|Merry Christmas! I thought I’d start the week with something fun.
Our church service tonight was different. When sermon time came, our pastor turned it into audience participation. Sunday night services at our church draw a smaller crowd, so this worked well. He asked whomever wanted to share memories of Christmas…whatever we wanted to tell. Many people spoke up. Stories ranged from poignant to funny, and it turned into one of my favorite Christmas services I can remember, despite pricking me with homesickness. Most of the memories came from childhood. It seems like our hearts permanently tuck those away, don’t they?
So, I thought we could do the same thing here. Are you up for it? Share whatever Christmas stories you want – funny or serious, or simply something that stuck with you. I’ll start with a few random memories of my own.
- When I was really young, Santa set up shop inside a huge snowman near our house. I was fascinated by the whole setup. The snowman sat in a shopping center parking lot, and Santa lived inside with nothing but a chair, noting our dearest wishes for Christmas. You know how as kids things loomed bigger than they were? The snowman had to have been five floors tall to me, but in reality was maybe two.
- I loved Christmastime with my family–my parents and older sister. Every year my mom, sister, and I would make Christmas tree cookies with the same Mirro cookie press. The best part was sprinkling candy decorations on each one, making each a unique creation. …A unique creation that was soon gobbled up. My parents gave me my own Mirro press the Christmas I was engaged.
- My sister and I had different ideas about what time to get up each Christmas morning. She thought that more sleep was needed before finding out what Santa brought us. I thought that bordered on heresy: dawn was a very reasonable time to go see our big Santa surprise. The unwritten rule was that we had to go to the living room together. One year my patience with Sleeping Beauty was wearing thin. I thought that if I snuck into the living room and previewed the Santa gifts and then reported to her, she’d be more motivated to get up. She woke up to me informing her that Santa had brought her a new ten-speed bike. She scowled. Apparently ruining the surpise only motivated her to keep this story running in the family for close to 30 years. (Love you, Sister!)
I could go on and on, but I’d love to hear from you. What’s your story? I’m all ears.
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December 22nd, 2008 at 12:10 am
I was thinking today about the first Christmas I ever spent in New Mexico; I was visiting my sister’s family in Cloudcroft (I think it was 1995-I’m sure one of you knows for sure). The thing I remember is ice skating outside on Christmas Eve about 9 or 10 pm while it was lightly snowing. What a blast and one of my favorite memories ever.
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:06 am
It was actually the Christmas of 94…the reason you all came to our house was because I was VERY pregnant and also the reason why I didn’t get to go on the ice-skating foray.
)
My all-time favorite Christmas memory is a midnight sleigh ride that we took in Austria when we spent our Christmas there a few years ago. We went out as a huge group of sleighs traveling through the snowy countryside by moonlight. We had our blankets in our laps, gluhwein in the thermos, and carols on our lips. It was so gorgeous and romantic and absolutely perfect memory for the season.
As far as childhood memories go, nothing beats the Christmas Eve’s at Grandma & Granddad’s house. We would go out and drive around to look at Christmas lights and then we returned Santa had come. It was always the best time!
smiles…
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:01 am
Hmmm, I think I’ll go with the year we got an Atari for Christmas. We played Space Invaders and Combat until Dad couldn’t stand it any longer. (There was probably a football game on, and in those days, famlies on had one TV). But we played for hours and hours. That was pretty awesome.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:04 pm
When I was a kid we all slept in the same room, and, like you, we had to wait until ALL of us were up. Only there were four of us.
And somehow I’m the ONLY one who ended up a morning person. So I sat awake for HOURS (at least that’s how it felt) until the others were ready to get up.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
My favorite memory is the year Cabbage Patch Kids first came out. I think I was about 10 years old. That was ALL I wanted for Christmas. However, when I woke Christmas morning there was no Cabbage Patch Kid under the tree. I was disappointed to say the least. So we loaded up as we did every Christmas and went to my grandmothers house about 60 miles away. We enter the house, travel down a short hallway, turn the corner and YIPEE! Under the tree sat a beautiful red-haired, freckle faced Cabbage Patch Kid. I launched myself (my grandmother has a picture) at the tree and clutched my doll. It was later explained that Santa had forgot to leave it at my house and left it at grandmothers instead because of his tight schedule he did not have time to bring it back to my house. (Apparently, CPK were hard to come by in Texas, and my aunt who lived in California at the time was commissioned to find one.) I still have that beautiful doll and cherish the memory of the day I received her.
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Oh, I am loving all of these! Keep ‘em coming.
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:25 am
Mrs. Travis’ story is the best one!
I’m also reminded when we were in Cloudcroft for Christmas and we were having a fine time until little baby Seth got sick and we had to take him to the ER. The joy comes when you are released and allowed to return to normal living!
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Travis – I loved Combat! Especially the two-player games. I don’t like today’s video games at all (controllers too complicated), but I’ll still play Combat on our Atari Flashback.
My favorite Christmas memory was finding out that my parents had arranged the long-term loan of a pony for my sister and me. What better present could a little girl get?
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Dave and Christi have done a good job describing some of my favorites so I will add one that invovles Kara. Living in the same town as the family generally means that you stay at your own house and go over Christmas morning after you wake up. The first year that Kara and I were married, my wife decided that we would miss too much on the morning of the 25th if we were not in the house. I believe that it involved seeing J-Bob first thing when he saw what Santa brought. Since all the bedrooms were full, we spread the cushions from the couch onto the floor and used that as a bed. (Our poodle slept with Dad) The funniest (and most precious memory) was our dear Grandmother who snored all night long on the fold-out couch bed 10′ from us. All in all, we had a great Christmas with the family. Now just the thought of sleeping on cushions on the floor is enough to make me sore.
December 24th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Rosslyn-
You actually got a pony? That’s awesome! I’ve heard of it, but never knew anyone it happened to.
Dan-
Are you implying that you don’t snore? What’s wrong with you?
December 26th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Just not enough to drwon out Grandma at the time. Now that it has been 12 years I think that I am her equal.
December 26th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Hmmm…sounds like this calls for a Snore-Off.