10 on the 10th: November 2022-10 Memories of the Holiday Season & Link Up On the Edge #321

November 10, 2022 / 38 Comments

I know that I have been saying the same thing each month, but seriously, how quickly the time is passing by! How has another month already gone and we are a third of the way through November? I cannot answer those questions for myself, but I can answer Marsha’s 10 on the 10th questions! 

10 on the 10th is a monthly series with Marsha of Marsha in the Middle, Leslie of Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After, and Gail of Is This Mutton? Each month, we are presented with 10 questions about a common theme and asked to share our answers in blog post form. This series is such a wonderful way to share more information about ourselves and to learn interesting new things about others. Anyone is invited to join and answer the questions. It is a great way to start new conversations and make meaningful connections with new people.

Since November generally marks the beginning of the “big” holiday season, Marsha has asked us to share 10 memories of the holidays. But we are not limited to just the end of year holidays, any holiday memories are welcomed here!

Here are 10 of my best holiday memories.

1. Archie’s First Christmas (December 2011)

Who doesn’t remember their first born’s first Christmas? Those are truly special moments. Archie was almost 8 months old when we celebrated his first Christmas in 2011. It was just the week prior to Christmas when Jeff moved to Fort Drum in northern New York and I stayed in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a new mom who suddenly found myself completely unprepared for solo parenting! But I did it for 2 years and we made it through. Archie loved to lie beneath the tree and chew on the ornaments.

2. Archie’s Second Christmas (December 2012)

This was definitely a Christmas to remember. Jeff lived in New York and I was still in Bethlehem with a toddler and I was pregnant with Ralph. On December 20, I woke up to a shit-filled basement…literally. Tree roots had broken our clay sewer pipes which resulted in the biggest holiday mess you can imagine. By the end of it all, my entire front yard was dug up including the sidewalk, we broke a main city waterline in the process, and the total repair cost in excess of $10,000. And nope, home owner’s insurance does not cover anything outside the house including your sewer lines unless you have a specific rider for that, which we did not. We were so blessed, however, when two kind strangers showed up at our door with a check for $5,000. Apparently, they had learned of our situation and knew that Jeff was in the military and living away from us and they were moved by the holiday spirit. They showed up at our house a few days after Christmas when we were having a family photoshoot done that my sister had given to us as a gift. Without their help and the assistance of my in-laws, we might still paying for those repairs!

Just a few weeks after this photo…
…this was the view from my front bay window.
3. Archie’s Third Christmas/Ralph’s First Christmas (December 2013)

While your first child’s first Christmas is super special, so is the first Christmas with any subsequent children!

The Year of Monsters, Inc! And the only Christmas I ever took my kids for photos with Santa. They hated and it cost way too much money so we never went again.
4. The 2015/2016 Holiday Season

Jeff was deployed to Afghanistan from May 2015 until February 2016 so our holidays looked so much different that year. And it was definitely an unforgettable Christmas. I spent Christmas Eve in Pennsylvania with the kids and my mother-in-law at my sister’s house. On the way back to Jeff’s mom’s that night, two year old Ralph had an anaphylactic response to something he ate at my sister’s (it was walnuts, we discovered later) and we spent the rest of Christmas Eve in the Emergency Room. All was okay in the end but I will never forget that night!

Jeff sent these photos from Afghanistan on Christmas Day.
Our anniversary is January 23 so I got an early A-Day message!
We celebrated all the holidays properly when Jeff returned home in February 2016.
5. Holiday Family Photoshoot with Sarissa Melissa Photography (2017)

I entered a drawing in 2017 with one of my favorite local photographers and we won a free holiday family photo session. Sarissa Melisssa Photography did such a great job and we had a wonderful time in the process of making these beautiful family memories.

6. Friendsgiving (Thanksgiving 2018)

We don’t really have any set Thanksgiving traditions and generally go wherever the holiday tide takes us (that is a result of many years of military life). Sometimes we celebrate with family and sometimes with friends. Thanksgiving 2018 was a particularly special Thanksgiving with great friends in Pennsylvania.

7. The Best Day Ever (Thanksgiving 2019)

Another incredibly memorable Thanksgiving was spent at my sister’s house in 2019. It really was the best day ever. Hopefully, these cousins will be getting together for Thanksgiving 2022 as well!

8. Ralph’s Coronavirus Birthday (March 2020)

This birthday celebration was definitely one for the books. (Birthdays count as holidays, right?) The world shut down just a few days before Ralph’s 7th birthday so we had some last minute scrambling to do since our original birthday plans were disrupted. Monica at EuropeCakes came to the rescue with the best (and quite possibly the first) coronavirus birthday cake! We zoomed in some family and friends and made the very best of a disappointing situation.

9. The first day of college football season.

Marsha did say any special family holidays count for this prompt and the first day of college football season is a day that garners the most excitement in my house! We all get dressed in our Penn State gear and fire up the grill and the television for a day of football and food. Then we repeat this celebration every Saturday for the next 16-20 weeks!

10. Halloween 2022

I think this year was my favorite Halloween yet! We filled a baby pool with candy and some other creepy things like eyeballs and severed fingers then we put the skeleton’s feet in the candy bath. Some kids were a little frightened to put their hands in the pool to grab something but mostly everyone thought it was hilarious. A few times during trick or treat hours, we had a line of people backing up at our house. I cannot even express how happy that made my heart!

The Great Candy Swap! It sounded like a drunken poker game in my dining room!
11. Bonus Memories from my own childhood.

I know my list consists of only holidays celebrated since my children were born but those memories are just a little bit clearer than my own childhood holiday memories and I have photos of our more recent holidays to share. But I do want to mention what a talented gift giver my mother was! She surprised me with something special nearly every Christmas that I can remember. And she was really good at keeping us off her track. When I was 12 she made me the most beautiful green velvet comforter with gold satin backing. She actually made the darn thing right in front of me and convinced me that it was for someone else. I loved the dark emerald green velvet so much and I was so mad that she was giving this gorgeous blanket to someone else. Imagine my surprise when I opened it on Christmas morning!

Then there was the antique bird cage I fell in love with in a thrift store when I was a teenager. Mom surprised me on Christmas morning with that stunning cage…and a little green parakeet to live in it! I loved that cage, I hated that bird. Ha.

I also remember how she convinced me that we simply could not afford to buy a high school class ring for me and then I found it buried in the toe of my Christmas stocking that year. It was a gold with a green stone, of course.

Now it is your turn to share some of your best holiday memories! You can leave them in the comments or write your own post and add it to Marsha’s Link Party!

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I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.

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38 Comments

  • Joanne

    November 11, 2022 at 6:57 am Reply

    I got as far as typing up one memory yesterday and then drew a blank.. but I dreamed of writing my 10 on th 10th post all night and woke up with several more memories to type up. I’ve only read part of your memories so far… but boy, it sounds like you have had some crazy (and scary!) Christmas experiences!!

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 11, 2022 at 7:57 am Reply

      Oh yes, that anaphylactic Christmas Eve was definitely one of my scariest mom moments ever! I am so grateful that everything was fine and Ralph did eventually outgrow his nut allergy. He was tested again last Thanksgiving and came out allergy-free…except for ragweed and dust, but that gets all of us! I hope you get the chance to write your holiday memories. I would love to read them!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Jill

    November 11, 2022 at 7:24 am Reply

    I love looking back with you at all of these holiday memories! I remember you writing about the best Thanksgiving ever, and hope your sons will be able to hang out with their cousins this year! Thank you so much for the feature! What a nice way to start my day!

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 11, 2022 at 7:55 am Reply

      Thanks so much, Jill! I really went down a holiday rabbit hole on this one and it was super fun! It’s why my post is a day late. It took way longer than I anticipated to find all these old photos! I hope you have a lovely weekend, my friend.

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Nancy

    November 11, 2022 at 7:34 am Reply

    Oh how I love these little peeks into your life and world! And such cute photo’s of Ralph and Alfie. But that Halloween party was fantastic! All those people at your porch! Fantastic! Have a great weekend.

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 11, 2022 at 8:00 am Reply

      Thanks, Nancy! Oh my goodness, this Halloween was so much fun! All the neighbors were hanging out and yelling back and forth from our respective porches. We had so many laughs! Such a great time was had by all…except for the few poor souls who fell down our steps including Ralph’s friend who broke her tailbone. Ouch. We have a least one casualty on the stairs every Halloween. We just got some non-slip stuff to put on them so hopefully that helps. Have a wonderful weekend!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Laura Bambrick

    November 11, 2022 at 8:02 am Reply

    Thank you so much for the feature! That made my day! It was so interesting to take a look back at past Christmases! It’s such a heartwarming story about those strangers and your sewer line. What a horrible experience, but so kind of people.

  • Lizzie

    November 11, 2022 at 11:27 am Reply

    Awww! What a sweet post! Love taking a trip down memory lane with you – reading this made me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside (aside from your son’s allergy!). This reminds that I need to take more photos. I used to take all kinds with the film camera back in the day. But I hardly take “random” photos of family, friends and my hubby. I really need to do that more so I have them to look back on <3

    Lizzie
    http://www.lizzieinlace.com

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 12, 2022 at 8:20 am Reply

      Thanks so much, Lizzie! I enjoyed this memory lane trip as well! I have tons of photos on Facebook like this and sometimes think I should edit them when I use them on the blog. But I always change my mind and leave them authentically unedited, old, dark, and grainy but filled with beautiful memories! I think you should definitely take more random photos! But also remember to be in the moments without a camera, too.

      xoxo
      Shelbee

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 12, 2022 at 8:17 am Reply

      Thanks, Emma! Oh my goodness, that sewer issue was such a nightmare! And just two months earlier, we had some minor damage such as fallen trees, broken windows, and lost siding and drain pipes from a hurricane. So it was quite the holiday season! Haha. But we survived it and it is all just distant memories now.

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Marsha Banks

    November 11, 2022 at 11:02 pm Reply

    You know one of the things I love about 10 on the 10th? Everyone brings something different to the table! I really wanted to encompass any kind of holiday so I’m glad you did that! You have some scary and crappy holidays! I’m glad they all turned out for the better! And, your Halloween photos are just the best! Thanks for the link party!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 12, 2022 at 8:09 am Reply

      Marsha, thank you for hosting this fun series! I love that we get to learn so many interesting things about other folks through these posts. It’s also why I love the group style challenge posts. Everyone brings their own personal interpretation and when we are given the freedom to just be ourselves, we do end up with some of the most wonderful results!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Erin Beard

    November 12, 2022 at 9:18 am Reply

    Oh my goodness you have had some worrisome holidays! But sounds like more good ones than ones filled allergic reactions and broken sewer lines.

    I love your childhood memories – especially the story about the class ring. How sweet! 🙂

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 13, 2022 at 7:26 am Reply

      Erin, thanks so much! I definitely have way more happy memories than scary ones! And the bad stuff led to good stuff anyway. Those kind people helped with our broken sewer line and Ralph outgrew his nut allergy last year which rarely ever happens! I should go dig out my class ring and put a picture of it in the post! Maybe I will get around to that today. Have a lovely weekend!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 13, 2022 at 7:24 am Reply

      Thanks so much, Michelle! Oh, I have some pretty harrowing deployment stories, too! There is a joke amongst military spouses that as soon as your soldier leaves for an extended period of time, that’s when everything goes wrong! That year of the anaphylactic Christmas also included Ralph having such severe sleep apnea as a baby that he needed an emergency tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy that July right after Jeff deployed. We also had one cat and one great grandparent die during that deployment time and needed to replace various major appliances as well. Fun times in the life of an Army wife! I so don’t miss it! Haha

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Anne M Bray

    November 17, 2022 at 10:07 am Reply

    Thanks for the feature!
    I’m trying to figure out if it’s possible to play that Golden Thread game via Zoom. I think it would be fun!

    My best Christmas memory is what we always had (have!) for breakfast – Scrambled Eggs and Popovers smothered with homemade jam. It’s a Bray tradition that I carry on! Now that Severo is finally retired, we can actually have our Christmas Breakfast ON Christmas – he used to always work the holidays for the double time pay.

    I linked a post with the recipe from the Glutton blog.

    • shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com

      November 19, 2022 at 6:16 am Reply

      Thanks, Anne! The Golden Thread Game on Zoom sounds super fun! And I love your Christmas breakfast tradition. We make French Toast Strata for every holiday breakfast complete with all the fixings including homemade berry glaze, ice cream, and whipped cream! There’s nothing quite like a big holiday breakfast! I hope you have a wonderful weekend and a very happy Thanksgiving!

      xoxo
      Shelbee

  • Gail

    November 18, 2022 at 3:00 am Reply

    Loved this post. OMG, the sewer pipe story (a real Christmas joy story with those Good Samaritans!) and the rush to hospital! And I love the creepy skeleton paddling pool, and trick n treaters queuing up!

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