Grandma Torgesen's Story

I had an uncle who didn't get married until he was in his 50s and had no children of his own. In the group of cousins around my age, there were all the words or one girl and. Every December, starting when I was around 8, my uncle would take my cousin, Ann, and myself, shopping at the local shoe store in the town I grew up in.

 I remember that I thought it was so neat to be able to go shopping and to pick out a pair of shoes I really liked. Most of the time I choose fancy dress shoes with a strap across foot in a bow on the top of the shoe. They were made of skinny black patent leather. My uncle would wrap the shoes and give them to me on Christmas Day when he would come down to have dinner with us. He kept up this tradition until we became teenagers and by that time he had married and did have a son of his own.

My mother has six siblings and they all lived in the same town. We get together during the summer for a big picnic reunions and at Christmas time. Every December one of the siblings would take turns hosting the families at their house for a dinner and gift exchange, and of course, a visit from Santa. Prior to the get-together, whoever was hosting, what a sign out different food items to be brought for the potluck dinner and also, assign each person with the name they were giving to in the gift exchange. It's all the uncles, aunts, cousins, and my grandpa, there were around 50 people in attendance. An invitation would be sent out with food items each family was in charge of bringing and also the names for the gift exchange. 

When we arrived at the party, all the gifts were put under the Christmas tree. After dinner we gather around in a big circle, with the adult sitting in chairs and the kids sitting on the floor. When we heard the bells outside, we knew Santa was there. You would take a seat by the Christmas tree and begin selecting a gift and call up their name on the tag. When your name was called, you would go sit on Santa's knee, adults and kids alike. He would visit with you for a few minutes and always asked if we'd been good and what we wanted for Christmas. He then would hand us our gift and we returned back to her seat to on route for a gift. Before Santa left, he'd always give the children a small brown paper sack filled with a candy cane, chocolate candies, and an orange.

I remember many Christmas Eves after going to bed, being much too excited to sleep. Several times during the night, I'd sneak out of my room to see if she and it had come. Because there was a street light outside our living room, It cast a little light into the room and I was able to explore around the tree without turning on a light, but not being able to totally make out the gifts, only their shapes. One Christmas, I saw a rather large gift, but couldn't make out what it was. I thought for sure it was me. I still remember how disappointed I was when in the morning I entered the room with the lights on, that it wasn't a gift for me at all, but a large outdoor basketball hoop and ball for my brother. My favorite Christmas gift that I got from Santa was my Madame Alexander doll with short black hair and a blue checkered dress and my Chatty Cathy doll with blonde hair.