By Cassidy Raymond
The holidays are a time for celebrating, spending time with family and making happy memories. Some of the best memories, however, occur when the celebrating doesn’t go quite as planned. One Christmas, our freshly cut tree flew off the car roof at 60 MPH! My dad made us spend the remaining two-hour drive holding ropes through the windows to keep it on. We still talk about that every Christmas!
In 1988, long time Memorial resident Amy Rincon was home from college for Thanksgiving when her parents’ cat, Sake (yep, as in Japanese rice wine), decided to make some mischief. The turkey had been carved and Amy and her family were ready to dig in. They walked into the dining room to a sight no host wants to see before they serve a meal. There was Sake, perched smack dab in the middle of the turkey platter, happily munching away! I think most of us would’ve freaked out, uttered a few choice words and very likely thrown out the turkey. But never fear – Amy’s mom calmly removed Sake, straightened up the turkey and a delicious Thanksgiving dinner marched on. Amy says that Sake was known for getting into trouble and the turkey incident was just one of many. She once jumped into a hot oven looking for food and wound up being hospitalized for burns on her feet! Sake lived a happy 19 years.
Holiday hilarity continues with The Cordray family. Leslie, Jay and their new baby had just moved into a Spring Valley mid century home during Thanksgiving 2014 when an electrician informed them, with a straight face, that he’d found a poker room in their attic. Slightly intrigued, Leslie posted to Facebook’s Memorial Info Trading to inquire if anyone had any insights. Hundreds of commenters insisted Leslie’s husband, Jay, investigate immediately, so up he went. He’d made it about five feet when Leslie heard yelling in the den. She raced in to find her husband’s leg dangling from a hole in the ceiling, right over the Christmas tree and the baby’s pack ‘n play! As it turns out, the “poker room” was a cedar closet, probably once used to store fur coats. The ceiling was repaired, the holidays were saved and luckily, both the Christmas tree and the baby that typically occupies the pack ‘n play remained unscathed throughout the entire ordeal. And the Cordray family has decided to keep all poker playing to the ground floor.
Happy Holidays to you all! I hope they remain full of good food, cheer and perhaps a Christmas tree flying through the air to keep your loved ones laughing for years.
Read More Holiday Features in the December Online Issue Of Swoon Memorial… Click Here
