My Quiet Corner has a thoughtful post on shared Christmas memories going on. I’ve been most fortunate to have so many good memories of Christmas.

My earliest memories are from the years when it was just me and my older sister on the family scene. I can still hear the old Christmas songs playing on the reel to reel in my mind… We lived in a house adjoined to the motel my parents owned. We were totally spoiled in those early years. I remember a year when we both got matching desks, a big chalkboard as well as dolls, etc. And I’ll never forget the year I got my first play train set. In these early years many traditions were formed that continued year after year. Here’s the first that come to mind:

1) The tree - This was a big family affair. It started with picking out a live tree. While in Preston, we’d go to a nearby Christmas tree farm. In later years it would be up on the hillside or a lot in town, but they were always live trees. It was Dad’s job to get the tree sized and put in the stand as well as to string the light cords. It was murder waiting to get this far, but finally it was our turn. The ritual began with inserting the various bulbs into the sockets, and among the many memories of various bulbs my dad’s favorite bubble lights stand out most in my mind. After lights came ornaments and mom would share the memories of so many of them as we’d gather and distribute them on the tree. Each of us had a little gold angel with our name and birth year on them and that was the prized possession and birthright to put your own on the tree. It was finished with tinsel and the star and then we’d spend hours adoring our creation and playing the “guess” game with each other of various lights and ornaments.

2) Christmas Pajamas - These always found their way to us Christmas Eve and they were the ONE present we got to open before the next morning. Every year we could count on new jammies and I never could figure out how the one present we got to open was always a pair of them!

3) Christmas Baking - This was always done on Christmas Eve day and distributed that night to our many friends and neighbors. Sometimes it began a day or two before with sugar cookies, etc. but the plates were always filled with an assortment of fudge, cookies, and other baked treats.

4) The Christmas Book - We waited with baited breath for it to be time to read the yearly Christmas Eve story about the forest animals helping Santa deliver presents. I can still hear my mom’s voice when I think about it. It was so anticipated because we knew that after this it was finally time to go to bed which meant Christmas was finally here. We’d hang our stockings and head for bed already dreaming of the next morning.

5) Morning Anticipation - Mom had a rule that we couldn’t wake up and go into the living room to see what Santa brought until 7:00 AM. As kids, this was murder! And many a Christmas morning began in the wee hours of 5 and 6 as we all huddled in one bedroom watching the digital clock move much too slowly toward 7:00. When 7:00 finally came we’d scream that it was time and then we’d wait for several more minutes as mom and dad would get on their robes, start a fire and get “camera ready” before we could bound into the room. We could play with the gifts Santa had left unwrapped under the tree as well as the goods in our stockings, but gift opening would happen after breakfast. Years later I came to appreciate my mom’s methods as Christmas Day wasn’t over in one big unwrapping event before the sun came up. It was a drawn out family experience when we’d spend time doing things together for several hours.

Now that I’m a mom, I find we’re setting many of our own traditions as well as using many from my youth. Christmas is so delightful with children.

I hope you’ll share some of your Christmas memories!!

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