Christmas - Favorite Memories

[Peace Of Mind]

I just saw a commercial that could have been my childhood.  It was great, for the most part, until step dad retired when I was 13 but I digress... It showed fresh fallen snow with the houses softly lit up and kids sledding, etc.

It brought tears to my eyes.  I was raised up north for about 9 or so of the years with the expectations of fresh falling snow for Christmas, building snowmen, snow ball fights, sledding down embankments or any hills we could find and ice skating on the frozen pond.  Mom would cook a huge turkey and stuffed ham with all the trimmings and there would be tons of presents and Christmas decorations under the tree.  She'd take us kids to the store to buy for each other (and had a heck of a time keeping us from wanting stuff for ourselves ).  So much fun - all of it!  But the best part was climbing into the ole Station Wagon and driving around seeing all the Christmas decorations and then coming home for hot chocolate and conversation about what was the best or prettiest that we saw that night.

Mom passed 2 years ago 2 days before Christmas - her favorite holiday.  Thanks for the awesome memories, mom.      No matter how horrible things got later those memories and your efforts are appreciated and I will never forget them.  May you have the best Christmases ever where you are!   I love you!!   

What are your favorite memories when you were a kid or the ones you've created as an adult that you enjoy? 

[Jake 48]

 for sharing

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

When my kids were 5 and 3, we tucked them into bed on Christmas Eve in the bedroom they shared and showed them how to read 6:00 on the digital clock in their room.  We told them that Santa sometimes just made it to the last few children's houses as dawn was breaking and that they couldn't get up before then or they might scare him away before he'd had time to leave all of the gifts (okay, the truth is we were exhausted parents of young children and just wanted them to stay in bed on Christmas morning until a reasonably decent hour).

The next morning, at about 5:00 a.m., we heard their voices.  They were both dutifully still in bed, but awake and sincerely trying very hard to contain their growing excitement.  My youngest softly asked the oldest if the clock said 6-0-0 yet.  The oldest softly said no, that there was still a 5 and told the youngest to try and go back to sleep.  The youngest said he was really trying to do so but was too excited.  They softly chatted for another minute or two in their adorable little boy voices and then fell silent.  I drifted back to sleep until I heard the oldest called to his younger brother that it was now 6-0-0!!!!!  They ran to our room where they lovingly but excitedly woke us up so that we could go downstairs and see what Santa brought.  

OMG, they were so adorable.  Hugging each other and jumping up and down and huge smiles on their faces.

I KNOW Christmas isn't really about Santa and presents.  I have taught my children well about their faith.  And, we didn't ever overdo it with presents anyway.  But, there is something so magical about pure joy in young children -- too young to know that sometimes the world sucks and life is not always kind and that Santa doesn't really exist.  

How I would have loved to keep and hold them in that very moment forever.  

[busymom]

I agree that the excitement level when the kids were little was great! Our church has a traditional children's Christmas nativity, where the smallest kids got to dress up as angels or sheep (I STILL love those costumes!).

And yes, watching the kids opening their presents under the tree is the best. 

For my own childhood, Dad (and sometimes Mom) would drive us to the park & take us sledding with the old-fashioned sleds with the metal runners.  Or ice skating.  (Dad would put on a pair of skates, too.)  And I loved it when he hung Christmas lights along the gutters on the old family house.  We may not have had "fancy" Christmas decorations, but to a child the whole season is magic! 

[NastyWoman]

I remember walking through the snow to go to midnight mass with my older brothers and there were so many stars in the sky. And somehow services at midnight in a centuries old church ( from e 12th century) was so beautiful. That must have been a different year though -> the church near my house was very new since the old one had been bombed out in WW2 and I was the first child baptized in the new church

Then there was the year that DS1 got to be part of Santa -all the people who love you in the world- and he bought his first Santa presents. DS1 was soooo excited when we unwrapped his presents that he actually stood on his head just to prevent shouting out " that's mine" No spoiling Santa for little bro. I still have the hot love romance he bought for me. It is the only time I ever read a book like that - and he checked up on my progress daily- but it is a very treasured book. And very well hidden on my book shelves

[zibazinski]

I created for my children what I always wanted and never had. Which is why I still go overboard at Christmas. But I have finally rid myself of the depression I used to feel at holiday time so that's a huge win for me. But my "children" are adults now but they seem to still want me to be happy so they let me spoil them!

[Deleted]

I've got one! The next door neighbor told my youngest sister that Santa wasn't real and she came home crying to my Mom.

That Christmas we came downstairs to a Polaroid on the floor of Santa's legs in the chimney and Mom saying she almost got him! I was about 9 and she got a couple more years of believing out of me! 

Turns out, she took a broom and a mop and put them through red snow pants and my Dad's boots. We found out later that she went next door and told that girls' Mom that it was not her daughter's job to tell my Mom's kids about Santa. 

My brother was born when I was 11, so Santa came to our house for another decade after I stopped believing. 

[sheilaincali]

1.  Our city used to do this big light thing down by where my dad's company was.  Every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving they would "flip the switch" and light everything up.  The houses along the boulevard would get really into it and do huge elaborate displays.  It was street in a "historic" section of town.  The city light up the boulevard trees that ran down the center of the street.  You started at one end and made a U-turn when you got to the end and went up the other side.  They had volunteers at the start that would collect canned foods and cash donations for the local food shelf.  We'd go to see them "flip the switch" every year. 

They stopped doing it because vandals started stealing decorations.  Now a local civic club takes over the big city park/zoo and turns it into a huge light display.  Same deal- volunteers collect food and cash donations for local charities.  You can drive through or park and take the ice skating tour through it.  It's pretty impressive. They started it last year and we've driven through it with DS.  It's hard to impress a 15 year old but he seemed to enjoy it.  The line of cars to drive through the park stretches for miles during the weekend nights.

2.  My mom would try to be sneaky so we couldn't find the presents and figure out who's was who's.  Most year's she'd put a little code or name on them and wait until Christmas eve to put the actual name tag on them and put them under the tree.  One year when I was in high school she forgot to put the code on them and had no clue what gifts were for who.  So she'd toss us a gift and we'd open it and hold it up and yell "who is this for?" and she say "That's so and so's" and we'd toss it to that person and then they'd open a gift and repeat the entire process.  It was always super exciting when we'd happen to open one that was actually for the person that opened it. 

3.   My mom still goes all out for Christmas.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I used to sled in my grandma's backyard on an old pizza pan my dad brought home from my great uncle's.  Afterwards I'd sit in the kitchen and grandma would make me tea.  She'd serve it to me in a tiny crystal tea cup.  I felt so fancy.

I miss shopping with my parents and brother.  My dad would forget what my mom wanted every single year so he'd drag me to the mall with him and go "Now, point out what your mom wants".  We'd tease him about it all the time.  One year my mom made several lists and stuck them EVERYWHERE.  He still managed to lose every single one.  I told him I should really lie about what she wants and get him in big trouble as payback.

My brother used to be in charge of handing out presents at my grandma's on Christmas Eve.  He'd pick out every single one of his and organize them into a neat pile and THEN do everyone else. 

My grandma makes THE best rice krispie treats, every year there is almost a fight to the death between me, my dad and my brother over the last one on the plate.  Last year a certain little toddler ate them all.

[alabamagal]

My favoite story is when my youngest was 6, and still believed in Santa, but maybe had some doubts.  A couple of days before Christmas, he saw the Letters to Santa mailbox at the post office and said he needed to write to Santa.  So whe we got home he wrote Santa a letter.   I asked to see it before we mailed it, and it was hard to read, but I thought I saw something about a football.  Since that was not on his original list, I asked him about it, and he said "I don't need Santa to bring me a NEW football, but mine is stuck on the roof so I asked him to bring it down when he brings the other presents."

Needless to say, DH had to make a trip to the roof on Christmas Eve, and there was a used football under the tree.

[alabamagal]

Another story, when my DD was about 8 she asked Grandma for one of those expensive American Girl dolls.  On Christmas morning, after she had opened the doll (and was very happy about it), we somehow had a mix up of presents, and she opened Grandma's gift to DH and I, and burst out into tears crying "GRANDMA GOT ME A BATTERY CHARGER!"  Told her to calm down and reminded her that she already got her American Girl doll and the battery charger was for us.

[sheilaincali]

My sister, my dad and I all have first names that start with the letter "S".  When my sister was 4 or 5 she was just learning how to read and found a big box present under the tree for "Steve" and not "Sara" but she only say the "S" and assumed it was for her.

She opens up this big 2XL men's winter coat and starts crying.  She said "Santa doesn't even know my size or that I wanted a pink coat!".  Once we explained that Steve was dad and that she opened the wrong present she calmed down.

[Abby Normal]

I was much younger than my siblings and they all knew about santa, but had to play along.  Since they were all older they got grown up things- read things that can break.  So my mother would write 

To :   Older sister
From:  Fragile

So that whoever was passing out the gifts knew to be careful with it.  Well, I was young and I thought Fragile (pronounced Fraggle to my 6 year old brain) must be Santa's head Elf because he sure gave some cool presents.  My mom still writes it this way and it's a kick to hear one of my siblings say " Agilemom got something from Fragile

[sheilaincali]

agliemom- I love it  


We would always tease DS and write on the gift tag that his gifts were from everyone.  He'd get something from Spot his lovey when he was little (he still gets a gift from Spot every year), gifts from the dogs, Santa, The Elves, Rudolph, his parents, "the old people that live down the hall (us)", etc.

I have a great time coming up with all sorts of names to put on his presents- we use all of his nicknames too. 

My friends were over for a Christmas party the other weekend and their 5 year old daughter wanted to know why our dog Zoe bought a present for someone named Sparky (our DS' nickname).  She was quite confused by that and wanted to know why her cats never got her presents.

[steff]

While my mom was married to the step monster, holidays were a nightmare.  They were always so full of stress & waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Things changed drastically after the divorce. 

That first year, we didn't have many gifts, but we had so much happiness.  It stands out just for the pure joy of being able to be happy.  To not be waiting on pins & needles for all the wrong reasons.  That was the year my brothers & I convinced mom to let us open everything Xmas eve.  That tradition still stands & it's why we do Xmas eve at mom's house every year. 

a couple of years after that, we started the Xmas day water gun fights.  We had already opened all our presents the night before.  while mom would be making the Xmas day meal for relatives coming to visit, all us kids would be having a water gun fight outside.  We lived in Houston, Texas, so Xmas day wasn't too cold for it.   Our best water gun fight happened as adults a few years ago.  Mom was selling her house & it was our last Xmas eve in that house.  She had to still paint & do some repairs, so she let us have our water gun fight INSIDE the house.  We had more fun that night than ever before.  Trapping each other in a bathroom & just unloading all the water guns on one person.  (for the record, we only used little hand held water guns.  NO super soakers or extra tank guns.  Plain simple dollar store water guns)  I had a cousin that tried to cheat one year by bringing a super soaker & then hiding in his brand new car.  His super soaker "accidently' broke & his car had shaving cream on it by the end of the day.  NO CHEATERS! 

My favorite one for kiddo happened when he was about 7.  We couldn't afford a game system for him.  There was just no way it was going to happen.  Then we went to hubby's work Xmas party.  They had a raffle & kiddo held onto his raffle ticket like it was a life line.  Every drawing he held his breath hoping he wouldn't get that.  The very last thing they drew for was a brand new game system.  And shocking both hubby & I, kiddo won it.  He ran in circles screaming he was so happy.  He got the whole place laughing because no kid ever appreciated a raffle drawing more than he did at that moment.  He hugged his game system until we got it home & set it up.  He fell asleep that night clutching his controller.  It was his first game system.  It still ranks as one of his favorite Xmas's ever.  That & the year he got his first cell phone.  Which I wrapped in a washing machine box.  Wrapped boxes inside boxes inside boxes.  The further into the boxes he got, the more excited he kept getting, but had no clue what he would finally end up with.  He was 16.  lol 

[kittensaver]

We weren't poor, but we weren't rich either. My folks had 4 children to buy presents for at Christmas and that was expensive! We usually got an assortment of smaller things (clothes, socks, books, small toys) and always one "big" gift - something we really wanted.

My mother never put tags on our gifts because each year she picked a different wrapping paper for each of us kids, and wrapped all of our gifts in that same paper - so no tag was needed. My "big" gift each year, in addition to being wrapped in "my" paper, had the same green bow with a tiny gold bell on it - mom saved it from year to year to year - that's how I knew it was my "big" gift.

When I was in college student, my father died suddenly of a heart attack right before school started. That Christmas, I went home with a pretty heavy heart. But under the tree that year was my "big" gift with the green bow on it. It was the sewing machine I really, really wanted. It also, for the very first time, had a tag on it. On it my mother wrote: "This is from both me and your dad. It was the last thing he bought before he died. I thought you should know that it is from him too. And keep the bow - I think it's time we start a new tradition." That was a very bittersweet year   

[Peace Of Mind]

Great stories!  You all are putting me in the Christmas mood.  Florida people need all the help we can get especially with all the sunshine and warmth most days - even in December.  Now I have the vision of snow falling (always gorgeous at night), tons of wrapped presents under a huge tree (we don't have kids so ours is more decoration and thin) and memories of Christmas stockings hanging on the fireplace, sleds and ice skates in the garage and all the other fun stuff most experience as kids. 

[Deleted]

My cousin and I going to grandmas the wkend before Christmas and making tons of every kind of xmas cookie and frosting them all.

 There was no ventilation and a tiny little kitchen and we would make Rosettes and the house would fill with smoke and we would open all the doors for fresh air no matter how cold it was.

Various relatives would stop by because they knew we were cookie baking and we would still have enough for grandma to give cookies to the whole neighborhood and she did.

When we were done she would make us Groet which is a simple Norwegian sweet rice dish that I have never been able to make like grandma.

 It has a longer name but she always just called it Groet  and pronounced it like grout.

Oh and homemade applesauce with the Groet.

[taz157]

I love everyone's stories! 

This year, DD is 2 and with us moving, fixing up, etc., I'm not sure how decorated, etc. we'll get the house this year considering our stuff is planned to come down from storage on Christmas Eve!    

Last year, DD started to get a little bit excited about Christmas once she saw all the presents.  Of course, she and I were the first ones to wake up and had to wait for everyone else to get moving and my dad to come by.  I wouldn't let her open any presents before everyone was awake.  However, the little sneak did end up one of the presents.  She looked so surprised and excited about it that I couldn't get upset.  (It was a bag of animal crackers.)  My ILs had gotten her one of those little plastic grocery carts with a little doll, and she had a ball pushing and pulling that around the house too. 

[tloonya]

I am always reading these 'Christmas memories' and 'Christmas *'...but never 'Hanukkah Memories' or 'Ramadan Memories' or 'Kwanza (if anyone remembers what is that) Memories'...it hurts btw.

[Deleted]

Why don't you share one of your Kwanzaa stories with us, LOONY?

<< rests chin in hands and waits with baited breath >>

[steph08]

One year we spent Christmas in Disney World. That was a lot of fun. I was about 11, and I made my mom take a little tabletop Christmas tree (already decorated) on the plane so it would still feel like Christmas in our hotel! Still have that tree.

Another year, my parents got my brother and I our first computer. They saved it as our last gift, and they gave us mousepads to unwrap. My brother and I zoomed around the house looking for where they set the computer up - he went downstairs to the basement while I went up - we finally found it on the third floor.

My dad loves the year where he bought us these huge chunks of coal. We spent all morning trying to figure out what they were before unwrapping them. He got a good laugh out of that one.

My mom writes the best holiday tags. She does Mom/Dad/Santa of course, but she does The Elves, Frosty, Rudolph, Mrs. Claus, Jack Frost, The Muppets, etc. She also ties them into gifts and/or things that we were into at that point in our lives. I'd get From: Lance (my favorite member of N Sync) . My brother would get From: Yoda, etc. on Star Wars themed gifts. She also writes tags from my dogs.

Every year she also does these really funny/embarrassing tags for gifts that she gives to my dad. To: My Harley Hottie, From: Your Motorcycle Mama. and To: My Sweet Cherry Pie, From: Your Sweet Thing, etc. OMG. I look forward to those every year! 

We also usually open a gift or stocking stuffer on Christmas Eve as well, depending on if we go to church on Christmas Eve/midnight or if church isn't until the morning.

[cranberry49]

I remember being so excited Christmas Eve that is was almost impossible to go to sleep! When I finally awoke to the wonderful aroma of turkey and dressing I was immediately hungry and excited--to say the least. Christmas music was always playing on Christmas morning. Mom always had bowls of stripped hard candy filled to the brim, oranges and apples on every table in the house, nuts everywhere also. There were six of us kids so we didn't get a lot, but we got enough, believe you me! I usually got a barbie...always on my list and my favorite thing to get. I hated it when my brother (the only boy BTW) got a BB gun. He usually ended up shooting at least one of us girls in the leg, it seemed! My moms sister and her family shared the holidays with us and we always had a good time playing with our gifts. I remember my cousins not getting much of anything for christmas and I usually gave them one of my gifts..which upset my mom because she would always say "Their father can afford to get them better he just refuses too." Well, I understand that now, but then? I wanted my cousins to have something more! LOL! 

We usually had turkey, dressing (no one could ever make dressing like my mom!) green beans, potato salad, collard greens, rice with turkey gravy, and of course biscuits. We didn't have as many desserts as people do now days (at least not in our house) we had more food than anything else. Then we would eat on this for days at a time. My mom, father, and brother are gone now. I miss them so. I can still smell the food when I think of this time past. Oh, how I miss the holidays back when I was a child.  

[steff]

Hubby, kiddo & I started our own tradition a few years ago.  we spend Xmas eve at mom's & don't have plans for Xmas day.  So the 3 of us watch at least 1 showing of A 24 hours of A Christmas Story after opening presents & then we go out to eat Chinese food. 

Fa rah rah rah rah rah rah rah!  

[sheilaincali]

Dec 18, 2013 14:39:50 GMT -5 steff said:

Hubby, kiddo & I started our own tradition a few years ago.  we spend Xmas eve at mom's & don't have plans for Xmas day.  So the 3 of us watch at least 1 showing of A 24 hours of A Christmas Story after opening presents & then we go out to eat Chinese food. 

Fa rah rah rah rah rah rah rah!  

DH, DS and I started going to our favorite Sushi restaurant on Christmas a couple of years ago.  They play that movie on a big projector screen on a continuous loop.  So we always stop there and have sushi and watch A Christmas Story.

Looney- I only have Christmas stories because my parents are Catholic and DH and I are atheists but we still celebrate "Christmas" as a holiday with our friends and family.

I remembered another one.  You know I really should thank my parents for giving us so many good memories. 

One year our big family present was that our parents were taking us to Disney World in February.  We didn't know yet so they wrapped up a clue present for each of us 4 kids.  I got a bottle of sunscreen, my sister got a stuffed Mickey Mouse, my brother got a toy airplane, and my other brother got a backpack. 
We were still clueless because they didn't give any reason behind the presents.  We just thought it was random stuff my parents bought as like stocking stuffers.  My mom kept asking if we figured it out yet and we kept giving her blank looks.  Once they clued us in we were pretty excited.  It was our first plane ride, first time really out of state (going to Iowa doesn't count when you live in Minnesota). 

[Phoenix84]

Hmmm, nothing much in particular stands out.

One year when I was a kid, we did spend Christmas at my grandparent's house.  That was pretty unusual for us, since they lived in Florida and we lived several states away. 

I remember one year, the cat knocked over the tree from climbing in it.

Unfortunately, as an adult, I don't really "feel" the Christmas holiday much.  Maybe it's because I live alone, but it's just not the same.  I pretty much work all December, fly out to my parent's house and show up just before Christmas.  We unwrap some presents, most of which aren't all that "exciting."  Then I spend a week or so vegging out at their place and then fly back home and get back to work.  I wouldn't say it's aweful, but kinda ho hum.  Just going through the motions.

[Phoenix84]

I came up with a couple.  Once I was old enough to figure out Santa wasn't real, my mom let me eat the cookies we left out for Santa after my younger sister (who still believed) went to bed.

It may seem odd, but Christmas was the day I first drove a car, ever.  My mom took me to a parking lot at a strip mall to begin teaching me how to drive.

[Deleted]

..delete.

[toomuchreality]

There were 7 kids in my family, growing up. I remember all of us getting to open 1 gift on Christmas Eve. We all got new pajamas to wear to bed. Christmas morning, we all got our own new feather pillow, with our name on it.
I always gave my daughter's new pajamas on Christmas Eve too.

Nice memories....  

[grits]

We would go to my dad's parents house for a meal, and time with family. They were both born in the 1800's, and celebrated more along the lines of what it was during their early adult years. They put up no decorations, and gave no presents. We had an abundance of delicious food, and a lot of love. The birth of Christ was mentioned as the reason we celebrated, and it wasn't in any way commercial or materialistic. I miss them, and I miss going to their house. No amount of money can ever replace the love you can give a child.