My introduction to the Antishin family way of doing things came in December of 1976. I spent the holiday of all holidays experiencing a way of celebrating Christmas for many years to come.
Some special memories I have of Christmas Day at the Antishin’s would include having to stop on the way to their house at Farmer Jack (they were opened until 12:00p noon) for a gallon of milk, or a quart of cream, or perhaps a couple of pounds of butter. Some vital ingredients for the perfect Christmas Day meal.
Also, the string of stockings on the fireplace mantle in the family room grew longer and longer as we added spouses, grand babies and now great grand babies.
My future father-in-law’s reputation for exterior decorations is well known and involves enough Christmas lights to light up Ford Field for a night game. Along with a spinning electric meter running at about 9500 rpm due to a well-lit house, yard and a giant evergreen out front.
Judy was no slouch when it came to the interior decorations. There were dozens upon dozens of crystal, porcelain and ceramic figurines. Special Christmas plates, silver and serving pieces. Red bows, bells and wall hangings.
The thing I remember most of all were the presents.
Piles and piles of presents. Everyone with numerous gifts to open each Christmas day. Massive number of boxes, bags and bows. A literal mountain of gifts for each person in the family. And the piles grew as we added more family members.
Opening presents took a large part of the morning. What was left in the carnage was stacks of collapsed boxes to be saved for next year. Plus, miles of Christmas wrapping paper, all stuffed into multiple extra-large black garbage bags destined for the curb. Enough to gift wrap a large building.
But my favorite part of all. The most fun to be had on Christmas day was the annual Christmas gift hunt. It started with Judy making inquiries of each of us. “What did you get?”, she would ask. You would recite your list, and she would ask, “Did you not get a sweater?” or “Wasn’t there cologne in one of your boxes?” Then when she would get a mental list in her head as to who was missing what, off she would go, to the darkest corners of closets, under beds and pulling through each dresser drawer looking for “missing” presents. Things she had purchased months earlier for each of us and stashing away for this special day.
But most of all, my favorite part of Christmas at the Antishin’s was being welcomed as a member of the family.