Welcome to day five! We can't even tell you how much we enjoyed reading your sweet little poems. What a treat. We really feel like we are getting to know each of you that much better because of this contest and we can't wait to learn more!
The daily winner for yesterday is Carmen G. She won us over with her big airplane and waiting grandchildren:
Big airplane waiting
Grand-children waiting, smiling
Such love at Christmas
Grand-children waiting, smiling
Such love at Christmas
And for her poetry skills she will be rewarded with a Barefoot Venus gift pack. We will be in touch Carmen!
Day Five Challenge
There is nothing quite like the magic of the holidays as seen through the eyes of a child. Share your most vivid childhood holiday memory.
Comments
Wow, that’s a really cvleer way of thinking about it!
One Christmas I asked for a Barbie. I receiving twist and turn Barbie, Francine with growing hair, and twist and turn Julia, plus wardrobe. I thought I had died and gone to heaven because I had received way more than I had asked for.
My most vivid childhood holiday memory was when I must had been 6. I had been asking my whole family for a puppy for the whole year, but my parents kept saying no. I was so happy to hear when my aunty and uncle told me I was getting a puppy from them, but was very disappointed when I received a stuffed puppy instead. I soon quickly forgot about the disappointment when the hot turkey came out of the oven, and was surrounded by my family, and I love how they distracted me with the bubble wrap, they know me sooo well, even to this day.
I guess I sort of answered this back on day one… So to try to be consistent but also share something new… I always loved being the first one up on Christmas morning! I loved coming down the stairs and sitting alone with the tree before the masses awoke. I clearly remember waking one Christmas and creeping down the stairs to and what to my wondering eyes should appear… the Cabbage Patch Doll I had so desperately wanted!!! Mom had set her up in a highchair. The doll looked like she was waiting for me. I still have that Cabbage Patch Doll :)
I woke up in the middle of the night, everyone was asleep. Santa had come already! I looked through my stocking. I remember I got these super mini pencil crayons and notebook. Like barely 2 inches tall (if that!) small. They came in a little plastic case that snapped closed. I liked miniature things and I was so excited. But I had to put everything back and wait until the morning.
I remember so well the fun my brother and I has the year my Dad built us our own skating rink in our backyard! Brent playing hockey and me figure skating-such a fun winter!! A very special holiday to remember my Dad by:)
Every Christmas Eve, my sisters and I would open 1 gift from my mom, always the beloved christmas jammies, This one year when I was nine – my mom said we could open two presents, then three, before we knew it we opened all of the presents, well needless to say it was pretty sad in our home the next day, and we never , ever did that again !!!!
I remember hearing Santa’s jingle bells ringing in our chimney when I was little. We would hear the bells and then scream and run off to bed quickly before Santa came down the chimney and saw us!
I found out years later that my dad had attached some bells to a long piece of fishing wire and was able to stand in the living room and pull the wire and make the bells ring!
I found this out because one Christmas when I was much older, the bells fell down the chimney and fortunately, my little brother never saw and dint catch on!
One of my most vivid childhood memories of Christmas is laying on the living room floor listening to Raffi’s Christmas album on the record player over and over again. I loved that album so much, now as an adult and a mother myself I purchased the Raffi Christmas CD for my daughter (and me!) And now we enjoy listening to it together which brings back floods of memories from my childhood :) Love it!!
We would put out cookies and milk for Santa with our letter also saying that we left treats for his hard working reindeer. In the morning everything would be partly eaten with a note from the big guy himself telling a story about how much the reindeer liked our carrots too! I think the best part was the memory of how exciting it was that he had actually been there and eaten our cookies and read our letter….which used to take us forever to all write (4 little kids coming up with what was essential to tell Santa).
We would put out cookies and milk for Santa with our letter also saying that we left treats for his hard working reindeer. In the morning everything would be partly eaten with a note from the big guy himself telling a story about how much the reindeer liked our carrots too! I think the best part was the memory of how exciting it was that he had actually been there and eaten our cookies and read our letter….which used to take us forever to all write (4 little kids coming up with what was essential to tell Santa).
Living in Toronto as a child in the 1970s, Christmas was all about attending the One of a Kind craft show with my mom and tickets to the Nutcracker ballet at the O’Keefe Centre. There was always tons of snow and the city seemed to be in slow motion with gently falling flakes and and twinkling lights everywhere. It fely very magical and urban at the same time.
Grew up in Kelowna so always had white Christmas’s, one year we woke up on Christmas morning and looked up on the roof and found sleigh marks, reindeer hooves and big boot marks in the snow leading to the chimely! To this day my dad will not admitt he did it, always replies with ‘It must have been Santa’.
Grew up in Kelowna so always had white Christmas’s, one year we woke up on Christmas morning and looked up on the roof and found sleigh marks, reindeer hooves and big boot marks in the snow leading to the chimely! To this day my dad will not admitt he did it, always replies with ‘It must have been Santa’.
My Grandpa gave me one of my earliest Christmas memories. He was Polish captured first by the Germans to fight in the German army in WWII (he was against the war) and then while in the Army he was captured by the Americans spending the last year of the war in a POW camp in Tennessee. He was so enamored by the ‘American’ way of Christmas one year in the camp that he made sure upon immigration to Canada that he learn all about what it was like to be ‘Canadian’ at Christmas. Therefore growing up was amazing! A German Christmas Eve followed by a ‘Canadian’ Christmas Day. I was so blessed to be raised in both Traditions and remember to this day how my Grandpa dressed up as Santa and ‘accidently’ woke us up to make sure that we saw Santa put presents under the Christmas Tree for Christmas Day. My sister and I talk about how lucky we were to be raised by such loving Grandparents and we miss them dearly. Now that my sister is pregnant I can’t wait to pass on all of these wonderful traditions and tell my future niece or nephew how amazing their great-grandparents were.
christmas was the best before my siblings started moving away. someone would be nice enough to wake up with me to go open stockings or a gift, and then once everyone was up, we’d have a huge breakfast and then just laze around until other relatives would show up for dinner, which was invariably at our house. then we’d have to put on our manners. always fun though. :)
When I was a little my moms ex husband Herman would invite us to his house. My mom and him remained good friends and he was always kind to us. He loved animals and children. He would have us over and let us open up all his presents for him. He loved children so much that it gave him more joy to watch the children opening the presents than the gift itself. I now understand why I get that kind of pleasure from seeing my own children happily opening their gifts.
Going to my dad’s work Family Christmas Party! It was always held at the local movie theatre where we would get to watch a movie and then Santa would arrive with his big bag of presents. Each of us got to pick a present, it was so much fun!
As a family of avid downhill skiers living in the East Kootenays, Christmas always meant lots & lots of snow & lots of skiing. One year there wasn’t any & the local mountains weren’t opened. The day school let out, we came home to find a Winnebago motor home parked outside our house & our parents loading suitcases into it. They had decided the night before that we may as well drive south to DisneyLand for the holidays! SO fun!
This is a naughty but honest memory. I used to sneak into my parents closet where they hide all of our gifts to bring out only at Christmas, and peak under the wrapping. Beyond that, I used to formulate strategies about which one to convince my sister to swap with me all even before Christmas. Oh, that feels good to get that out of my chest :)
I have a few memories from Christmas that stand out, but one that my brother bugs me about quite often is the first one that comes to mind with your challenge.
I was around 11 or 12 years old, and didn’t have a lot of money, but it was the first year that I was buying my own Christmas presents for my family and was very excited to be doing so.
I was telling my brother what I got for each of my parents, and then proceeded to tell him…“and I got you the hockey bullseye thing you wanted for your hockey net!” It wasn’t until I’d finished saying it, and saw his face that I realized I had just given it away! I was so disappointed in myself, but he was so excited, that I didn’t return it. Almost every year now (and it’s been about 30 years since then), we tease each other with “and I got you…”
Hands down, it was the Christmas of 1986. My cousins came to stay with us from Montreal. My sister (who didn’t live with us) came and stayed over too. My aunt made us matching Christmas nighties (I still have mine) and we all came down the stairs in our matching outfits to rounds of applause from the family. I remember Christmas morning – because there were so many presents. It was amazing. Having 4 kids in the house (instead of just me) was so magical. We couldn’t even get into the living room – there were so many gifts under the tree! It was the best Christmas ever. I don’t even remember what we got, but having a house full of kids was the best thing EVER.
As Danes, we celebrate x-mas on the 24th, so waking up to find Santa had been at your house while you slept, was not part of our holiday. However, with our little family of five, we had our own traditions. Every year, while we ate our dinner of roasted duck, there would suddenly be a noise on our front steps. The three kids would run to the door, and there would be a red sack of gifts from the Julemand (Santa). Once I was older, I was let in on how a neighbour would drop off the gifts.
Now, with many Canadian nieces and nephews, we usually get a visit in person from Santa. However, now that my husband and I have the youngest child (and all the others don’t believe in Santa), I have asked my mom if we can just do the bag at the door trick this year. I remember the wonderful mystery of it all, and want to pass on the tradition. Santa may appear again, but for now, he’ll be in too much of a hurry.
Every Christmas Eve, our friends would gather at “390” which was our home’s address in Winterpeg.
We would FINALLY get to eat the baked goods and finger sandwiches and sing carols and have a grand old time …
As we grew up over the years, this occasion continued to grow until the point where my sister and I would have our friends over as well and we would party in the basement while my parents had their friends over upstairs. One year, our guests didn’t leave until 4AM and the tradition that started for us as kids had transformed into something we continued as young adults.
Thanks for bringing back these amazing memories for me :-)
One of my most vivid childhood memories is decorating the tree every year. And every year my Dad would get SUPER grumpy because the tree lights were all tangled up despite his best efforts to put them away tidily. It became a family joke. And the angel we put on top of the tree every year stands out in particular – it’s become a slightly tatty, beloved family heirloom!
One holiday season when I was about 8 years old. I was shopping with my Mom and I saw this beautiful red dress with a rose on it and white lace trim. I wanted it so badly and showed my Mom and begged her for it. Just when I thought she was going to give in, she told me we couldn’t get the dress because it had a big rip in it. I was so disappointed. When Christmas rolled around and I was opening presents with my brother and my Mom as per our usual routine, I found that she had bought the dress for me afterall and wanted to surprise me with it :) I love that my Mom went to all the trouble of sneaking around just so I could be surprised!
Since my parents basically came to Canada straight from China in the 1960’s, they didn’t really understand the concept of Christmas but kind of just went through the motions when we were kids…putting up Christmas lights around the house, putting up a VERY fake looking Christmas tree each year, and even wrapping up boxes of chocolates to put underneath the tree as an illusion of gifts for the obligatory yearly family photo.
I learned about Santa Claus from school!
Well, my first Christmas living on my own, I was living in Shared Accommodations with a wonderful woman and her two 20-something kids over Christmas. I still remember how exciting it was to come home on Christmas Eve to find surprise gifts on my bed with a tag that said “From: Santa” :)
Not only that, but my boyfriend at the time (who is now my husband :) had very strong Christmas traditions with his family and Christmas had always been magical for them growing up. He at first didn’t think that I should come over for Christmas because “Christmas is family time”
Well, his mom decided that no one should spend Christmas alone and extended the invitation to join their family on Christmas Day.
I can honestly say that I fully experienced the MAGIC that is Christmas for the first time that year, when I was 20 years old!!!
All the gifts under the Christmas tree, the decorations, the music, the traditions, the FOOD, everything! The best part was that afterwards, my b/f told me that he couldn’t ever imagine spending another Christmas without me……and he never has! :)
My most vivid memory actually grows every year. From the time when my little brother and I were very, very small ourselves I’ve always had to wake him up on Christmas morning. I still as an adult have trouble sleeping past 5am on Christmas morning. As children I would wake him up when I got up, but as we became teenagers, then 20-somethings, and now 30-somethings, I’ve let him sleep in a bit more. It crept up to 6am as early teens, then 7am as late teens, and now it is somewhere between 8-9am, depending on how impatient I feel. I’ve been known to get our family dog involved in waking him up, and even our nieces one year. I think he stays in bed just so that I’ll wake him up – it’s too much of a tradition now.
Seeing Santa’s footprints in the snow!
I remember hearing bells in the middle of the night and knowing it must be santa. I’d pretend to sleep and the next thing I knew it was Christmas morning. Fast forward 30 years I now have those special bells that my dad rang – he’s been gone now for 7 years but each time I hear them I think of him. Now that I have my own family I will carry on the tradition.
My favourite Christmas memory was the year I got my ghetto blaster. I was about 8 years old. All of the presents had been unwrapped and I totally though we were done, but my dad reached behind the couch and pulled out one last box. It was a black Sony ghetto blaster. It had pink and grey detailing and that thing has given me so much music listening pleasure. Every night in my early teens I would fall asleep to one side of a tape – Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Nirvana or the like. It really was the one gift that fostered my musical obsession.
The beast still lives – in my dad’s green house, set permanently on CBC Radio Two.
Christmas at our house growing up was always a noisy and boisterous affair. The year my sister took all of the gift tags off of the gifts was no exception! I remember my parents waking up and not knowing what to do, as they had no idea who’s presents belonged to whom! That year was a free for all. If you opened it, it was yours and you could trade gifts after opening all of the presents! Great time, just became tricky when people called to wish you Merry Christmas and ask how you liked their gift!!
One year, when I was about 8 or nine, Santa came early to our house. My brother and I arrived home from the last day of school to find that the presents were already there. The best present was that we were going to Hawaii for Christmas! The whole family packed off for a tropical vacation, only to find that we missed the cold and our family more than we needed the vacation. Although the trip was memorable, it was such a lasting lesson to me that Christmas is SO much more than just the gifts under the tree. Now, I am always thankful for the family and friends that I get to spend time with, the amazing food that is lovingly prepared, and the fantastic memories that we are creating…
One Christmas we drove down to Florida (from Ottawa, i’m originally from out East) to stay at my Grandmother’s winter home. My mom had recently remarried and our step-dad liked to travel. Prior to that we hadn’t been on too many long trips. It was a looooooong drive but we stopped often along the way. One of the first stops that stuck out for me was in North & South Carolina we stopped and stuck our feet in the ocean. There had been a lot of build up to that moment as we hadn’t swam done the ocean before (mostly swam in lakes/rivers in Ontario). From then on i knew that Christmas was going to be different. First, there wasn’t any snow in Florida (which felt weird as Ottawa gets A LOT OF SNOW in the winter). Second, not only was there no snow, it was HOT. Third, we got to go to Disney World AND we got presents on Christmas morning! What kid wouldn’t love a Christmas like that? Let’s just say it’s definitely one my brother and I remember :)
When I was four or five, my family (all 5 kids) and my mom’s little brother’s family (3 kids) took the train from Vancouver to Merritt where their older brother lived with his family (3 kids). It was so nice to have a white Christmas, and even better because of all the aunts, uncles and cousins that were there. It was a giant slumber party that seemed to go on forever (it was probably only 2 or 3 nights!) I especially remember sitting at the kids’ table for Christmas dinner and thinking we were so lucky to be having our very own dinner party.
My favourite Christmas childhood memory is of when my mother (she did all the work!) hosted my father’s large family for the ‘reveillon’ (the post midnight mass party). I still see the long tables (no idea where she got those from) filled with tourtieres, cheeses, ham, turkey and tons of glistening little tarts of all sorts. I remember me not much higher than the top of the table, just staring at it all before being “shooshed” away. It all looked so glittery and beautiful. The beginning of my love affair with shiny objects I guess – LOL
It was 58 years ago (and the memory is probably bolstered by photographs), but Santa brought a Pinocchio doll, as tall as I was, with elastics on the bottom of his feet. His feet would fit over mine and I would dance!
My most vivid memory is having my hair put up in rags every Christmas eve. I would sit at my mom’s feet for over an hour and the she would wrap my hair in large pieces of flannel to make ringlets for Christmas day.
My favourite part of Christmas was when my dad would put up our rainbow coloured Christmas lights. Him and all the other dad’s on the street would spend the day helping each other and making sure we all had our lights up at the same time. The kids would all be outside getting in the way because we were so excited to see the end result. That first night that the lights would be up was so awesome because I had white knitted curtains in my room so the rainbow colours would shine through and light up my whole room. It always meant that it was the start of the Christmas season.
There are so many great memories, but one of the funniest ones was when we were in Vernon for Christmas – I must have 11 or so, and my sister 8 – my cousins would have been 6 and 4. Of course, it was hard to fall asleep with all of the excitement. So my Uncle had gone outside with some jingle bells – hoping that my cousins would get to sleep quickly. It would have worked – but my sister, kept screaming from the bedroom – why’s Uncle Rod doing outside ringing those bells, I am trying to go to sleep! Needless to say, it turned into laughing all around. I still think its funny when I think of it!
Most memorable Christmas was when I was about 9 years old. We were at my grandparents house in Victoria with cousins, aunts, uncles, great-aunts and uncles, friends and three of my great-grandparents. It was a full house with lots of warm loving chatter. My granddad was playing Bing Crosby & Nana Mouskouri Christmas music on the 8 track player in the living room. I was playing with my three new Barbie dolls by the fireplace and thinking – the is the best Christmas EVER! Little did I know…it really was.
On our way home from Christmas Eve church services we would have to listen to the radio very carefully for the reports from NORAD of an unidentified flying object in the sky over the north pole. We were always so quiet to hear and then went straight to bed when we got home so Santa could come.
I remember one year when I was part of a church youth group, caroling on Christmas Eve door to door to our church members, being greeted with treats and drinks at each house. Then on Christmas day we all met up and went to a Seniors Home and sang with them. The seniors were all so happy and lots of them said it was amazing to have so many visitors see them on Christmas Day.
Now thinking back it touches my heart that a lot of people forget to give back to the community during the holidays.
My most vivid holiday childhood memory was a when i was pretty young probably about 4 or 5, it was really snowy and we were making snowmen out on the patio. I was starting to feel sick and so I was in the bathroom thinking I needed to throw up. My parents really wanted a picture outside with my siblings so they quickly dressed me in my snowsuit and took me outside. Soon after I ran to the bathroom and threw up. I spent the rest of the day on the couch with a bucket. Every time I look at that picture I laugh at how I can remember that.
Brilliant….this has actually turned into a long-standing family joke!
We used to have one of those wood-burning stove fireplace things in the living room when we lived in White Rock. I was either 3 or 4 (we moved a lot so I always know roughly how old I was based on where we lived) and was SO excited to see Santa. So I snuck out of bed late at night to see if he’d drank his milk and eaten his cookies and if he’s passed on the carrot and celery sticks to Rudolph and the boys…. he hadn’t been yet so I got a straw for his milk and put it on the stove thinking he might like some warm milk as it was cold out. Mom and Dad still laugh to this day because they were woken up with a bang when the glass cracked and “exploded” (rather strong word for bursting due to heat!) but me and my sister thought that Santa had crashed into our house!! In the morning Mom was still trying to get the melted straw off of the stove. I remember it being a white straw with yellow stripes…. everybody else says I couldn’t remember at such a young age and Dad even mentioned it in his speach at my wedding. Funny, funny Christmas and we laugh about it every year! I still maintain….it was a white straw with yellow stripes!
When my brother and I were quite young, our dad got very sick. He had been in the hospital for many months and had been so ill, and had such a major surgical procedure that we had not been allowed to visit him for a very long time. The two of us and our mother were staying with my grandparents much of the time as Mom had to go to work and Grammy could take care of us. It seemed like Christmas was going to come and go that year without us getting to see Dad and we were, of course, incredibly sad about that. On Christmas Day Grandad left the house just before dinner and came back with our dad! They let him out of the hospital for a couple of hours. He is a tall man and was down to around 100 pounds, he was not allowed to eat or really do anything except sit in Grandad’s recliner (nobody but Grandad ever sat in that chair!) but nobody had ever looked better than Dad did to my brother and I that day. It was many more months till we had Dad home with us again. That was about 35 years ago and, to this day, despite the fact that he seems to be able to beat all the odds, we never take being able to spend Christmas with our father for granted.
Waking up at the crack of dawn and running into my parents room telling them “Santa has arrived”
I was 7 or 8 and all I wanted was a new bed. I left an extra large glass of cold beer and half a fruit cake out for Father Christmas. (trying to bribe Santa, I think).
Waking up on Christmas mornIng in a brand new brass four poster bed. Not only had Father Christmas delivered on my one wish that year, but he assembled said bed in my bedroom, removed old bed and put me into new bed, all without waking me up!
My most vivid childhood memory of Christmas is of driving home from Christmas Eve dinner at my great aunt and uncle’s. They live in North Van, and we lived in UBC at the time – it was really really snowy, and my memory is watching the snow fall out the window, all over everywhere, and we were listening to the radio do the NORAD Santa tracker where it says what country he’s currently over. Pretty magical! I still have to listen to the Santa tracker on Christmas Eve…and I’m 27 now, ha.
Going to my older sister’s house was so fun. She had 4 kids and I was really still a kid myself. I was born long after my other siblings so was like an only child. Having all these other kids around on Xmas morning was soooo fun.
I will never forget the time I saw Santa in my living room. I think I was about 8 and had always been an early riser on Christmas morning. As usual I woke up at the crack of dawn so I tip toes out to the living room to see if Santa had delivered our presents yet. I peaked around the corner and in the dim light of the pre-dawn, I saw Santa! He was sitting on my Dads footstool and he was leaning over a stocking filling it up. He had his back to me so I ran back to my room as fast as I could so as not to be seen. My parents had warned me that if I got out of bed and Santa saw me I wouldn’t get my presents. I was so terrified that he would leave with my gifts! I somehow managed to fall asleep again and when my brother came to wake me up I was very disheartened and convinced there would be nothing under the tree for me. When we got out to the livingroom the sun was up and the room was bright, and there was my much hoped for Barbie motorhome leaned up against my Dads footstool. I was so relieved that I hadn’t walked in on Santa afterall!
The Christmas I was eight my dad was the Santa Claus at our community Christmas concert. I didn’t know in advance and had been so disgusted that he was staying home because he “wasn’t feeling well”. I remember him coming into the Hall and all the kids going wild and crowding up to the front. It took me about 3 minutes to realize I recognized that voice. I may be just a tad biased but he was the best Santa ever. I still remember him leafing through his pockets looking for his Christmas list and reading his grocery list instead (lots of carrots for the reindeer), and then finding a letter to Santa purported to come from one of the adults we all knew. He told me later that when he left he had to run through the Park for quite a while calling for his reindeer because a number of the older boys had followed him out.
We lived on the island growing up so we didn’t get as many big shows as Vancouver so when the Nutcracker came to town my mom got me tickets. I remember t=going to the Dutch restaurant for lunch Grilled Cheese and Chocolate milk. Then heading down to see the afternoon performance. I was so excited but as soon as it started I got so scared of the mice I think I asked to go to the bathroom and missed half the show.
It was Christmas Eve and I was sleeping in the room next to my younger brother. I was 21 at the time and he was 15. It was pretty late but I was up reading and enjoying my book. I thought I heard something and called out to my brother, in case he needed something. He didn’t respond. I quickly realized he was singing in his sleep. I couldn’t stop laughing once I realized he was singing Starship’s ‘We Built this City’. (It was playing on the radio on our drive to friends for dinner.) I will never let him forget his Christmas Eve serenade.
Every Christmas Eve we would stare out the big back windows looking for “Rudolph”. One year we saw him (or a plane) and we started to get so excited. Moments later my dad said (from the front of the house) “Oh my, looks like Santa is out early this year”. We ran to the front to see Santa (or our neighbour’s HIRED “Santa” joining their party)entering our neighborurs house. My brothers and I FREAKED out -I even started crying. How could this happen? We had to be asleep when Santa came. We bolted upstairs faster than ever before and got into bed. I was crying. Mom and dad had to calm me down and told me “Santa will wait to come to our house, he knows you are in bed. It’s ok”.
Santa did come and he even left me a life sized Poppa Smurf!!!!
On Christmas morning at my house, no one was allowed to get up before 7:00. My sisters and I would all wake up early and be too excited to go back to sleep, so every year we’d all gather in my youngest sister’s bedroom and watch as the numbers on her clock radio sloooooowly turned over. 6:59 she’d have her hand on the doorknob. The second it rolled over to 7:00, we’d bolt down to the living room and get started on our stockings. I can’t remember most of my childhood Christmas presents now, but I still remember conversations I had sitting around with my sisters those mornings, wondering if Santa had come and what he had brought us.
I was 3 and saw the doll house my sister really wanted in my parents closet. Then, on Christmas morning Santa got her the SAME dollhouse! I was so stressed and kept waiting for her to open the dollhouse from my parents but she never did. When I asked my mom about it she told me that, " Santa told her that he was getting the dollhouse for Jess and she returned her’s to the store." And at the time that made total sense!
I was about 8 or 9, and my parents and brother and I were all sick with the flu. My bro and I didn’t even get out of bed for presents! My mom had the turkey and fixIngs, but none of us could even think about eating that…so my grandma made us KD for Christmas Dinner!!! She even served us in bed!
While it sounds like it would be a sad memory, it fills my heart when I think about that Christmas.
My most vivid childhood memory is when we had a fire going in the fireplace and a bird flew down the chimney! My mom freaked out and they tried to get the bird out. I still think its funny!