Christmas Memories...

I've had a lot of Christmases in my lifetime so I thought I'd take the next few days to share a few of them. Some are good, some are not so good but all of them I hold in my heart.

One Christmas I will always remember is one that happened when I was about three years old. I think it's my earliest memory and I think I only remember it so well because we have photographs to prove it happened. I was a rough and tumble kind of kid. I loved to play and when I played, I played hard. Family photos show me looking very "ragamuffin" most of the time with dirt and food and whatnot all over me. One set of photos from a Christmas long ago was no different.

What I remember about that Christmas was two things, mainly. The first was the realization that all my siblings were home together at one time. I don't recall living with my older siblings at all! We have that large an age gap between us but I clearly remember being very excited when I three because my brother and older sisters were all at home and they loved to play with me and it was just a time of out and out fun! I remember decorating our big natural tree and then once all the huge, hot lights were on it I remember having tinsel on it, piece by piece. My mom let me do it even though I mostly put big clumps on the tree and not the dainty way she did it. No one uses tinsel anymore, do they? I know it was pretty much banned when it was discovered to have lead in it but there was nothing so beautiful as that huge tree shining with all the silver tinsel. I loved that. I remember lying on my back with my head under the tree looking up at the lights and the silver and thinking it was as close to heaven as a three year old could get.

This was also the year that I wanted to give gifts to my family. My mom let me take things from around the house and wrap them and put them under the tree. I think I gave her her own spatula for Christmas that year and I remember giving my sister a potato. Haha! It's the thought that counts and I wanted to give them something.

But the best part of that Christmas was what I found on Christmas morning. Santa never let me down and I am still a firm believer that he does exist. In my stocking, every year like clockwork, there were peanuts, an orange, an apple and a banana and one Chocolate Santa. I got this same stocking year after year into adulthood and it was the best stuff on earth. There was no need for tons of candy or silly stocking stuffers. That orange, apple, banana and peanuts were like magic to me. I looked forward to them each year. But Santa also brought me something amazing that year. I got a baby doll almost as big as me who said "Mama" when you tipped her over and I got a red and white tricycle. I have a photo somewhere of me, with my Dutch boy hair cut, a mess of a sweater with some left over breakfast on it, my new tricycle and my brother all looking happy and having a blast.

I love Christmas to this day but I don't think we ever really appreciate it as much as when we were little. This year my family will have a whole new batch of brand new babies to celebrate with and I hope that seeing Christmas through a child's eyes will take me right back to that wonderful place of tinsel, oranges, baby dolls and tricycles.