Friends Lost and Found

What’s your favorite holiday? Which holiday holds special memories? In different parts of the world, we will soon be celebrating Christmas or Hanukah.

Being the youngest of four children, my believing in Santa Claus was short lived. My brothers felt it was their duty to let me know that mom and dad put presents under the tree from Santa. I remember for a few years, in spite of what they said, I would climb out of my cozy bed around midnight just to check to see if I could catch Santa and his reindeer flying by my window.

On Christmas morning, we (the kids) weren’t allowed to go downstairs before 5:00 AM. At about 4:50 AM we began to line the stairs. Because I was the youngest, I got to sit the closest to the downstairs door. My sister had to sit at the top of the stairs. At 5:00 AM sharp, dad would holler, “I wonder if our precious children are awake yet?” He then would open the door and let us come down the stairs. We would run to our stockings and “ooohhh” and “aaahhh” over the many items stuffed in them. I still don’t know how my parents could stuff so much into a stocking. I could never fit it all back in again.

After our stockings, we enjoyed a big breakfast. Dad’s gift to each one of us was to tell us specifically what he loved about us. I remember at times, we would roll our eyes as he spoke, thinking this was so uncool, but deep inside, we appreciated his words. Now that my dad is gone, I especially treasure the many kind words that he said about each one of us.

Next was present time! Once again, being the youngest, I had the duty of handing out gifts. I rarely saw my parents unwrap gifts–they were enjoying watching us open our gifts. As a kid, I felt like we had tons of gifts! Even though some were socks, pens, toothbrushes, etc., I just saw them as gifts. Many years later, my mom expressed how money was tight growing up and she wish that they could’ve done more at Christmas time. I assured her that the traditions that we had were a priceless gift and that I never felt like we had little.

Christmas afternoons we would usually go visit my grandparents. We each could take one new toy with us. We then enjoyed a turkey dinner and played games or watched a movie during the evening.

We’d love to hear about your holiday memories. How about commenting and letting us know?

Happy holidays!!!