Many of our Lake Winona Manor residents shared holiday memories with our staff. Their memories made us smile (and, in some cases laugh), and, in every case, made us pause and appreciate all that we have to be grateful for, every day. We hope they have a similar effect on you. Another thing we’re grateful for is having the opportunity to care for and get to know so many wonderful people and learn from their unique experience.
Katherine
“When I was a little girl, I remember we would always have a huge tree in our house and we would spend all night decorating it. After the tree was decorated, we would attend midnight mass and come home so mom and dad could drink some wine and the kids would have pop to drink. In the morning, I would wake up at 6am and get my parents up because I was so anxious to see what Santa had brought me.”
June
“A Christmas memory that I always think of is how my sister would cry hysterically every time she would see Santa. She was so incredibly scared of him. We grew up on a farm so we truly had it all. We’d spend all day ice skating and sledding during the holiday season. Even when there wasn’t snow my kids would collect worms after a rainfall and go fishing in the winter. My son would explore the ice caves and I always hated that.”
Eloise
“I remember during Christmas when I was a little girl, my mother would have 23 beautiful lemon colored chairs set up for all of her guests. We would have white tinsel covering the tree along with different beautiful ornaments that we had collected over the years. The Christmas tree was always the center of attention in the middle of the room. That was always my favorite thing to see during the holiday season. My mother would make it her mission to have Christmas be the most beautiful time of the year and she always succeeded.”
Bonnie
“Growing up, I lived on a farm and that always made the Christmas season wonderful. We spent it so close together as a family and I truly appreciated that time. My step-father would cut down a tree on Christmas Eve and we would all decorate it together. I remember on Christmas Eve I had a toy register that sat on my desk drawer that would rattle from Santa putting the gifts under the tree. After I knew he had gone, I’d sneak down and open up one of my present because I just could not wait to see what was inside it for me. I tried my best to wrap it back up and cover up my traces, but my mother always knew and confronted me about it in the morning. My mother would make homemade fudge that was oh so good, divinity, and popcorn balls. To make the popcorn balls we had to have a pot over our wood fire stove and the kids would keep helping by getting wood for it to burn. Overall, I loved the holidays so much because of the time that I was able to spend with my family.”
Betty
“A tradition that would occur when I was a kid was Santa coming. I remember one night, my siblings and I really had to use the restroom. Our bathroom was outside so our father said we couldn’t go because Santa was out there. We were so worried that we’d wet ourselves and Santa wouldn’t bring us any presents. He finally allowed up to go and when we came back in, what do you know, Santa was sitting in the chair. We would always give Santa a kiss on the cheek because we would get a better present if we did that. Santa would come up and say our prayers in Polish with us. This is a tradition that I kept up with my children. I was normally the one who would dress up as Santa, and I would even go around to the neighbor’s houses. Some of the neighbor’s parents I used to babysit. I would tell their little kids so many stories and they were shocked about all of the stories that Santa knew about their parents. I remember how much joy and happiness Santa brought me as a kid, so I loved sharing the experience with others. I also remember my mother making 6-7 dozen cookies each December, but she would not allow us to eat them until Christmas day. It was so hard. On Christmas day we would receive our gifts from Santa, go to church where I sang in the choir and spend time with family.”
Bernette
“Christmas was something I would always look forward to more and more each year I grew older. The biggest thing I remember was decorating the tree. My siblings and I would have a game to see who could be the noisiest and loudest. It was a lot quieter when I would celebrate Christmas with my children. Back when we believed in Santa, that was something that made Christmas very special. We could not stop talking about what we wanted or what we were going to get for Christmas. Our parents would always remind us that we had to be good because Santa is coming! I remember that we would make so many cookies and then go to church, which was right behind our house. My favorite gift that I ever received was a big mama doll.”
Evelyn
“I would always dress my little kiddos up in Christmas outfits and braid their hair with big red bows in it. They always looked so cute. Then at night, they would put on their Christmas pajamas and socks. The boys would receive toy trains, tractors and cars. The girls would get new shoes and dolls. They were always so interested and excited about all of the new toys they were going to get. Our families would all get together and hand out gifts. A story I remember is when Mary got a doll and she did not want it. She sat and cried and cried. She was given something else but when her cousin wanted the doll, boy did she all of a sudden want that toy back. We all knew that she only wanted that toy back because her cousin now wanted it.”
Dorthy
“Memories that I remember about Christmas when I was a child was going to midnight mass and having Christmas in the morning. We would have a huge breakfast and then open gifts. We had an outside Collie that the kids would clean up just so it could come inside to spend Christmas with us. After they cleaned her up they would decorate her with bows and she looked beautiful. She’d sit perfectly under the tree and spend time with us. The girls had a game that they would play with the tree where they would sit right by each other and play I Spy with all of the Christmas ornaments on the tree. We would have huge turkey and ham dinners with the family. We would always have to add a new card table each year because the family would continue to grow. Our tree would always be huge and would touch the top of the A-frame ceiling. One year, it even fell down.”
Carol
“The best gifts that I remember receiving were cabbage patch dolls and Barbie dolls. We would always get to pick out the toys that we wanted for Christmas in the stores and it was such a great time. Everyone was so happy and the stores would always be decorated. In the snow we would make snow angels, have snowball fights and go sledding. We would always do so many things as a family.”
Gaylen
“Food, food and more food. That’s what Christmas was all about for my family. Yeah, we would all get together and spend time as a family, but the food was always so outrageous and good. There was so many Norwegian traditional dishes such as pudding, oysters, salted cod, pastries, lefsa, and oyster stew (but they would only eat the stew never the oysters) rosettes, strudels and krumb kake. Our family never cared about the fat. Then my grandfather would always tell everyone Christmas stories, but what made them very exciting was that he would tell them in Norwegian.”
John
“It was always nice to go to my grandparents’ house and spend time with them. We would eat lots of food and wait patiently for our presents. The main meal was the big deal for us and chatting with our family.”
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