Christmas Memories - Margalit

OK, so here's part II of the game - a bit late 'cos UM came to visit yesterday...

I got 28 memories! Thanks guys! You can find them all here. It was an idea I picked up from Oldoldlady and was taken up by all sorts including dawn and wendy. And then I made it bigger!

At my Crazie Christmas Party the other night, I had each adult give me a number between 1 and 28. So there are 6 memories!
These are the memories that I have now recalled and will tell you about - at one a day :-)

First up is number 6
Margalit said...
Do you remember the time Old Uncle Frank, the uncle that always was a bit too tipsy on every holiday, decided to dress up as Santa and tried to go down the chimney to surprise all us kids. Surprise us he did, by getting so wedged into the chimney that the fire department had to haul his ass out by crane.

oh yeah, I remember that well!



Me and Margalit went to bed fine and early on Christmas Eve, so as Santa would have us on his Good Girl List! We lay in the dark, looking at the twinkling stars through the window, aching to hear sleigh bells.
'Do you hear it?' she whispered.
'Not yet' I whispered back, feeling all excited as only a child can on Christmas Eve.
Then there it was - a gentle tinkling of bells, and the sound of footfalls on the roof. We gazed at the ceiling with huge eyes, Margalit praying for the Barbie house and me wishing for my new silver bike.
'Don't be silly' Margalit said. 'How's he gonna get a bike down the chimney?'
'Must be magic' I said firmly. 'He brought Uisce one last year!'
The bells died away and the footfalls quietened. There were a few thumps and bumps, then silence. I deduced the thumps and bumps was my new silver bike.
We lay silently, and slowly, ever so slowly, our little girl eyes closed to the images of christmas trees and dancing sugarplum fairies.

The next morning, Margalit and I were, surprisingly, not the first up. Aunt Edna was in the kitchen on the telephone. My mum and dad were looking anxiously around the house, inside and out. There was no breakfast ready, and worse! no gifts from Santa! No Barbie house for Margalit and no new silver bike for me.
'Yes, officer' said Aunt Edna. 'He was here last night. He was...' she caught sight of us two girls in our pyjamas. '...responsible for guiding Santa to our house.'
We were aghast! Not only no presents from Santa, but no Uncle Frank either! What on earth was happening this Christmas Morn?
We looked in all the cupboards and in all the rooms - no sign of Uncle Frank.
We wandered through the house, calling his name.
Suddenly, we heard something, very faint. A voice calling 'Edna! Edna!' We hunted high and low, but the voice was loudest in the living room, near the fire. We peeked into the grate and turned our little faces upward to peer into the chimney.
'Found him!' we yelled.

Half an hour later, Uncle Frank was carefully winched to safety by the local fire brigade. Margalit and I watched open-mouthed as the big man was lowered to the ground, still gripping a sack in one hand and a bottle of Wild Turkey in the other. His red suit was tattered and the white beard dangled from one ear.
He was black from head to foot, except his eyes which were red! Needless to say, the bottle was empty.
We gave him some water, then some nice hot coffee to help him recover. Meanwhile, dad took the sack and laid it by the tree.

I peeked in the sack. Sure enough, there were two gifts - one marked cq and one marked Margalit. But something wasn't quite right.

'Uncle Frank!' I yelled, stomping into the kitchen while he rinsed his face in the sink.
'yes cq, honey?' he asked wearily.

'where's my new silver bike!?!'

cq