Christmas Memories

The HOLIDAYS ARE HERE!! This is my very favorite time!! I get just as excited about Christmas as the kids do. There is something just so magical about it.

I’ve started my hunt for the perfect gifts. I have a problem with gift buying. I try to hard to find the “perfect gift” for that person, and will pretty much give my self an ulcer trying to find it.

My favorite Christmas?

One of the very top ones was the first one I spent with my new baby sister. She was 4 days old on Christmas and the best gift EVER. Lucky for my mom, she was smart enough to have our Christmas that year right before she went into the hospital, so watching us see what “Santa” brought was the only thing she really had to get up for on Christmas morning.

Another that sticks out is the very first Christmas D and I were married and our very pathetically decorated tree. We were broker than broke and always laugh about that time. “Well, it could always be worse…remember when…?”

Eric and I used to wake our parents up in the middle of the night to open presents. We had an unspoken pact, where if one of us woke up before the other, we’d wake the other up. We’d run in to see what Santa had brought us. After a while we just couldn’t stand it anymore so we’d wake our parents up. Many 3 O’clock Christmas mornings happened at my house. Even when I was too old to “believe” anymore, Eric and I still had that pact and we’d wake the other up.

I remember how Santa sometimes, if he had time, left a note for us. Thats a tradition that has been carried on. (Though Santa has had to get creative to find unrecognizable handwriting! Smart, those boys are!) He always left us an orange or an apple in the bottom of our stockings, and I always claimed it was the best orange/apple I had ever eaten. Christmas magic can even make fruit taste better.

Every Christmas Eve we would eat dinner with my Grandma Moreton. We’d feast, and then open our presents from her. Every year when we would leave her apartment I would always listen for sleigh bells. Some years I’d hear them, others not. And any airplane that was spotted in the sky was SURELY Rudolph. Now, the Christmas Eve tradition is held at my house, and it’s one I hold close to my heart and love doing.

I LOVED watching Santa’s Workshop. Does anyone remember that? With Toy Boy and they would ZOOOOOOMMMMM around the world? Anyway, I remember one time telling my dad to hurry home because I wanted to watch “Play Boy.” After Dad got done choking, he reminded me that his name was TOY BOY and to never ever say that in front of Grandma Katy. HAHA

We’ve had some sad ones too. My grandmother passed away right before Christmas when I was 9. I didn’t think my family was ever going to smile again. I also remember our beloved dog, Deputy, getting run over a day or two before Christmas when I was a 6th grader. The only reason I remember that it was at Christmas is because I can I remember sitting on my dad’s lap, crying, and he told Eric and I that he knew Santa was going to miss Deputy too, and that Santa was up at the North Pole, crying with us. (And I know that after the kids were settled in bed, “Santa” did go and have himself a good cry. He loved that dog as much as Eric and I did.)


So, it's December 1st, and my cards are all addressed and waiting to be dropped in the mail, the tree and decorations are up, and the shopping has begun. Bring it on! =)

I just love Christmas.