About 14 years ago, when my son, Kit, met the girl he knew he was going to marry, he sat her down one day and said, “I have to tell you about my mom and Christmas.”
Kit was a grad student in San Diego when he met and fell in love with Bonnie, the sister of a friend. They had dated for about five months when he asked her to come home to Chattanooga with him to meet his family at Christmas.
But, first, he thought, he had to prepare her for, well, me. On a scale of Grinch to Griswold, I’m over-the-top Griswold.
My obsessive love with the holidays started with my parents, Red and Evelyn Lancaster. Because of them, the holidays were just so much fun. We — including my big brother, Larry — decorated the house from top to bottom, inside and out. Getting our Christmas tree, always on Dec. 15, was the best family outing of the year. We didn’t pick just any old tree, mind you. Sometimes we’d go to as many as three Christmas tree lots all around Chattanooga to find the perfect one for our home.
We attended and hosted several family Christmas parties that included incredible potluck meals, exchanged gifts with every family member and went Christmas caroling with church groups. Christmas Eve, in particular, was the very best night of the year. The anticipation of Christmas morning was so exciting. My parents would read to us “The Night Before Christmas” and the story of the birth of Jesus. The sweet memories, etched in my brain, bring back such powerful feelings of love.
Naturally, I wanted to pass on these family traditions to my own children and grandchildren, I decorate every room in my house, including bathrooms, string dozens of lights outside my home and even decorate the path through the woods that links my house to that of my daughter, Kacee, and three of my five grandchildren, Tilleigh, Evie and William (granddaughters Charleana and Misha live in California).
Within hours after Kit told Bonnie about his Christmas-fanatic mother, he received an email from me that he read aloud to Bonnie. In my letter to Kit, I posed as Santa Claus asking him for his wish list. “Santa” noted that he knew Kit had been a good boy (he was in his mid-20s) and wanted to be sure to leave him gifts he wanted under the tree.
Kit rested his case. His mom is, in fact, a Christmas fanatic.
Fast-forward to Christmas 2022.
Kit and Bonnie alternate years of coming to Chattanooga for Christmas and Thanksgiving. This year they came for Thanksgiving (they will be spending Christmas at their home in San Diego with Bonnie’s family).
I start decorating for Christmas the week before Thanksgiving. The only thing missing was the Christmas tree. I’ll get that on Dec. 15. So, while we were celebrating Thanksgiving, with about 20 other family and friends in my home, it felt like Christmas. Having my entire family with me was a gift.
And, Bonnie, thank you very much, is on board with her mother-in-law’s over-the-board Christmas antics. She even enjoys it. She called me from San Diego while packing for their trip to Chattanooga to let me know that she had, indeed, packed the children’s elf costumes (I store the adult costumes). In fact, she, as well as my son-in-law, Alex, who married my daughter Karah last April, willingly participate in the Nazor Hill household’s annual Santa, Mrs. Santa and elves photograph.
My husband, Hank, as Santa, and me as Mrs. Santa, are surrounded by our children and grandchildren who don elf costumes for the photograph. This year, the photo session took place the Sunday before Thanksgiving, thanks to friends and volunteer photographers Tom Bartoo and Lori Hensley.
It was truly a memorable day.
I thought I’d never enjoy Christmas without my parents and late brother. But the circle of life has a way of changing that. I miss them every day, especially this time of year when all the wonderful memories pop up, but instead of being sad, I find myself smiling while remembering the special moments of my childhood Christmases — moments I know I am helping to create for my own children and grandchildren.
Happy holidays, everyone. Make some good memories.
Email Karen Nazor Hill at khill@timesfreepress.com.