For those of us that experienced this back in the 50's and 60's it was a scene right out of the Leave it to Beaver culture. Men dressed in suits, wives with pearls, aprons in the kitchen...kids with their Sunday best. No t-shirts, ball caps or Nike running shoes permitted on the grounds. The heat was never regulated and we endured what seemed like over the top sauna temperatures...always seeking an open window to get a breath of fresh cold air. Don't knock over the canary stands...not to mention get too close and totally freak them out. Candy dishes were strategically placed throughout the apartment, many containing ribbon candy. The life span of those figs rolled in sugar was safe with me.
After several hours of which we typically didn't abide by the earlier parental threats, one or two 'timeouts' for some infraction or another we would eventually collect our gifts, usually something that had our monogram on it from Aunt Bea, Aunt Harriet and Grandma, knitted sweaters from the aunts that we foolishly didn't appreciate at the time, received hugs and kisses from everyone and once bundled up in our winter gear headed for the car. The sisters would decide who was hosting Easter and off we would go. The car pointed home where our favorite Christmas toys awaited us. Only in time did wisdom creep into our lives for when looking back most of us realized the real joy of the day was not the toys at home but rather the extended family that we were blessed to be a part of.
One of my memories (besides sitting in those time-out chairs, quarded by an aunt)was the special gifts from Grandma and the aunts as mentioned above. One year we received monogrammed door-knockers. I felt so special. Another were the custom-made gifts from Uncle Spog and Aunt Ruthie. I had the painted, personalized toolbox until a couple years ago...and the bulletin board. Then there was the year Susan handed me a white stuffed kitty as their family gift to me. She loved it and, I think, would have liked to have kept that herself. We didn't have tons of such in those days, so this little critter was special to me.
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