Friday, November 19, 2004

Family Traditions

The following was written by my mother and is about one of our family traditions that began back in 1967 when my older brother was just a toddler and I was only a few months old.

Tony was a baby when we were told he had an incurable kidney disease and could not be exposed to others throughout the winter months for fear of becoming infected with any type of germ. As Tony grew older he was so sad at the fact that he could not be among the children in his small community that went to see Santa with their Christmas list.

When Tony was three years old Santa came to see him riding on a fire truck with the siren screaming throughout the small town. What a thrill, although Tony wanted so much to see Santa he ran to the stairs peering through the banister in amazement. “Well young man come down and let me see you” said Santa “I can see you” replied Tony. Santa climbed the stairs; and there they sat the two of them having a marvelous visit. After their little chat Santa stood to leave and Tony eased down the stairs with a smile that lit the room “you are a good boy” Santa said with smile and gave him a hug “I will be watching you until I return on Christmas Eve, be a good boy”.

After Santa had gone Tony noticed that an Elf had come to sit on a branch in his Christmas tree, “Mommy look, Santa left an Elf,” “well I think that he left him to watch over you until Christmas”, I responded. The next morning a note along with a small Christmas sock was left for Tony telling him that when he had a good day there would be a surprise in the sock each morning, if his day were bad the sock would be empty. The elf would move around the room watching over Tony. Elf might appear on top of the curtain, lamp, or pictures moving at will throughout the night. This was exciting for Tony although he never actually saw the elf move.

Santa had given strict instructions that Elf should never be touched or he would disappear never return and that each year after Thanksgiving to ring the bell and Elf would return for another Christmas Season.

Although Tony is no longer here, he passed away at the age of 13, Elf was passed on to Tony’s little sister Gayla, and baby brother Josh who enjoyed Elf’s annual visits for years and now Elf has been passed on to my twin grandson’s Trey and Coty and throughout time, Elf Tales were shared with classmates, friends and anyone who truly believed in Santa.

[Gayla's Comments]
If you have any treasured family traditions I would love to hear err read them. And with your permission I would like to post them on a "Traditions Shared" section over on Single-Again. As much as I wanted to create a site souly for this purpose, I just can't right now, but have dedicated a whole section on Single-Again for this purpose.

My son's and I will also be sharing many of our traditions there. My son's are also making items that can be shared with your family and help bring some of Tony's traditions to life all around the world.

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