair and support). another part of this want for tradition includes the "passing it on to you kids" part. this doesn't necessarily include her actually passing on family heirlooms (although we've already been told which jewelry is ours when she "goes"); it really means she's giving us things that she hopes will spark that tradition fantasy she has in her head, into reality in our lives.
she has gone about this in many ways, but one of her most famous, is in giving us statues and knick knacks so that we can decorate our homes each and every holiday. as always, i will stress that her heart and thoughtfulness are incredible, however her means are often misguided (click here for another interesting gift).
over the years, i've received many figurines from my mother. she once told me she wanted me to have a "collection" to pass onto my children. the thing is, these figurines range from just poorly painted snowmen to downright frightening little girls dressed as bunnies.
in fact, the aforementioned bunny statue was so scary, that my college roommate and i used to hide it around our apartment to scare the crap out of each other. when we left 240 pennsylvania ave, we left the bunny in a closet for the next tenants (sorry!).
there is no photographic evidence of this girl-in-bunny-suit statuette (although this is similar, to give you an idea) and so it had almost become a legend in the year after we left it in ithaca. however, the next year, right around Easter, i got a package from my mother and there, packed in bubble wrap, was the statue. again.
i know! i was freaked out too. either her mother's intuition crept in and she knew what i did or she bought a ton of these things and forgot she had sent me one the year before (i choose to believe the latter -- thinking about her going through my old apartment to retrieve it is just too much). this time, the girl bunny got left in a closet in sherman oaks. i never got another girl bunny statue.
but that doesn't mean i never got another statue.
the statue-giving really kicked in and reached an apex at the close of my senior year of college. family had come from all over to celebrate graduation with me and at one point, the same roommate and i opened our gifts in front of everyone. my siblings and i are the first generation in our family to have post-h.s. degrees, so it was kind of a big deal. most of the gifts were watches or luggage or any of the other things one would expect. and then i opened my mother's gift.
it was one of those openings where people are so stunned that they can't really say anything. frankly, i was so stunned, i didn't say anything. what was it you ask? an incredible statue of wolf heads (below). the silence was broken by my mother saying, "sarah has always loved wolves" to which my roommate asked, "you have?" and the silence continued. (to be fair, i did love wolves -- in middle school --which is right about the time my mom moved to Canada.)
it should be mentioned that the wolves were the only present i received from her for graduation, which is fine. but it should also be mentioned that she was living in a huge house with a 5-car garage and wasn't lacking for funds (the statue might tell you otherwise). and, so, the legend of The Wolves was created. i plan to keep them forever, if only b/c the story is so awesome.
(her house)
(The Wolves)
The Wolves now reside on top of a bookcase in our living room. no one has ever asked about them, so we're guessing our friends just think we have bad taste (which kind of makes their presence even better).
i was reminded of all of this recently when talking about giving white elephant gifts and decorating for Christmas. of course, i have more than The Wolves and during the winter months, the creepy snowmen with their phallic tree get put out on display.
beyond that, there's Easter and other assorted holidays.
in recent years, i think she's given up on the figurine giving. it's definitely slowed. most people would think "well she's taken the hint," but knowing better, i'm guessing it's because she used to live very close to a knock-off Hallmark that sold such things and when she moved from Canada to Florida -- where her love of the dollar store kicked in -- she let it go. however, i am just waiting for a $.99 figurine, in all its ill-painted creepiness to arrive on my doorstep any day now ...
my mother is an interesting gal. and because i see a lot of her specialness in me these days, this blog is dedicated to her ridiculous, but entertaining, stories.
