Memory of Christmas Eve Past

This Christmas Eve, John’s Mom and Dad took JW’s brother and sister to a Redskins game at Fedex Field for their Christmas gift.  It was a great time, especially the tailgating and great seats in the first row of the upper deck on the 50 yard line.  It was also a typically frustrating Redskins game, with the Skins somehow losing to the 2-12 Vikings after having beat the Giants twice this season and almost beating the Patriots.  More than anything else, however, it also brought back fond memories of an earlier Christmas Eve Redskins game.

It was Christmas Eve, 2005 – JW’s penultimate Christmas and his last spent at home (in 2006, he spent Christmas w/Alex’s family in San Francisco).  It was at that earlier Christmas Eve that JW and his brother Mike treated their Papa, their Uncle Ken, their sister and well as their Dad to a Redskins game for Christmas.  Actually, it was John’s Dad’s first Redskins game and tailgating experience at Fedex Field.  Some memories from that game:

• The Redskins actually winning, beating the Giants 35-20 and thus securing a wild card playoff spot – beating Tampa Bay in the subsequent first playoff round, only to lose to Seattle in the second;

• The guys actually springing for an “Orange” parking pass so that their Papa didn’t have to walk that far to the stadium;

• Everyone being concerned for Uncle Ken since he was wearing a Giants cap – thus he was always escorted to the restroom;

• Papa being especially interested in using the field glasses when the cheerleaders were on the field; and

• Everyone (including three 6’ + guys) creating a protective phalanx around Papa when it came time to leave so as to ensure he would not be knocked down by the bustling crowd!

This year's Christmas Eve game, of course, was different with neither JW nor Papa able to be there with us.  It was also different in another couple of ways.  First of all, as indicated in the photo to the right, the very seats we sat in during the Christmas Eve 2005 game no longer exist; what with Dan Snyder having torn them out after coming to the realization that the seats were so undesirable, he could not even sell them to the 15,000 or so fans on a waiting list for season tickets. Even more importantly, since 2005, the quality of our tailgating has increased tremendously.  For that prior Christmas Eve game, all we had were a couple of six packs and a bag or two of chips with everyone standing around the rear bumper of the car.  This year (click on the photo below to access an album for Christmas Eve 2011), in addition to having a cooler-full of beer, some chairs and a table, along with a grill, a canopy and a corn hole game, we also had epicurean delights to include cheese and crackers, Italian sausage and potatoes, as well as “antipasto on a stick,” all followed by some good Irish whiskey and an excellent cigar and then some post-game hot chocolate and homemade cranberry nut-bread.  When comparing the difference in quality between the two tailgating events, John’s sis aptly pointed out that it was all due to the addition of John’s mom to the happening, she being absent from the 2005 experience.

Oh yea, we also had the fond memories of the 2005 Christmas Eve experience to keep us warm from the biting wind in the parking lot this year.  Thanks, for the memories John – and is it true that in heaven the Redskins never lose?

Memories of Christmas Eve Past