Do you have a favorite Christmas memory?

[JunieJay]

I was just thinking of this memory today, a memory of my late mother and a dear friend. The year was 1970. I was 7 years old, and we were doing a Christmas exchange in school where we drew names. I picked Susan, the prettiest and most popular girl in the class. I drove my mother nuts for weeks leading up to the exchange, I had to get the perfect gift for Susan or I would not be popular too. My mother took me out shopping and I spent a good hour or so looking for the perfect gift for Susan - I finally decided on some paper dolls because all of the dolls were as pretty as Susan.

Day comes and I am so proud of my little gift. We do the exchange and I proudly present Susan with my gift. She unwraps it, wrinkles her nose, throws it down in disgust and says, "I already have THESE dolls, I want a new present!!!". I was devastated, probably the most devastated I had ever been in all of my 7 years.

Then it comes time for me to open my gift. My heart sinks when I see Alice has picked my name. Alice is the poor girl from the wrong side of town, who wears clothes that are too small for her and always looks disheveled. Nowhere near as pretty as Susan, my idol. I open my gift and its a bar of Ivory soap. Alice had stuck pins in it to form the shape of a star. Again, i am devastated, why oh why couldn't someone else had picked my name and given me paper dolls like I gave Susan? I knew my mother would throttle me if I cried or carried on so I just thanked Alice and somehow held in my tears until the end of the day.

When I got home I burst out in tears. My mom asked me what was wrong and I told her what had happened with Susan and the paper dolls and showed her the soap Alice had given me. My mom immediatley declared it an important work of art and told me she was going to display it in the guest bathroom. Then she got on the phone and called Alice's grandmother, who took care of her while her single mother worked during the day (unheard of in those days for a mother to be unmmarried, nevermind working outside the home). She asked Alice's grandmother if Alice could come over and play the next day.

Next day comes and Alice comes over. My mom loads us in the car and tells us she has a surprise for us. She takes us to the toy store. She tells Alice and me to pick out our favorite paper dolls.

Alice and I played together that day, and from that day forward we formed a lifelong friendship. I learned over the years just how tough life was for Alice, whose father was an abusive alcoholic who was in and out of their lives. I also learned over the years what a spoiled brat Susan was, nothing was ever good enough for that girl. At our high school reunion I'm proud to say Alice grew to be a very intelligent and well rounded woman, a writer living and working in New York City. Susan was the same smug spoiled brat, although at this point she was sitting all alone in the corner, without her court of girls to treat her like a queen. It seemed I wasn't the only one who got tired of Susan's antics over the years.

I miss my Mom. She taught me so much about compassion and the true meaning of Christmas. Its my fondest Christmas memory, but I have so many that are similar. My mom was a gem.

Anyone else want to share a heartwarming or favorite Christmas memory?

 

[L107ANGEL]

That post brought tears to my eyes

 

[LJC1861]

I am the eldest of 6 children. My Mom and Dad always made Christmas very special for us. One of the best was the year that there were 6 brand new bicycles under the tree. Each one had a big bow and out name on the handlebars. Dad caught the surprised expressions on our faces on film and these are still some of our favorite Christmas pictures.

Fast Forward several years.....

Mom and Dad had been talking about wanting bicycles. So, my siblings and I all chipped in to get them beautiful new bicycles. That Christmas WE sent THEM to bed early and got Christmas all set up, with their bicycles being the last things under the tree. Both bicycles had big red bows and their names on the handlebars. When we had it all done, the 6 of us piled on the couch in a big pile and just talked and reminised for hours...much too late for any of us to be up. The next morning we all heard voices calling to us from downstairs....."Can we get up now, please?" See, it was also tradition that nobody got up until our parents were ready with the camera. We would sit at the top of the stairs, calling them until they were ready. Mom and Dad turned the tables on us completely that year. It was probably our most memorable Christmas ever, and the one we all still talk about years and years later. I think it was probably my parents favorite Christmas too.

Linda

 

[NMAmy]

JJ, your post brought tears to my eyes. Bless your mom for being so compassionate and teaching compassion to you. She did a great job--just from reading your DIS posts, I know what a sensitive and compassionate person you can be.

My favorite Christmas memory: My maternal grandparents and my paternal grandmother always used to come to our house for Christmas morning and none of us were allowed out of our bedrooms until they'd all arrived. Nana & Pa would arrive at the crack of dawn each time. I remember sitting on the top bunk of my older sister's bunkbeds (a HUGE treat for me) as she kept me entertained. Pa had a really deep voice. All of a sudden there was this knock on the window and I heard the deep voice saying, "HO! HO! HO!" I was totally convinced that Santa Claus was there because it was still dark outside! It took them years to convince me otherwise.

I loved my Pa. I think that was the same year he asked me what I got him for Christmas and so I told him. I burst into tears when my mom got upset with me but he took me on his lap and told my mom that it was his own fault for asking me.

 

[1Prince2Princesses]

I love these stories. I remember the first year that I discovered, quite by accident on Christmas Eve, that the guy in the red suit and hat (you know.. ho ho ho) was actually my mom. My parents hid our presents in the shed behind our house, and I caught them carrying them inside. Instead of scolding me for being up or trying to pretend like something else was happening, they hugged me and told me that I knew a precious secret now. Then, I got to help! It was only that one year that I was allowed to help put the gifts under the tree, but it was a memory I will never forget. That was also my last Christmas with my dad, so it holds a double-wide place in my heart.

 

[we3disneygo]

Happy Holidays!!! great way to start the day.....

 

[Missy1961]

Oh JJ, what a great story!

My favorite Christmas memory was also from 1970, but mine's a little more humorous! I'm the second of 6 children. My mom had just had #6 that September, so Monica was a few months old. We also had a family rule that no-one was to go downstairs until everyone was awake & Dad had the movie camera out. But of course, being kids, we would dare each other to go downstairs before we were allowed to. That Christmas, I go downstairs by myself, stare at the tree in amazement, and then I hear my mom say "Merry Christmas!". She was sitting in the living room, feeding Monica! I mumbled "Merry Christmas" and ran back upstairs!

 

[U2_rocks!]

Oh Judi, you made me cry at work, darn you! Lovely story - I can imagine how much you miss your Mom.

I don't remember anything special happening at Christmas. I do, however, remember the year the turkey was rotten and we had to bury it!

 

[Maleficent13]

Okay, this is a one, but one I always think about.

When my brother was 6 or 7, he got a cannon type thing, which shot these hard plastic orange darts. Christmas Day evening, my parents were upstairs and we were in the family room playing with the new toys. One of us got the idea to see how accurate we could be with the cannon...so we sighted up one of the glass ball ornaments and fired. Direct hit!! Soon, most of the ornaments were history.

My mom was not amused. I don't think she still is, and it's been like 30 years.

 

[minkydog]

Oh JJ, what a great story!

My favorite Christmas memory was also from 1970, but mine's a little more humorous! I'm the second of 6 children. My mom had just had #6 that September, so Monica was a few months old. We also had a family rule that no-one was to go downstairs until everyone was awake & Dad had the movie camera out. But of course, being kids, we would dare each other to go downstairs before we were allowed to. That Christmas, I go downstairs by myself, stare at the tree in amazement, and then I hear my mom say "Merry Christmas!". She was sitting in the living room, feeding Monica! I mumbled "Merry Christmas" and ran back upstairs!

Busted!

My favorite Christmas memory was back in the 60's. My parents drove us down the my grandparents' place down in the Outer Banks. Think sandy/windy/desolate. But mostly sandy. And desolate. They didn't usually fool with a tree but they lived in Kitty Hawk woods, so Grandaddy decided he would go out and cut us down a tree to decorate. So off we go with my huge Grandaddy, 5 little kids and a saw. It started snowing, which is something of a miracle itself, because it doesn't snow much in the outer banks. We find the perfect tree, a long needle pine covered with snow--only it's lowest branches are at least 10 feet off the ground. Nevertheless, Grandaddy cut it down and we dragged it to the house. Only after the snow melted off it did we realize it had NO branches on one side. None. Quick-thinking Grandaddy whipped out his tools, drilled several holes in the bad side and stuck extra pine branches in it. Now long-needle pines have bunches of 12" long needles on the ends, so there is lots of long, leggy branches in the center. Not only that, but Granny didn't have many ornaments and the only string of lights she had was red. No matter--we kids went out and collected Spanish moss to stuff in between the branches(can you say CHIGGERS ) and decorated the tree with kitchen utensils. With the living room lights off that tree looked like it was on fire.

Looking back, that had to be the worst looking tree in history. My Grandparents were so tickled they called all their friends to come visit and see their tree. Granny put the coffee on and they came with their cookies and guitars and accordians and made an evening of it, singing around that pitiful Christmas tree. One of the best Christmases we ever had

 

[antmaril]

I have a couple. I was 13 years old in 1964. I came home on December 24th in the afternoon and found the telephone company installing a brand new pink princess phone in my bedroom. OMG I was so excited.

Fast forward to December 23rd, 1986. My husband and I were in the process of adopting a baby from South Korea. Our social worker called at 9:00 in the evening to tell us we had a son. Best Christmas of my life!

 

[JunieJay]

I love all of your Christmas memories! Lets try to keep this one going, its putting me in the Christmasy mood.

Here’s a funny memory from my past. It was my first year of college, and the girl I shared an apartment with and I decided we’d go out and get a Christmas tree to have in our apartment, even though we were both going home for the holidays. We wanted something to help bring us some Christmas cheer beforehand. We go buy a tree and we’re dragging this huge tree through New York City…of course people were annoyed and cussing us and such and we are laughing the whole way. We get it home and realize the trunk is way too big to fit in a stand. So we call the maintenance guy at the apartment, and he comes up with a saw and whittles the thing down so it fits in the stand. We finally get it up and decide we need a little champagne to celebrate. One glass of champagne leads to several glasses more, until the two of us are rip roaring drunk and decorating the tree. We were a tad bit exuberant with the garland and the ornaments and the lights and the tinsel because at about 4am that morning we hear this CRASHING sound that can only mean one thing – tree down. I could hear her giggling from her room and I started giggling too, but neither of us got up to do anything about it. We staggered out of our beds the next day around noon and eventually cleaned up the enormous mess of broken ornaments, tangled garland and tattered tinsels and ended up hauling the tree down to the trash room. The next year we thought about giving it another go, but got a tabletop tree instead.

I still speak to my college roommate Denise, usually around the holidays, and we never fail to mention the tree gone bad. Good fun times.

 

[antmaril]

JunieJay: Your mother was a very wise woman. Thanks for the great story.

 

[mickeyfan2]

What a great memory and your mom was a great women to teach such a valuable lesson in such a kind way.

 

[nja33]

We always had the tradition that we couldn't get up before the parents and were definitely NOT allowed downstairs until we were told. So every year, my sister and brothers and I would scrounge up whatever cash we had left, go to the store a few days before Christmas and get as much junk food as we could afford. On Christmas morning, we'd be up at 5 am and have a party in my sister and my room while we waited for our parents to wake up. Then at an acceptable time, they'd come in and begin waking up the older kids while the ones who were already up got into age order and waited at the top of the stairs.

The best memories of my childhood are definitely holidays.

 

[RickinNYC]

One of my most favorite Christmas memories was when I was about 5 years old. I put out cookies and milk for Santa, and included a note thanking him for the presents and other such toddler nonsense. Mom had to help me with that of course. My older brother ragged on me and told me I was being silly. I was (and am still) a pretty darned stubborn little kid so I told him he was wrong.

The next morning we got up and headed downstairs. We were always forbidden from opening our gifts (sadistic parents) until after Mass so we would just stare and gape. We were, however, allowed to rummage through our stockings so that was what we did. After we were done gaping and staring at all the loot of course.

Mike and I ran to the mantel, grabbed our respective stockings when I noticed a piece of paper stuffed into mine. I pulled it out and there was my note to Santa. Written under my childish scrawl was a note from the Big Guy himself which I remember to this day, "Ricky, thank you for the cookies. You've been a really good boy this year and I love you. Merry Christmas, Love Santa."

I don't remember what I got that year for Christmas. I don't remember whether I got a bike, a new GI Joe or whatever geegaw was the hottest that season. I do remember that note and I especially remember standing there, fumbling with the words, absolutely 100% thrilled that Santa, in all his wisdom, really made a little boy believe.

I showed Mike what Santa had written and his jaw hit the floor. I took it along with me to church as well, showing all my friends. Santa not only made me continue to believe, but made believers of so many other kids that day, kids that were old enough to start questioning his existence.

And, although I didn't know it at the time, I now do remember Santa's handwriting looked suspiciously like my Dad's. Not long ago when Dad and I were chatting and reminiscing, I mentioned that note and he just smiled and said, "I remember the note but I know I didn't write it."

 

[nuke]

Great stories!

Mine is the year that I got my Chrissy doll. I wanted one so bad because all the other girls in the neighborhood had one. Santa brought me her that year and oh how I loved that doll. I can't believe I didn't keep her.

My second favorite is the 2nd year I was married. DH was deployed on West Pak and I had leave so went home for Christmas. My cousin came and picked me up Christmas Eve and we went out bar hopping and I spent the night. At 7:30am the doorbell rings and my dad is outside. He came to pick me up because my DH had called the night before when I wasn't there. He said the only time he could call again would be at 8:30am the next morning. My dad got up early and came all the way from the suburbs to downtown Chicago to get me so I could be home for the call. The two most important men in my life working together to make me happy.

 

[NMAmy]

I'll add a couple more of my favorite dd memories.

When dd was 3, she was so tickled by the whole Christmas thing. She helped pick out gifts for her dad and I and wrapped them herself. She also began her tradition of making me a box full of goodies--she'd decorate the outside of the box and fill the box itself with small toys, shells, pretty rocks, and notes from her. I wish she still did this! But the best was on Christmas day--every package she picked up, she'd smile at me and say, "I bet it's sumpin special, Mama!" I love to watch the video of this.

Another favorite happened last year--dd got strep throat a week or so before Christmas and she was really bummed about missing a school dance. I went out and got all kinds of junk food, rented Christmas videos, and took a sleeping bag in her room and she and I had a sleepover. She was so sick that she couldn't recreate our usual tradition of dancing like the kids in Charlie Brown during that scene so she asked me to do it for her. She kept rewinding and making me do each kid's special dance while laughing hysterically. (She made me do this for my niece in October this year and my niece told dd she had the best mom EVER.)

 

[jedi_librarian]

I love each and every story!

Mine is a funny one. I was about 5 or 6. It was Christmas Eve and I somehow woke up in the middle of night (maybe it was only midnight, I didn't know) and I heard the sound of scissors cutting wrapping paper in the living room. I FROZE with fright because my immediate thought was, "Oh, my! Santa is in my living room NOW wrapping my presents!" My heart was pounding and I remember trying hard to go back to sleep right away, because would know if I was awake!

Years later I found out that it from my Mom that it was the year she was really behind in shopping and had literally left everything until the last minute.

 

[cassi06403]

I'm LOVING this thread - what a great idea to share stories of our Christmas memories!

I don't have many Christmas memories that stand out in mind, but this one was truly memorable! One year on Christmas Eve, Dad had an idea that maybe Santa would like some popcorn insted of cookies.

When my brother and I woke up in the morning, Santa had made a mess! There was a trail of popcorn into each of our rooms, left from when Santa came to look in on us!!