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Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Ghosts of Christmas Past

Well, not Ghosts, sorry if I disappointed you.  However, this time of year brings back happy memories of the Christmas season and our RV was a major player.

We were living at Sandy Hook, NJ and had our first motorhome, the 1973 Travel Mate, all 21 feet of a Class A.  Normally, we parked it in a storage area around the corner from the townhouse we lived in.


Our kids, Heather, Ryan and Corey were excited that it was almost Christmas.  Being the inquisitive (nosey) kids they were back in 1993, they snooped, prodded and poked all around the house looking for their Christmas presents.  They were at the age where they knew that Santa Claus was really Mom and Dad and deduced that their presents had to be in the house...somewhere and they were determined to find them.

That is where old age and treachery overcame youth and energy.  We had bought their presents all right and yes, we had hidden them.  In the RV in the storage area.  The RV was locked and I had the key.  We won, they never thought to look in the RV.  Hee hee.

On Christmas Eve, we finally packed the kids off to bed and I walked over to the storage area, started up the RV, brought it over and parked it in front of our town house.


 Being all of 21 feet long, it fit (mostly) in the parking space out front.  I ran an extension cord to the house, turned on the lights, furnace and put on some of our favorite Christmas music.  Marti and I spent a couple of very pleasant hours wrapping all the kid's presents and then snuck them into the house and put them under the tree.

Christmas morning, the kids discovered all their presents under the tree and we had a happy morning together sharing the love and joy of Christmas.

They never did find out where we hid the gifts. :c)

Looking to the future, we can just imagine the Christmas memories to come with our Journey and being able to spend time with the kids (and grandkids) no matter where in the country they might live.



Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment.


PS:  When we lived in the pictured townhouse, it really did have working bathrooms.  The  blog picture was from this past Thanksgiving weekend when we went back to Sandy Hook to visit our old home.  The townhouse is being renovated an the porta-potty in the picture is for the construction workers.  You did notice it, didn't you? :c)

6 comments:

  1. Remembering those special memories and making new memories is just so nice...

    We can tell you have a wonderful family just by the way you talk about them.

    Thanks for sharing the memories with us :o)

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  2. Great story of Christmas past. Just think how many more presents you can hide in the Journey!

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  3. Who knew that Santa's red sleigh was really a motorhome?! Thanks for sharing the nice memories of earlier family times.

    Syl

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  4. I had to scroll back and check for the portapottie!..nice hiding place but now if they read your blog they will know your little secret!!

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  5. That almost brought tears of joy to my eyes. I love a family Christmas.

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