Christmas Memories

It is almost Christmas . . . that magical time of year that I have always loved and looked forward to. I’m wondering just why Christmas has always meant so much to me. The memories go back to when I was a child.

I remember it was in the first grade that I was selected to be on the big stage at the college. I wore a red dress made of crepe paper and I remember my dad proudly holding me in his arms while people made a fuss over me.

Christmas always meant special dresses and music. I remember walking down the isle in the big auditorium dressed in an angel costume with a silver garland around my head, carrying a lighted candle, singing “Oh Come All Ye Faithful.” Once I was a Snow Queen in a white sparkling dress, carrying a white basket with sparkle in it, and on cue I crossed the stage and sprinkled the green people dressed like pine trees! I remember other Christmas times when I wrote little plays and read the lines while others did the actions. Later there were times when I sang solos for programs and a time when I sang with Loni and Monette in costumes I made of red velvet and white fur. One year I made a Mrs Santa dress and entertained at a rest home for older people. In addition, there were times I sang in chorus’s and in groups. Sometimes I was asked to lead the chorus . . . I remember the women’s chorus with my son, Dev, playing the drums . . . wonderful memories.

Yes, for me there was always Christmas and music . . . but more than that, there was always family and gifts. My husband, Milt, always did special things for us, all while he teasingly complained, “Christmas . . . humbug! This year we are cutting down!” Then he’d be sure to check to see if I’d forgotten anything!

For me Christmas was always a time for sewing! Everyone had to have a holiday outfit. I made outfits for the girls, shorts and matching ties for Dev and dresses for the girl’s dolls. Christmas was always a time to get a special gift for everyone, things they’d been needing all year and we’d saved the ideas up to be sure we had a very special time for everyone on Christmas. We always made as big a deal as we could for Christmas. I saved up for Milt and always got him a special tool and something to build with. I knew about tools, as my dad always had special tools and I knew about them from him. The first year I bought Milt a drill, then an electric saw, etc. He started building rabbit pens when all he had was a hand saw and a hammer! When I saw his first ones I said, “Milt you need a square,” recalling my dad building things. Milt didn’t know what a ‘square’ was.

Christmas is a time for family . . . a time for remembering family and the special blessings that come from being part of a special family. How we love and appreciate ours. As I look through my journals there is always a lot about Christmas. It was always about family coming home to eat, being together the way my children are now their own families. The best times, the things that last when the busyness of life is over, are the memories and I’m sure they will go home with us . . . to our Heavenly Home, when we again join our parents, where we were before we left.

[Pictured: My girls, Judy and Vicki, at Christmas time.]