Today I will be writing about Christmas lunch past.
When I was little we used to have Christmas lunch at my grandparent's restaurant, Dino's. They closed it for the day. I remember walking in the front door and it was always very dark. Everyone on my dad's side of the family, except my Dad were smokers. And back then people were allowed to smoke in public places. I'm so glad that has changed now. I remember the room being smokey and there being booths that always seemed to have gum stuck under the tables. Honestly, it wasn't my favorite place to be. But there was ONE thing that I remember that I did like. They always put lots and lots of credits on the original Space Invaders game. This is exactly how I remember it looking!
It really didn't have many colors to it, I believe they added more colors in updated versions. But I remember it looking like this:
I remember sitting there for hours playing that game over and over and not having to pay a quarter to play. That was so cool!
Years passed, Dino's was sold and moved. I think it was sold to one of my Dad's cousins because many years later we had a family reunion there.
So then they started having the Christmas lunch at my Uncle's restaurant, Angie's. At the time it was small. Just one dining room with a kitchen in the back. Now it has grown to at least 3 dining rooms and is quite a popular restaurant in Barberton, OH. I liked being there a little better because it wasn't as dark. I remember walking in the front door and there being a cigarette/gum vending machine. I always wondered how they kept kids from buying them out of those machines. I'm guessing they didn't and it was easy access for kids wanting to smoke.
I don't remember them putting credits on the arcade games. Maybe they did and I didn't care for any of the games or maybe they were always occupied by one of the many siblings or cousins. Anyway about it, I would most likely had brought a toy or two with me that I had opened earlier in the day to play with. And I would play with my cousin Tonya, who was younger but still close in age.
Many of us have moved away. My grandparents are no longer alive. And I don't think they still get together.
For several years, after I was married, our church had a lunch at our church on Christmas Day. Even though I have many yucky memories of Christmas lunch past, I still missed getting together with family. This really helped me feel better to get together with some of my Christian family and celebrate. However, this year they didn't do it and I was slightly bummed.
It all turned out well though. This year I was super busy on Christmas Eve. Several things came up all of a sudden at the last minute. I had to buy one last gift and we were invited to someone's house. I thought I would buy groceries on the way home from their house for Christmas lunch. I was surprised that all the grocery stores were closed by 7:00PM. What were we going to do? I absolutely had nothing special to make. We ended up going to one of our favorite Chinese Buffet restaurants, The Far East Buffet. Everyone was happy with that. Still missed extended family, but we all at least enjoyed what we ate.
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