Lists Yule Love: Best Holiday Memories

By WYDaily Staff Sunday, December 25, 2011

We asked for your holiday memories and you responded with some beautiful ones. Howard Waters' remembrance of his shared December birthday with his great-grandfather and the surprise revealed after his 'Papa' had passed is our choice for winner this year, our Third Annual Holiday Memory and Haiku competition.

Howard will receive a gift certificate for a massage from Victoria's Day Spa in Yorktown. Congratulations! We offer our thanks to all who shared their stories and entered, and our hopes that your holidays will be merry, bright and shared with loved ones. Perhaps they will even produce next year's winning entry! If you missed the holiday haiku winner and our top picks in that category, click here to read it.

Papa’s Hanukkah Birthday: My great grandparents, Felix and Bertha Lieberman, came to the United States from Russia (specifically, Belarus) around 1910. In the early 1900’s many Belarusians left in search of a better life. The Industrial Revolution was under way and good jobs were plentiful in the thriving economies of Europe and the United States. Conversely, Anti-Semitism and the Pogroms (violent mob attacks) against Jews seemed to be a never-ending horror in Russia and the surrounding countries.

One of the bonds that I had with Papa was that we both had the same birthday - December 5th. What a neat coincidence! From the time I was about 5 years old my mother would make sure that we spoke on the phone every December 5th to wish each other a happy birthday. Even after almost a half-century in the United States, Papa still had a heavy accent, but after a few years, we could communicate pretty easily.

Despite his accent, he was able to establish a successful pawnshop in Alexandria, Virginia. While my great-grandmother Bertha died in the late 1930s, Papa lived a very long life and was a vibrant part of our family until he passed away at the age of 98 in March of 1972.

When I was home from college for Hanukkah, two years after he passed away, my grandmother (Papa’s daughter) and I were talking about Papa after lighting the Hanukkah candles. I had just celebrated my birthday and I was commenting on the fact that Papa would have been 100 years old on that day. She laughed and said, “Yes, approximately.” That seemed to be an odd response, so I asked her what she meant by “approximately.”

Grandma explained that when immigrants arrived at Ellis Island they went through a registration process. When your turn came, among the data required for the clerk was your name, the town and country you came from and your date of birth. As Papa spoke very little English, the clerk couldn’t understand his birth date. Papa tried German, no luck. He tried Russian. Nope. He even tried Yiddish. Both Papa and the clerk were getting very frustrated. Finally, Papa said “Fifth day, Hanukkah.” The clerk said, “Ah ha! Hanukkah I understand!  I know that Hanukkah is in December. As far the United States Government is concerned, December 5th is now your birthday."

“Next in line, please!”

(In actuality, the 5th day of Hanukkah in 1874 was December 7th)
-Howard Waters

Because it is hard to choose just one, here are selected others that reminded us of our own experiences.

No turkey, no problem: We were at my youngest sister's house for Christmas. It was almost midnight when we finished preparing the gifts for the next morning. We knew the kids would be up very early as we settled into our bed for our "short winter's nap." Suddenly, the door flung open and my sister, wide eyed, said, "I forgot to pick up the turkey!!" We tried to find a grocery open on Christmas (maybe a kosher market?) to no avail. Luckily we had a ham as an addition to the turkey, so we stretched it to feed everyone. The next day we picked up the turkey and had a belated dinner.
-Marilyn Hamly

Family first, always: One of my favorite holiday memories is our first family get together after my divorce in 2000. My four children were adults with families of their own when their father and I divorced, however they still needed a home to gather in for Christmas Eve so I invited all four children, my ex-husband and his wife and all the grandchildren for a Christmas Eve feast.

The simple favorite family meal which I wrote as a poem on the invitation has continued every year since and this year we plan to gather as a family once again to enjoy our favorite meal.

All the Dunn girls and boys down in Williamsburg liked meatloaf a lot!
But the chefs at the Williamsburg Inn did not!
The chefs hated meatloaf -the whole menu seemed too easy!
A Christmas Eve feast – you should consider a beast – a ham, or loin, a chicken or two

But the Dunn children shouted – Ham or turkey - NO- More!
With a clap and a cheer a meatloaf was set before them and they joined hands and sang a most joyous chorus.
The Christmas Eve feast came without turkey or ham, it came without dressing, it came without relish or overstressed-fussing.

The meatloaf it came from the oven hot-bubbling. The streaming rich ketchup flavor whiffed through the room and the Dunn children knew it was true.
A meatloaf was just right for their Christmas Eve Feast.
A meatloaf of course with potatoes and beans was three of the Dunn children’s most favorite things.
-Kathleen Rose