Christmas Break

Ah Christmas Vacation

The time between Christmas and New Year’s was always a vacation time for me.  As a professor, it was part of the semester break, and years ago as a high school teacher, it was Christmas break.  Even the year I worked as a Kohl’s seasonal employee, I somehow managed to be done by December 24th.

As a kid, Christmas vacation time to go sledding.  Generally, Cedar Rapids had some snow.  We lived four blocks from Roosevelt Junior High School which had a magnificent sliding hill.  On the southeast it was gentle enough to go down for the younger kids, but if you dared, you could go on the north side.  Since it was the north side, it generally had more snow, since the sun didn’t hit it and melt it.  And, there was a great jump-off.  There was a little path that the mower would use in the summer to get to the top of the hill.  If you hit the right spot on that path, you really could jump up into the air.  

To me (now at age 72), that we (the neighborhood kids) stayed there all day.  I remember getting home soaking wet - and freezing.  But it was great fun (especially with friends.

I did go sledding a few other places.  The most significant was at Jones part on the south side of Cedar Rapids.  To get there, we had to drive.  I was there with a church youth group and we were racing down the slope.  On one particular run, I was in the lead, and turned my head to see the others coming behind me - and ran into a metal fence post.  I tore up my face a little - between the eyes and was bloody.  That was the only time I remember as a kid getting stitches.  I still have a little scar.  

There was also an ice-skating rink on the other side of Roosevelt Junior High School.  I wasn’t much of an ice skater.  I did have skates (second hand).  I mostly remember going myself.  And, I remember falling down enough times!!  There was a warming house - and when you got too cold, you could go inside to warm up.  And, like the sledding, I would go home soaking wet.  My jeans were also very wet as I fell down frequently.  

The other thing I remember from Christmas break was playing games.  I remember a three-day Monopoly game with the neighbor kids.  We played maybe three hours the first day until dinner time, then the same the next two days.  One-by-one we forced a few out, but most made deals that kept them going.  Finally, on the third day, we called it since some of us had other things to do the next day.  

We also had a jigsaw puzzle craze during Christmas break.  There was always a puzzle under the Christmas tree for me.  I knew because the package rattled when you shook it.  My dad would say, “Gee, that seems to be a broken gift”. 

The Boy Scouts would also go to a Klondike Derby (although not on Christmas Break).   The most memorable one was when I was a teacher in Keokuk Iowa.  We went to Camp Eastman across the Mississippi River from Keokuk.  Keokuk was farther south, so it generally didn’t have as much snow as Cedar Rapids.  I was in a tent with two other Scoutmasters and my arm mattress leaked and soon I was on the ground between their air mattresses.  It had been a rainy day and my sleeping bag was soon wet and very cold.  I managed to get dressed enough to get to the lodge and sat by the fire most of the night, with my teeth chattering, my clothes and sleeping bag soaked, and even my boots soaked.  (I guess I was the ‘tenderfoot’ there on that trip!!).

Those were lazy days and a wonderful break from school.  

As an adult, it was time with our children and trips to Minnesota to be with Connie’s family or trips to Iowa to be with my family.  When we moved to Connecticut, Christmas Break was almost always spent on the road - flying to Texas - or driving a few times.  (Yes, driving from Nebraska back to Connecticut was tricky some of those years.  Crossing Indiana on the toll road with an ice storm on our heels - and driving more than I wanted that day so we could stay ahead of the snow and ice.  

Do you have special memories of your Christmas breaks? Do you want to share with the rest of us?

Hugs!!

Karen