Last Saturday, B and I met up with our son and dil to do one of our holiday traditions which is to get Christmas trees together. We met up at a nearby tree farm and had a fun time picking out our trees and wreaths. After we got ours home and up and decorated, we enjoyed some hot chocolate and then did another of our traditions which was to share a Christmas memory. I thought you might enjoy hearing a few.
My memory is one that happened when I was a little girl (we don't discuss age here). My parents, sister and I were having dinner one night about a week before Christmas. My dad said he had been talking to Santa and that Santa asked him a favor. It seems that Santa gets so many milk and cookies on Christmas Eve that sometimes he would like something different. Dad said Santa would like a salami sandwich and a hot cup of coffee instead of milk and cookies from us. So for a number of years after that, we always put out a salami sandwich and a hot cup of coffee for Santa on Christmas Eve.
B's memory was about how his whole family got together to make homemade sausage for the holiday. It was a large project with different kinds of meat and spices that had to be cooked. They then had to use a hand cranked sausage stuffer to get the meat into the casings. A number of times the crank slipped and sausage grease ended up on the kitchen walls and floor. But he said it was always the highlight of their holiday dinners.
My son said his memory was about the year he asked for his own little Christmas tree for his bedroom. So when we went to the tree farm we found a very small tree. He said he loved decorating it with his own homemade ornaments and that he put a present for the Baby Jesus under it.
My dil spoke about the first time she went to the Christmas service in her church when she was a little girl. The choir sang so beautifully, she thought it was a chorus of angels in the choir loft.
What a wonderful way to spend a Saturday night in December.
Christmas memories are so very precious. I noticed nothing at all was said about gifts received, but rather those special times spent as family.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
This is something we have always tried to teach our children. As long as you have Faith, Family and Love; you have everything.
DeleteWhat wonderful memories! My adult children and I always reminisce at Christmas dinner about their memories from when they were young. My mother's birthday was Christmas Day and there so many memories that we talk about each year.
ReplyDeleteMy children who are all adults now look forward to memory sharing. Sometimes they remember a memory that I have forgotten. It's like discovering that joy all over again.
DeleteWhen so much of life these days is about the self and the present or impatience to get to the future, I think your Christmas tradition is truly beautiful. It keeps memories alive and in a good way. We do that a lot as a family too. I know the day is coming when my kids will soon leave home to start new lives as yours have, Ellen. With memories, they leave with their hands and hearts full.
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