Twelve Days of Christmas #8 - Christmas Memories

12.18.2006

One of the things that is very high on my husband's and my list for our family is making memories and building traditions.

One of my favorite memories of Christmas as a child was putting up the Christmas tree. We had an artificial tree, with color coding on the end of each branch that corresponded to a color on the tree "trunk". My brother, Jon, and I were usually in charge of doing the tree and we both really enjoyed it. I, for one, was really taken with all of the ornaments Mom had acquired through the years. They were so delicate and beautiful to me, and I feared breaking one (which I am sure happened by mistake). There were, of course, the homemade ornaments from Sunday School and elementary school. I vividly remember the royal blue bulb with a red ribbon and "Jill" in gold glitter that I made in Sunday School in 3rd grade.

Christmas Eve was the big time for my family growing up because it was my oldest brother's birthday. We would have dinner, then Brian would open his birthday presents and then we would open Christmas presents. Y'all..... those days and weeks of seeing the presents under the tree was torture to me. My mom tells the story of me getting sick (upset stomach, usually) right before any big event, including Christmas and my birthday. I was so, so, so excited that I would get "all worked up". I only remember opening one gift on the sly. My mom was gone somewhere and I just could not stand it any longer and I grabbed a small package (thinking it would be easier to re-wrap than if it were large) and it was a little weather vane house that my Grandmother bought in Germany.

I remember making oodles of cookies and candy.......Mom teaching me the secrets of rolling out the dough for cut-out sugar cookies....and oh....is her recipe for these good.

I got a pair of snow boots every year for Christmas. My all time favorite Christmas gift was a kitchen. It was avocado green (this was the mid-70's dont 'cha know). I always referred to it as my "stove, sink and refrigerator". I was usually in the basement, which was also our playroom, but Mom would move it to the garage in the summer. I played with that thing for years.

I am looking forward to building memories and traditions with my own family. I'd love to hear some of your favorite memories.

Until next time,
Jill

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