Favorite Holiday Memories

 

            You know how much I love Christmas…and the truth is, I always have. I sometimes lament that I was born prior to the over-documentation era of the world, because I’m sure the lack of pictures has also contributed to forgotten memories. (This is not a complaint toward my parents. It’s just that back then, we didn’t take pictures of everything! Two words: developing film.)

            But I do have some fond memories even if pictures don’t exist.

·         Mom always let me help decorate the family tree when I was little. I’m sure it wasn’t easy to trust your small child with handling sentimental ornaments and arranging them on a tree, but she did, and I’m glad. It’s probably why I love decorating trees so much now! (Also, can we pause to be grateful we no longer have to separate branches by mildly applied colors on the end of the wires? Whoever invented hinged trees deserves a MEDAL.)

·         As you know, my Mom has also made homemade candy all my life. (She’s still making it – just not as much as she used to.) I LOVED helping “work the fondant” – which meant squishing the cream centers until they were nice and soft. Ryan and I have taken some lessons from Mom, and I aspire to one day be able to make them – without looking like a first grader did it.

·         I always had a felt, homemade stocking when I was growing up. I forget now who made it, but it was always under the tree and filled with wrapped shampoo and underwear and all those things we used to get in stockings. Even though Ryan and I have grown-up matching stockings, I still have my beloved felt, homemade stocking of my childhood!

·         When I was little, my parents delivered gifts and meals for the Rescue Mission. Delivery day always came super early on a Saturday – on an equally super cold December day. This was back in the day before car seats or seat belts, and we had an old van with no seats at all in the back. They would get me up early, wrap me up in a warm blanket, and let me sleep in the back of the van while they ran all over town delivering food and gifts. (I tried to sleep, anyway. Whenever the doors opened for delivery, the blast of cold air would wake me up in a hurry!)

·         I was always in the Christmas program at our church. They typically rehearsed during junior church, which took place during the morning worship service. I was never allowed to go to junior church, because my parents wanted me to sit in regular church each week. But I was permitted to go for rehearsals, and it felt like the grandest treat to get to leave with all the other kids. I was Mary, I was an angel, I was a chorus member…I did a little bit of everything along the way.

·         For most of my childhood, we always spent Christmas Eve (evening) at my Aunt B and Uncle Jerry’s house. We’d have yummy snack food, and I always got to eat in the den while I watched Christmas shows. We were always an eat at the table family, so eating in a chair in front of the TV was kind of a Christmas gift in and of itself.

·         Christmas morning was our time to have Christmas as an immediate family and then we would go to my grandparents’ house for lunch. We would stand on the sidewalk in front of their house waiting for Grandma to find her camera and figure out how to turn it on, so she could take our picture walking in. Every year, without fail, she couldn’t figure it out and would holler for my grandpa to help. It became a running joke even after they were gone…Mom would do the same thing at her house.

·         For many years before I was married, I would take a vacation day in December and bake all day long from early morning until late at night. I would give away almost everything I made as a Christmas gift for friends.

·         The best Christmas gift ever was when my sister had a baby on Christmas Eve. You can’t top babies!

·         I started sending my own Christmas cards when I was in high school. I made them all by hand and loved sharing them with my friends. I think my love for cards came from when I was little and I would get to open any card that came to my house that said, “And Rebekah” or “And Family.” It was a grand adventure.

·         My mom taught me to budget money when I was pretty little, and I saved money throughout the year, from each week’s allowance, to use in buying gifts for friends and family. I loved how she set that example!

·         One of my friends from college started a tradition with her family where they slept beside the tree on Christmas Eve. I loved that idea so much and started doing it even when I was single. Ryan and I still do that today!

I’m sure if I sat here for another hour, I’d have five more posts’ worth of memories. But I hope you enjoyed these random stories today! Any fun memories you have?