Favorite memories of Christmas

[ILoveMyGelding]

Ever since my parents got divorced it seems as if I haven't enjoyed Christmas as much. I think that the best time for our family was Christmas and we have so many great memories. It's been 16 years since the divorce and I am slowly getting back into the spirit each year. One of my favorite memories was putting up the tree. We used to have these bubble lights that I LOVED to watch. I was at Farm and Fleet the other day and found some! We put our tree up last night, no ornaments yet but I put my bubble lights on it! I think they are soo cool to watch. What's your favorite memory about Christmas when you were little?

 

[Marty]

OK, let's see, one of my favorite childhood Christmas memories......hmmmm

All my Christmas's were wonderful as a child. I had a fabulous childhood with the bestest parents any kid could ever wish for and a huge family of crazy fun loving Irish relatives that were all holiday party people.

One Christmas in particular sticks out. It's the time that my dad really goofed up when buying our Christmas tree. We lived in a very large city, in a very large house on one of the main avenues in Connecticut and it was such a treat for us to get to ride to the country every year to pick out our Christmas tree.

Dad was very fussy about having to have the biggest tree to near the top of our 10' ceiling in the living room. That took some doing so we went from tree lot to tree lot until the perfect tree was discovered every year. But this one year, seemed that dad had a couple of beers and was feeling "festive" before our anual jont to the tree farm. Mom just got her driver's license and back then, most moms did not drive, but my mom did, so she drove us to the tree farm.

Must have been my big brother that year who located our perfect big tree and we all agreed it was very very tall. I don't think dad inspected it very well that year for us. Dad tied it to the top of the station wagon and when we got home, he proceeded to trim the bottom off to fit in the tree stand in the back yard. When dad stood the tree up, the whole tree was on a big slant. Seems that brother Dave had chosen a tree that had quite a crooked trunk and dad neglected to notice that part. Dad said not to worry and began trimming the bottom again to try to get it straight. Nope, it still had a completely crooked trunk. So dad continued to cut, chop, and hack this gorgeous huge tree down to a horrible little length. And it was still crooked of course and nothing he could do was going to make it stand up straight.

I was always the family cry-baby. I'd cry over anything on a daily basis at the drop of a hat, so this time, I felt I was in crisis so I blubbered my head off. I can remember crying like crazy that dad was wrecking our tree. He brought it into the living room and put it in the "official Christmas tree corner" and it couldn't have been more than 4 feet tall by the time dad got through with it and it was very unsteady and kept trying to tip over. So was dad! So dad got this great idea to stack the whole library of World Book Encycloepdias underneath the stand to make it taller, then tie a string to the middle of the trunk, and then, bang a nail in the living room wall and tie it to the wall to keep it from tilting. I was mortified. Mom was mad at dad. And my brother was laughing his head off. Dad said it was going to be fine once it had a chance to open up and we could decorate it the next day. But we were not happy by no means and I couldn't stop crying about it. Then we went to bed.

The next morning, I went into the living room to see our poor Charlie Brown tree and it seemed to have grown atleast 5 feet over night. It was beautiful, perfectly straight and gorgous and nearly touched the ceiling.

I found out later on that after we were all asleep, dad picked up his brother, my Uncle Ed, and they took the tree back to the tree farm in the night which of course was closed. He climbed over the fence and helped himself to a big beautiful tree. He returned our sad little tree with a note and money in an envelope for the new tree.

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Ever since my parents got divorced it seems as if I haven't enjoyed Christmas as much.

I think it's time that you do find your spirit again. You've already lost precious time and time is

something that we don't have to waste. You'll always have your memories and no one can take that away from you; and it's probably time for you to make new ones. I'm glad to see that you are making an effort and you are getting yourself back on track and loving your bubble lights. Show us more soon as you can!

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Here's another one of my favorite memories, but not of my childhood, but of Dan and Michaels'

The only thing worse than having a sick child at Christmastime is having two sick children at Christmastime.

They were just 3 & 4 years old and it was a week before Christmas. They were so very sick with the flu, it was terrible. They ran very high fevers for days and days and couldn't keep anything down. I had them into the doctor and he loaded us down with meds and tylenol and said I had to make sure they stayed in bed. That was easy. They were too sick to even want to get out of bed and all they did was sleep for hours and hours. They wanted to come to the living room to see the tree and all our decorations but they couldn't. They loved decorations so much; runs in the family of course. When they did wake up, they'd be crying. It was so sad and they were so pitiful laying there.

Then I came up with an idea. My mom came over to watch them while I made a run to the Dollar Store for a few "million emergency supplies". So while they were sleeping, I got them their own 5' Christmas tree and set it up in their room, fully decorated it, and ran lights all over every wall in their room. I always kept a cassette player in their room and had Christmas music ready in it and brought the VCR in there and let them watch their favorite Christmas movies from their bed. You can just imagine how happy they were when they woke up to see that Christmas had come to their bedrooms. Every year since then, until last year, they continued to set up their own little tree in their room. That was a good memory.

 

[Beccy]

When I think back to Christmas from my childhood, there are so many lovely memories, but I think decorating the tree was always the greatest thrill for me, even more than Christmas morning! My mum preferred heirloom ornaments to decorator perfect trees, and I have grown up the same.

We have many of the ornaments that were on my family tree, plus 21 years worth of our own that we have collected throughout our marriage, military postings etc. The main tree (we have several, including one of nothing but rocking horses) takes a full day to decorate, and is so covered in everything from blown glass and ornate things, to handmade things we and friends have made, and little treasures our children made when they were little, that there is not an empty bit of tree anywhere.

Unpacking and unwrapping them each year is like a trip back through my whole lifetime, and brings up memories I forget for whole years in between.

Every Christmas we give our kids a store bought ornament, and one that we made, so that they will have their own heirloom collections when they leave home. (our eldest had her own first tree last year, it was so pretty!)

I could never wait to put the tree up as a child, and I am the same now. I usually have the trees up starting November 1st. I am LATE this year! :lol: This weekend!!!

 

[Bassett]

This is not a childhood memory but really touched my heart.

About 4-5 years ago Mandy, my granddaughter, was shopping with her Mom and Dad at the local Ben Franklin, a variety store. Mandy was about 3-4 years old. She got her eye on a Santa Hat that costs $8.99. Dad explained to her that he just didn't have the money. They could not afford it. After a few minutes of thinking about the hurt, puzzled look in her eyes, he decided she WAS GOING to have that hat. He would figure something out. He went back to get it and his heart dropped.

It was GONE!

Well not much he could do. They continued shopping and a man came up to him and handed him the hat and a stuffed toy for his oldest daughter. He said "Here, Merry Christmas". He said, " I heard you very gently explaining to her why you couldn't buy it, I've been there."

What a nice man. There really are some wonderful people in this world.

She wore that hat day and NIGHT for weeks. She still treasures that hat.

Bonnie

 

[Cronewolf]

:new_shocked:

: :aktion033: The year I was 5 and woke up to a pony on my front porch with a little saddle on him, and a cart in the front yard. Never has a Yule ment so much. Also wandering though the woods with my dad to cut the Yule tree.

 

[minih]

When I was a young girl I loved it when we had our Christmas tree put up, you know the old shiney silver ones they used to have, and all decorated up. We had a rotating light with blue, red, and green panels on it that when it would hit the Christmas tree I used to think it was the most beautiful thing in the world. I would lay on the couch for hours watching it change to all the pretty colors. You know looking back I hardly remember very many of the actual presents I got when I was younger, but I do remember alot of other things about Christmas. Driving around with family looking at all the lights up in town. Making homemade cards to give to everyone. Christmas with your children when your older is wonderful and fun also, but I think when you get older some of the magic is different and just not the same as it was when you were a child.

 

[stormo41]

going to the falls with grandpa grandma my brothers and parents to see all the lights, and stopping at the dount shop on the way home, the one with the juke box lol. I'm trying to talk my parents into doing it this year again :bgrin

 

[Miniv]

Every year we all would make a trip out to the Oregon Coast Range to a tree farm to pick out our tree(s). And like Marty's family, each of us kids would have a our own tree in our rooms. Then, there was the one year that everything was a muddy mess.......much like this year. And we hiked around in our boots -- each of us managing to lose one in the sinking mud. My mother had to put newspapers down on the car floor and on our seats, we were so covered!

My mom always had us write letters to Santa, and of course she wanted to check them for spelling errors.

: . Then, we would each put them in the fireplace and burn them.

MA

 

[NyborFarm]

A favoriate memory, rather a continuing tradition here is very early on christmas morning. My sister will wake me up and we will make our horses a warm breakfast. Its oatmeal, grain, carrots, apples, peppermints, and whatever else we can find that they like. Put it into black rubber pans and go out into the barn to feed them their special breakfast. We've been doing this since we've had horses. So since I was about 4 years old, I am now 18.

 

[anoki]

Christmas became a very sad time around my household when I was quite young....due to, well let's just say a tragic event on Christmas eve (but that is a whole other story :no: ). Fortunately for me, I was too young to really remember it (though when I really do think back, I can remember bits and pieces), but it just didn't hit me as much as the rest of the family. So in saying that, I've always been the crazy one at Christmas time!

: And I LOVE keeping tradition....

The first weekend of December every year, we would trudge through the snow in our bush looking for the 'perfect tree'. Then we'd haul it up to the house, and bring it in, just to see the obvious pitfalls of the tree!!! lmao We had some pretty wicked looking christmas trees over the years, but it's funny as soon as the ornaments, lights & tinsel is on, the gaps and all get filled in a bit, and it ends up not looking quite as bad as it did when it was bare. Of course we would also put up all the outside lights around this time too (usually in the bitter cold!! We-that should read I- started getting smart the last little while, and I get them up while on a somewhat mild day). Now it's just me at home, so it's harder, coz I have to force my parents to do some of the stuff....otherwise it wouldn't get done...and we can't have a barenaked branch for a christmas tree!!!

Those are the things that stand out from Christmas to Christmas. We are always together on Christmas eve...we always make sure of that.

My most all time favourite memory from Christmas was getting my first miniature horse! That was 17 years ago :new_shocked: It was the best day ever!!! And I wished someone had a video camera on me that morning. My parents wrapped up a nylon halter and put it under the tree for me. It took me a few minutes to clue into what it was for!!! lol Yep...that was the best christmas soo far.

~kathryn

 

[Sanny]

Christmas has never been such a great holiday for me, even when I was really little, not sure I can really explain why. Even as a child for some reason Christmas always felt like sort of a stressful holiday. A lot of "stuff" needing to get done, never enough money, and always some sort of family drama going on. I was the youngest of 5 kids with a big gap between the oldest and youngest and I had three older siblings that all had kids of their own not much younger than me and we were always judggling having everyone at our house, going to their houses and they trying to fit in time going to their in-laws, etc.

I enjoy the holidays more now because the focus is on our own kids and hopefully creating good/fun holiday memories for them and because my husband likes the holidays and takes charge of almost everything and does most of the shopping. It is also less stressful because we stay home and have our own holiday with our kids instead of traveling and visiting relatives.

For me, as far as childhood memories goes, I remember going with my dad every year to pick out a tree and trudging out in the middle of nowhere on land that we owned (felt like miles and miles of walking but probably wasn't), picking out just the right tree, chopping it down and dragging it out of the woods then going home and decorating it and having a fire in the fireplace and having hot chocolate and cookies. I do remember another Christmas that sticks in my mind from that farm....one of my brothers that is close in age to me - who at the time couldn't have been more than 8 or 9 - decided he wanted a christmas tree of his own in his room and we had a row of big evergreens along the edge of the yard right behind our house and he climbed up one of the middle trees and managed to cut the top of the tree off somehow and dragged it in the house and decorated it and everyone thought it was so cute until the next day when my parents saw what he'd done. For as long as we lived in that house people were always asking what happened to that tree in the middle. All the other trees were all the same height and then one in the middle was missing a top. 20 years later I drove by the house and that tree still stuck out. We owned 80 - 100 acres with that farm and were surrounded by woods with lots of trees he could have gone in and cut down but he picked one right there front and center in the yard. That was the first of many not so great choices he's made along the way. the following summer he ended up starting that house on fire during a "scientific experiment" but I'll share that story when July 4th rolls around.

My dad died just a couple of weeks before Christmas when I was 12 and I remember that Christmas really clearly too, our house was full of relatives trying to overcompensate for his unexpected death working too hard to celebrate the holiday and be "normal" and I remember sneaking away and taking a really long ride alone on my horse through the woods and going down to a beautiful secluded frozen pond and just sitting there alone crying for a couple of hours and it got dark and then coming back home and riding up the road in the dark and seeing the house all lit up and decorated and full of people and somehow feeling a little bit better about life. For some reason I was also glad that nobody noticed I was gone even though it was for several hours. Thinking back too through all the years I've always had a thing about wanting to go be alone for a while on Christmas. I'd go out on Christmas eve late night and give the horses extra hay and treats and just sitting in the barn enjoying being alone with the horses and then taking a little walk enjoying the peace and quiet and usually there is snow on the ground and the sky is clear and all the stars are out and on the best years snow is falling. I still do that, usually very late after I've finished last minute wrapping and getting ready for Christmas morning.

 

[Robin1]

hmmmm. Christmas is a mixture . My father died on Dec. 23rd. I was 1 1/2 yrs old and my brother was 4. My mother worked very hard to make things as good as they were. They had been married for 17 yrs when he passed and they had only had 2 disagreements and she can't remember what they were, she has never remarried.

I always knew there was something wrong, although I didn't realize until I was older the time that he had died. My mother would always be smiling and cheerful getting ready for Christmas but if you looked at the right time you could see the sadness and loss that she felt, and still does. (It will be 39 yrs this year)

My parents taught ballroom dancing for years and had their own studio when living in New York, Las Vegas, and eventually Arizona.

When my brother decided to make an unexpected appearance in this world my father went back to working as an inspector for the airlines. He had many friends from pilots all the way down to the cleaning crew.

There was a man named Poncho (I don't know what he did with the airlines) his wife and 2 teenage sons were friends of the family for years. Poncho was part of a Mariachi group. Every year sometime before Christmas Poncho and his partner Joe would come over and they would play and sing traditional Mariachi music and of course Christmas music.

I looked forward to those visits for years.

Robin

P.S. Cassie, this is the first year I have seen those ornaments for sale again in years!!