Favorite Holiday Memory

[jac]

As I sit here thinking about the holidays and what that entails, I can't help but think about some of my past memories of the holidays when I was a kid, a teen and as an adult. So I thought it would be kinda cool to share one of my favorite memories and hope that others will join in and share theirs...

I guess I was about ten years old and my family was living in Phoenix. Mom was a single parent and we didn't have a lot of money but we had love and imagination... The money we did have was to go on a few small gifts and food to celebrate the season. As for the decorations and the tree, well this is where creativity came into play. Mom had collected scraps and odds & ends all year long and we all sat around with our crafty selves and made all our decorations. We had the fire in the fireplace going, carols playing in the background and mom, myself and my three siblings had the best time ever. We wound up making this huge scene on the wall above the fireplace. Santa and his sleigh with all the reindeer flying by a winter wonderland of a town lit up with lights and snowmen off to one side and the nativity scene off to the bottom right corner with the wise men in the distance. It was a really unique and bazaar depiction of combining the religious aspect with the commercial but it was really amazing!! Mom had a natural talent with watercolors, charcoals and pastels and wow did that scene glow by the light of the fireplace!! I can still hear all our laughter and singing and still smell the tree, the fire and the taste of the cookies and cocoa. I miss those days when we were all together and wish I had pictures to remind me of them but the images that are forever etched in my mind are as clear as if it was just yesterday.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings all around!!

[BugsAndKisses]

Every holiday my family has a tradition, my grandfather cooks these fried pastries called zeplies..they are like powdered doughnut hols. So anyway every year when he makes these he takes a big cotton ball and fries it in the batter. The person who eats the cotton ball gets to wash the dishes! If there happens to be a new person for dinner they are "set up" hehe

[Queerasfck]

I was probably about ten years old. I woke my sister (who was four years old) super early on Christmas morning, maybe it was 3:00am. We opened all our presents while our parents were asleep. When they got up later and seen what we had done my mom said I "ruined Christmas" since I was the oldest and should have known better.

I told Christine that story when we first met. Now whenever anything goes wrong, anything, Christine will jokingly say I ruined Christmas in her best mom voice. It's great.

[Princess]

Christmas has always been a big holiday in my family...i have one sister, Rachel she is 2 years younger than me. When christmas eve rolled around my sister and I would stay up as late as we could, until we heard our mom "santa" go to the living room to fill our christmas stockings. We would wait exactly 10 minutes until we knew she was back in bed and sleeping...and then we would sneak out there, get our stockings down and pick out 3 peices of candy each...and then back to bed. We STILL do this every year, even though im 27 now. Well one year my mom decided to pull one over on us, she went out there and just put a peice of coal in each stalking...and waited for us to sneak out and see our faces when we looked in and saw just coal...she popped out from around the corner laughing and gave us our real ones. Obviously that coal didnt deter us much :P

[Heavenleahangel]

About 5 years ago, I was bone-tired and in a laundromat washing comforters and curtains for company coming to visit. I didn't want to do it that evening, but I had no choice. I had put it off til the last minute-3 days before C-mas.
As I got my quarters loaded into the washers, I noticed what appeared to be a grandma splitting a happy meal between 2 little girls about 4 & 6. They inhaled the food, rumbling around the bag looking for a forgotten french fry. I could tell they were still hungry. I went to the McDonald's next door and "accidently" bought another happy meal and a couple of cookies. I conspiculously asked the lady if they could hve it and she said yes, smiling.
I struck up a conversation with that woman and learned the girl's mom was in prison, usually she washed the clothes at home in the tub and money was just too tight to buy each a meal.
I drove them the 3 blocks home and helped her take the baskets in. The grandma offered me a cup of coffee and while I don't drink coffee, I accepted a glass of water so I could learn more about the girls.
I told her I knew of a "Secret Santa" and if she would allow me, I wanted to tell him about the girls. At first she resisted and said she didn't accept things she couldn't repay. I, being the ever persistent femme, wouldn't take "no" for an answer. I met with her the next day and took the girls to the fire department to see Santa and have a picture made for their mom. She hadn't seen them in a year! They rambled on what they wanted and I was frantic trying to write it down!
I was in Wal-Mart that night then Toys-R-Us the next day looking for stuff for little girls. With my Explorer loaded, I went back to that ramshackle apartment and proceeded to fill her livingroom with toys, clothes and food! With tears in her eyes, Veronica-the grandma- hugged me and blessed me for making her girl's holiday special. I in turn, thanked HER for allowing me to remember what Christmas was all about and it was ME who was blessed. I gave her a disposable camera and showed her how to work it and the promise to return and have the film developed. I can still see the faces of G & M in those pictures. I stayed in contact with them until Veronica moved away 6 months later. It was the BEST Christmas I ever had-EVER!!!