What are your favourite holiday memories?

I'm desperately trying to get myself into a Happy Non-Grinch mood, so I thought it would just be a nice thread to post our favourite Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus/Winter Solstice/Diwali/Hogmanay/Festival of Light/etc, etc memories -

Mine are:
1.) Waking up when I was about 6 or 7 and hearing the doors opening and shutting- and thinking it was Santa and I was terrified, but I just had to look and I opened the door up slowly and my Dad turned around very abruptly, hiding something behind his back, and scared me half to death-  "What are you doing!?!?!" - "I heard Santa!!" - "No, you didn't. That was me just moving the car. Go back to sleep or Santa won't come!!!"  -   hahahhaha, priceless, caught in the act...  

2.) Reading the Polar Express to my younger sister on Christmas Eve. I did this for years.

3.) Going to my Aunt's house on Christmas Day and begging my Mom to let my cousins sleep over or let us sleep over there. Usually the begging worked!

4.)  Saving up to buy a Ghostbusters toy Egon Spangler for my older sister, going halvies with my older sister to get my younger sister a Ray, and my older sister buying me a Peter.  We were so excited to get them for each other.  We were allowed to open 1 present that year on Christmas Eve and we all opened those and played with them all night long and they were definitely our favourite toys that year.  

5.)  We always have a Fancy Dressed Themed Christmas Eve party we've been going to for the last 15 years or so.  This year is Hillbilly Christmas.  But in the past we've had Egyptian, Texan, Glamour, Movie Character, Future Christmas, 60s Christmas, Swedish Christmas, etc.  It's fancy dress and food and culture- usually you have to perform a story or song or event that's close to the theme.   Running around on stick ponies with 'mooing' cans eating BBQ was great for Texas.  Movie Character, well I was an Oompa Loopma.  Future Christmas, that was great - I was very apocolyptic and that was J's Christmas where he came to America- and he was overwhelmed- but he was a good sport, playing a very convincing Jar Jar Binks.  

6.) Helping my Nana put up her Christmas tree and fighting with the cousins on who would get to put that tree up. In later years, putting that same tree up with my sisters, so we could have our 'own tree' upstairs.  

7.) The blue spruce pine tree that we got that was absolutely gorgeous, but you didn't want to go near it or water it, for fear of getting attacked by the needles. The thing was brutal.

8.) Always 'oooooooooooooooing' a tree - in Garfield Christmas style

9.) The year my baby sister was born, she came home in a stocking, as she was born only a few days before Christmas.  A great gift that year!  

What are your favourite memories?    

9.) The year my baby sister was born, she came home in a stocking, as she was born only a few days before Christmas.  A great gift that year!  
 

Awwww!

1. When I was very young I was the only grandchild, so had to hand round the gifts, with my grandfather reading the tags to me. I was very shy 

2. Always getting pencils in my stocking (dad was a draftsman!) and a gift box of assorted Lifesavers!

3. The stocking my grandmother sewed with my name embroidered on it.

4. Spending ages "artistically" gift wrapping presents. One year it was plain white paper with red notary seals 

5. My aunt's annual pre-Christmas coffee for all her friends and neighbours -- and me.  Wonderful coffee cakes she makes herself!

6. The wooden "stable" my father built to hold the manger scene. He made ones for my grandparents and aunts as well. You could get all the figurines in Woolworth's in those days -- and not cheapo plastic ones.  I loved playing with it. (Wonder what ever happened to it?  )

7. Listening to WCRB all day on Christmas.

Other more recent happy memories that just make me feel sad now ...

Some of them, in no particular order:

1. The year Santa came to the family gathering on mom's side of the family, with gifts for all the kids. I was 5 or 6 that year. It was a man dad worked with, but we didn't know that until we were adults.

2. My brother and me snooping and finding our bikes, then pretending we didn't know, although we were giddy for weeks ahead of time, and making daily 'visits' to see them leading up to Christmas.

3. My first Christmas as an aunt. She was born Sept 21, so she was far too little to know what was going on, but it was fun to buy her a lot of gifts.

4. Playing with cousins until time to eat (both sides of the family), and playing with them and new toys after gifts were opened.

5. The yearly tradition my nieces and I had of driving around with cocoa, popcorn and a candy cane, looking at Christmas lights.

6. My first year with my own tree (other than the 2 ft one I had in my room in high school). I spent hours decorating it.

7. Grandpa B. (paternal grandpa) always handed out candy canes to visitors - especially family - who visited at Christmas.

8. Christmas movie marathons with dad and my sister. They'd both spend the night and we'd do lots of eating and watching.. and Santa would come even though it was a couple weeks early. I hope to get that one started back up when we go back to the States.

9. The year I bought princess dresses for my nieces and all the little girls on my shopping list. By going to second hand shops, I bought prom dresses, heels and gloves for less than $10 per child. I was cooler than Santa that year.. and they still talk about it from time to time, 11 years later.

There are loads more, so I will pop into this thread from time to time. 

1. Playing hide-and-seek in the dark with my cousins in my grandparents basement.

2. Going to the country to see both of my great grandmothers. Two family reunions in one day was amazing!

3. Warm apple cider 

4. THE FOOD.

5. Unwrapping/re-wrapping presents to see what I was going to get ahead of time.

6. Finding my first pair of skis carefully hidden (or so she thought) by my mother.

7. Watching "A Christmas Story" with my mother and watching her laugh.

8. Going to Vail every year after Christmas until school started again.

9. The year I got my first kitten. I was allergic to dogs and discovered that cats could also be amazing.

10. Every year my mother would rhyme clues and I would have to go on a house wide scavenger hunt from clue to clue until I found one of my main presents.

This is very special and not necessarily a favorite but should be shared:

11. The year that Santa forgot. I woke up very early one Christmas morning then proceeded to quickly bang on my parents' door and run downstairs. I turned the light on in the den and surveyed all of the gifts that Santa brought. NONE. Not a stocking was stuffed. I started screaming and crying. My mother came down and stated that Santa must have left the gifts elsewhere in the house. My father then joined us and made me go back to my room. I then heard some loud voices coming from downstairs as I was sitting in bed biting my nails. One hour later I heard a knock on my door and was told to come back downstairs. Magically, all gifts from Santa had been "found" and were out on display as they should have been to begin with. Needless to say 1) I learned a secret about Santa that year and 2) I NEVER beat my parents downstairs on Christmas morning again. 

This is very special and not necessarily a favorite but should be shared:

11. The year that Santa forgot. I woke up very early one Christmas morning then proceeded to quickly bang on my parents' door and run downstairs. I turned the light on in the den and surveyed all of the gifts that Santa brought. NONE. Not a stocking was stuffed. I started screaming and crying. My mother came down and stated that Santa must have left the gifts elsewhere in the house. My father then joined us and made me go back to my room. I then heard some loud voices coming from downstairs as I was sitting in bed biting my nails. One hour later I heard a knock on my door and was told to come back downstairs. Magically, all gifts from Santa had been "found" and were out on display as they should have been to begin with. Needless to say 1) I learned a secret about Santa that year and 2) I NEVER beat my parents downstairs on Christmas morning again. 

Heheheheh I love it!!!  That's so something that would have happened in my house.  I'm surprised it didn't actually, but my Mom said there were some close calls!

Luckily my parents didn't wrap Santa presents and just left them in piles for all of us, so that made it a bit easier to throw out before bed. 

I love this thread, because I have been having a bit of an emotional time this Christmas. My mom died of pancreatic cancer at 45 years of age 3 1/2 years ago (when I was 21), and I have sort of "avoided" going full out on Christmas since then as this is the time of year that reminds me of her most. I hope my list makes it obvious why I can think of nothing but my wonderful mother at this time of year! I was truly blessed with magic every year.

1) Hearing Santa ring his bell to wake us up every Christmas morning. Since I was born, my mom somehow convinced my dad to dress up as Santa Claus every year. Us kids had to stay in bed and wait to hear Santa ringing his bells then we would rush downstairs to sit on his lap to chat with him and receive our special gift. When we were younger, we had no idea it was my dad (we would run up to his room to tell him Santa was here and the bathroom door would be shut with the shower running. Then when "santa" left, Dad would take a LADDER up to the bedroom and come down with wet hair lamenting that he had "missed him again!?!?") This continued all the way up until my mom died, with us being required to do something mildly embarrassing on camera (like singing a carol or something) to get our gift as everyone had tears of laughter streaming down their faces.

2) Performing for my family with all my cousins. So I had about 8 cousins all within 5 years of age of me on my mom's side, and every year we would practice for weeks on a Christmas show (including multiple carols and choreography!!) to perform for my Grandma. Made her cry every year

3) Two Christmas trees! My mom loved Christmas so much we always had to have 2 trees at our house. One formal one (color coordinated with a theme and the wrapping paper had to match lol) and one silly one. The silly one was often Disney themed and so happy (with 3 feet singing/motion activated Disney characters surrounding it). Often, when I was younger, my mom and I would sleep under the Disney tree on night before Christmas after having a Disney marathon that day.

4) Baking! Since I was little, all the women in my family would gather before Christmas and have a MEGA baking day. Everyone got to come up with a certain recipe that they wanted, and we would all work together listening to music, gossiping, laughing, and of course snacking on our delicious treats.

5) Gingerbread Houses. We would make our own (no kits!) every year, going out and stocking up on candy and graham crackers and frosting. By the time my siblings and I were all in our 20s, it had become a bit of a competition where the three of us and my mom would make a masterpiece and my dad would judge the winner. I think the last Christmas before my mom died my brother won with a 2 foot gingerbread apartment complex The competition would bring on loads of cheating and stealing ideas, as well as endless giggles.

6) Pajamas & Quiche. Every year, we all got a new set of Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve. We all wore them that night and got to stay in them for the majority of the morning, having a lazy Christmas "pajama day." Then my mom would make homemade quiche for us for breakfast and we would playfully argue about the thickness of the crust (who wanted it thick vs who wanted it thin).

7) Christmas starts in July. I remember since I was little that the countdown to Christmas started in July for my mom. That is when she officially thought she could start easing Christmas music into her rotation without my dad vetoing it lol. She just swore she loved the music cause it made her happy. In fact, certain Christmas cds remind me of her so much that when I downloaded a big compilation this year for myself, the hubby and my stepson to listen to while we put up the tree it made me super emotional.

Whew, I know that was long and detailed! But I thought I owed it to my beautiful mother to recognize how very lucky I was to have had such magical experiences both as a child and into my adulthood. Makes it a little tough for now, but I hope I can do her justice by trying to make this time of year as magical for my new family as she did for us.

Big hugs to you, MrsM! I can see why this time of year would be emotional for you, but you were given the gift of a true love of the Christmas season. Let that love and joy be passed on to the next generation, and share those beautiful memories of all the magic. Thanks for sharing with us. I feel all warm and snuggy inside now.

10. Every year my mother would rhyme clues and I would have to go on a house wide scavenger hunt from clue to clue until I found one of my main presents.

My paternal grandparents did that every year for our Easter baskets. They would hand us one age appropriate clue and we'd be off to find the next one. As we got older there were more and more clues to follow. Great fun for Easter or Christmas.  

More from me:

My brother and I would carefully unwrap and rewrap gifts too.  

Every year the bus driver (I was a country kid and rode the big yellow bus) would give each kid a sack as we got off the last day before Christmas break. There would always be an apple, orange, candy cane, full size candy bar, pencil and some smaller candy in it.

Years of begging to be allowed to sleep by the tree, or at least in the living room, to try to see Santa.

The year dad informed us Santa actually prefers beer with his cookies. We never questioned it, but left him a beer. 'Santa' actually only drank about 4 or 5 cans a year, and that was just one at a time on really hot days after mowing the acre lawn we had.

The year I was 15 and decided I was going to have my own tree. I used babysitting money to buy a two foot tree, lights, ornaments and a gorgeous light up, musical glass tree. It was from one of mom's friends' Christmas Around the World party and cost $35 but I had to have it. I also bought a musical Santa for about $30. At that age I was still a great customer at her party, spending about $80.The tree was about $15, and I bought the lights and ornaments at Walmart.

The first year of being old enough to be included in the adult gift draw in my early teens, and still young enough to get gifts from all the aunts, uncles and grandparents for still being a kid.

Right - sorry this is long, but you asked for it!  

1) The year that we were visiting at my aunt & uncle's (my mom's older brother) house in between Christmas & New Year's.  He ran an old-timey skating rink (wood floors, records of mostly organ music for skating plus The Limbo & Hokey-Pokey games --- known as Hokey-Cokey over here).  So we loved visiting him because it always meant endless hours of free roller skating for us.  And my uncle (who was always a big ham) dressed up as Santa Claus & my present was my very own pair of roller skates in a little blue suitcase.


2) When I was 21 (1985-86) and I went to Rio de Janeiro for a month over Christmas & New Year's to visit my former college roommate (Brazilian) & her family.  It was hot & green & tropical, compared to cold & grey-brown (Kansas) where I had just travelled from.  (Never felt the need that it HAS to be cold & snowy at Christmas - a green tropical Christmas suits me just fine, thank you very much!)

They had a big extended family all there for the Christmas celebration, but really what I remember most (the best part) was New Year's Eve...by that time, I was having a holiday fling with one of her brothers.  A group of us got all dressed up - and I was wearing a sexy typical Cariocan dress that I had picked up during a visit up to Petropolis earlier in my trip.  It was black - nobody told me the tradition was to wear white until that night & I didn't have anything else to wear - lol!

We walked all along down the length of Copacabana, Ipanema & Leblon beaches through the night & into the wee hours of the new year.  There were fireworks off the tourist hotels & fireworks on the beaches & everyone celebrating.  And watching the Candomble priestesses there, all in white, sending little boats with fires and other offerings out to sea.  Eventually we stopped for some drinks & light food, before catching a bus back to where my friend's family all lived (I think the subways had stopped running by that time of the morning or maybe they were too crowded or something).

There was an incident on the bus where a bunch of drunk guys were shouting at the bus driver, so the bus driver stopped the bus & was refusing to continue.  Then the drunks started rocking the bus like they were going to tip it over.  Cooler heads called for some order, and people settled down & eventually the bus driver resumed our journey so we all got home.  Very exciting times in my 21st year!  


3) The Christmases I spent with my ex-boyfriend & his family in Florida were also very exciting.  His mom was American Italian so we had lasagna & other great Italian dishes for Christmas, alongside the ham or turkey.  They all tended to fight a lot - with lots of shouting & swearing & door slamming.  It was so different from the tiny, quiet Christmases back in boring old Kansas - often with just me, my mom & my Grandma.  (My dad died when I was a child, and my brothers usually spent Christmas away - as I did too once I got older.)


4) Another fond memory with my ex- back there (in Tampa) was every year going to the gorgeous & amazing Tampa Theatre for the classic Christmas films on the December Sunday afternoons leading up to Christmas - complete with the Mighty Wurlitzer coming up out of the stage & following the lyrics and bouncing ball onscreen for a Christmas carol singalong.  The ex- and I both had a shared love of It's a Wonderful Life...  Remember no man is a failure who has friends...


5) The first Christmas I spent here (and the ones since) with DH and his family in Norfolk - the year before we married, that was very special too.  Learning all about the British Christmas traditions & festivities that his family does.  No children, just adults - but I love all the food & all the boozing (cocktails! fizz! wine! more cocktails!), Christmas crackers, the paper hats, etc.  We save present opening until after Christmas dinner on the day, so not until the late afternoon do we open our gifts.  Followed by more boozing & food, playing silly games like charades & so forth until we all are ready to collapse.


6) A very bittersweet memory was 2008 - the year that my mother died on Dec 23rd, after a long, degenerative & sad 30-year illness.  I had been back earlier in the year one time already when they thought she was dying (the March before) but she pulled out of it that time.  Then it seemed by the end of Nov/early Dec that year - hospice was being brought into the nursing home for her...  And I came down with the big, bad flu - so I spent 1-2 weeks on the sofa, nearly incapable of moving & knowing that my mom was dying, and cried.  The call was going to come any day & I just hoped I'd be over the flu enough to travel back.

As I was finally starting to feel better, my friend here & I went (the first year we did this) over to York on Dec 22 for part of the afternoon, had a meal & went to the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols at York Minster in the evening.  I am not religious, nor is my friend particularly, but we both love the music & the service - watching/hearing Archbishop Sentamu, and the choir in their robes, etc.  Through the entire service I thought of my mom & how much she would have loved to have had the opportunities to travel like I have done (since meeting DH) & how she would have loved to have been there at that service.  (Incidentally, when my mom still had a few of her wits left about her, she'd thought my husband was fabulous & was over the moon at the opportunities that living over here opened up for me.  It's the sort of life she would have liked to have had & the fact that I did gave her considerable happiness.)  And even though I am not a believer in any sense of supernatural things, I hoped that somehow her spirit was able to be there.  She died about 24 hours later, back in Kansas.  My in-laws paid for us to fly back for the funeral & we flew over on Dec 27.  My brothers and I all met with the church minister the night before her funeral to talk about my mother's life, and in the eulogy the minister talked about how my mother's spirit, long trodden down in life by illness & depression & hardship & poverty, was peacefully free at last and perhaps at last she would be there at York Minster in the future...

Because of all that - going to York each year with my friend is a very special new tradition for me.  We spend the day shopping there - actual and/or windowshopping, calling in at Barnitts - great Tardis of a shop & being sure to pass through their electrified 'Christmas grotto' full of tacky, we have lunch & also cake/tea/coffee, then lastly we are off to the amazing & beautiful York Minster for the lovely carol service.  Favourite carol - In the Bleak Midwinter (Harold Darke setting)...  What can I give Him,/ Poor as I am?/ If I were a shepherd/ I would bring a lamb,/ If I were a wise man/ I would do my part,/ Yet what I can I give Him,/ Give my heart.  (Couldn't find a York Minster recording, so Winchester will have to do!  There's a better recording on there for Gloucester Cathedral but I think it's the Holst version & I prefer Darke's.  However, I did get to visit Cranham this summer just past - the place where Holst supposedly wrote his version in the bleak midwinter!)


Not too many childhood Christmases in that lot - a lot of my childhood Christmases, the ones I can remember, were at least a bit sad.  I've mostly had much better Christmas memories in my adulthood.

Because of all that - going to York each year with my friend is a very special new tradition for me.  We spend the day shopping there - actual and/or windowshopping, calling in at Barnitts - great Tardis of a shop & being sure to pass through their electrified 'Christmas grotto' full of tacky, we have lunch & also cake/tea/coffee, then lastly we are off to the amazing & beautiful York Minster for the lovely carol service.  

I'll be there with you in spirit at the Minster, Mrs. R.  My son went in two years ago and ended up in tears, remembering choral evensongs we'd all been to. 

I'll be there with you in spirit at the Minster, Mrs. R.  My son went in two years ago and ended up in tears, remembering choral evensongs we'd all been to.  

Aww - hugs to you & yours.  I know just how tough this time of year can be for those of us (like MrsM, you, me & many others) who have had such profound family loss.  And hearing the Minster choir - I find those beautiful songs, beautifully sung, just pierce you through.

If ever you get moved back over here, maybe in a future year you'd like to join us on our annual York pre-Christmas trip?  

If ever you get moved back over here, maybe in a future year you'd like to join us on our annual York pre-Christmas trip?  

Yes, please.

Yes, please.

Of course!  It's a date. 

Awww, this is such a nice thread, thanks for sharing everyone all your stories-  Its really, truly, brought tears to my eyes. 

Mine might be a tad bit on the epic side as well, but you did ask!

I think my favorite Christmas memory is Christmas '06. Sadly, it was my Nana's (maternal) last Christmas, but it was absolutely her favorite holiday. We're really close with my Mom's side of the family and throughout my childhood I always lived 2 minutes up the road from Nana, my aunts, uncles and cousins. We celebrated everyone's birthday, all of the holidays and every single Saturday, we went to my Nana's house at 12 for "lunch." We'd have the same deli meats and bread, but my Nana always insisted on making a menu which she would post, so we'd know what we could have and we'd just sit around the table and talk for hours and hours eating and drinking tea.

As we grew up, we all started to scatter in various places across the country, so there was always someone missing or multiple people missing from the major events, but on my Nana's last Christmas (not that we knew it at the time), everyone was in attendance and we had a great time. There were some truly lovely pictures taken that evening. However, in May of 2007, 5 weeks after her 80th birthday, my Nana passed away. Christmas, other holidays, birthdays and the general family dynamic have never been the same, so I don't really like Christmas anymore. It just makes me sad.

Another one of my favorite Christmas memories (this also involves my nana) is every Christmas Eve, my mom's side of the family would get together and we'd have Chinese food, dessert and we'd open presents. We couldn't open the gifts until after we ate, but as soon as we arrived, my Nana handed each one of her grandchildren individual instructions on how to find your own personal Christmas bag of treats that she had hidden all over the house. Everyone got their own bag and everything inside were little bits and bobs that had been specifically chosen for that grandchild and things like toothpaste, q-tips, gum, mints and hair elastics. A lot of the stuff was kind of silly Christmas Tree Shoppe kind of things and we'd open it and feign excitement, so my Nana would feel appreciated, but inwardly we were thinking "oh, Nana. I'm never going to use this 1980's scrunchie," but now I freakin' miss those bags and the hunt to find them!

Also, I can't hear this song without thinking of Nana.

WHITE CHRISTMAS - Bing Crosby


Rest in peace, Nana. Love ya. 

I like reading everyone's memories, both happy and sad.  I don't have any momentous memories as my family never made much of a big deal out of Chanukah.  We did light the candles (I can remember the smell of them, especially burning) and do presents, but they were never very big presents.

One year Chanukah fell right after Thanksgiving and we usually spent Thanksgiving at my grandparent's in Atlantic City so that was fun opening our presents at Bubby and Zada's.

As a kid, even though my Dad told my sister and me that there was no Santa Claus (ever the Scrooge), I still sort of believed up to a point.  I remember one Christmas Eve, very late, when I was about 5 or 6 I thought I saw Santa and his sleigh of reindeer from my bedroom window, (Maybe it was a UFO!)

I loved the Christmas parties at school, singing all the carols, especially at the cul-de-sac around the corner where they made a huge effort every year to do all the houses up with lights, etc and we stood in the middle circle bit and sang, where there were more lights and a big nativity set up.