Your most cherished holiday memories...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Well, what the title says I guess. What are the memories you most remember/hold dear about the holidays?

[blas]

Putting the bows from the presents on Bear the dog.

She just sits there and takes it. After a while, she ends up being the Christmas dog. The cats, however, refuse to subdue to such treatment.

[MaggieTheCat]

The tin foil Christmas star and the Charlie Brown Tree.

When my parents were young and first married, they didn't have a lot of money so they made a lot of the ornaments and decorations for Christmas themselves. Among other things, they made a star to top the Christmas tree, out of a piece of plywood they cut out in the shape of a star, and covered with tin foil. Then glued a piece of PVC piping on the back of it so it would rest on top of the tree.

They also live on 80 acres of forest just outside of town, about a mile off the highway out in the woods. So instead of buying a tree from a tree farm, they'd just walk out in the woods and pick one out. Often times these trees would have branches missing or bent or broken and sometimes would be kind of scraggly.

Years later, when I was a teenager, they had more money to spend so my mom got a couple of different things to top the tree with, like an electric lighted star and an angel whose wings moved. They also bought a "perfect tree" from a tree farm. After it was all decorated, my brothers and I declared that it was too perfect. They weren't allowed to buy a tree again, or use the fancy tree toppers. It had to be a Charlie Brown tree from our property, and the tin foil star! I always told my mom that I wanted to inherit the star someday.

[Sarlon]

somewhat sad memory...but my most memorable christmas was the last one I ever spent with my grandmother.

Mom and I went up, and spent christmas with her...we mainly hung out in her bed room since she was more or less bed ridden, and I LOVED sitting in the room with my beading work and listening to my mom, my great aunt (grandma's sister), and my grandmother all talking about her life.

Grandma grew up a German menanite...and so did her 2 o0ther sisters.

[AdminAssistant]

Our tree angel. My parents bought it back in 1976, for about $1.50 (we still have the box). It lights up...and still lights up, even though none of the lights have ever been replaced!

[Ratha]

The year we almost didn't have a Christmas. Dad was on disability and Mom was out of work, and we couldn't even afford a tree, or anything to eat for Christmas dinner.

But then on Christmas Eve, we got some unexpected magic. Someone knocked on our door, and when Mom answered, we found a gorgeous tree on the front walkway, so we brought it in and decorated. Half an hour later, there was a second knock on the door, and we found someone had left us some food. A great big turkey and all the makings for a big dinner.

My brother and I didn't find out about the third knock that night until Christmas morning, when we came into the living room and found tons of toys under the tree for us.

We never did find out who did it, but I'll never forget that Christmas.

[fireheart]

Three traditions I hold dear, even though one of them has long since stopped. (although may start again soon...)

1) My grandmother. Every Christmas time, she'd make me, my sister and my female cousins, nighties or dresses. This stopped for each of us once we hit puberty. (eldest cousin, youngest cousins (twins), then me and my sister)

2) Putting up the trees shortly after the Credit Union Christmas Pageant in my state in Australia. (See #3) When we were little, mum used to help my sis and I decorate the little tree which held all of the ornaments and such that we'd make at school or personalized ornaments from various floats.

3) The Christmas Pageant. This is an absolute classic in my state and I love watching it.

Basically, it's sponsored by the Credit Unions in my state. There are various floats, bands, mini-floats and walkers. The floats have four main themes from memory:

-Toys/Gifts. (A classic float is the Nipper and Nimble floats, which are two rocking horses. A daughter of the credit union staff gets selected and gets the chance of riding on the float. Said girl is about 3-7)
-"Themed" Christmases. (i.e. an Aussie Christmas, a multicultural Christmas etc. through to musical-themed ones)
-age group themed. (A favourite of mine was a teenage themed float, which had hip-hop dancers and kids skateboarding)
-fairy tales or other stories.

The mini floats consist of people in ridiculous costumes and/or certain dance groups.

The bands are self explanatory, but usually involve the defence force bands, the Salvos and some community bands. (there's also a float involving a Jazzy Christmas that has a small band going on there, the drummer(?) is the host of one of the TV shows)

[RayvenQ]

Going to Blackpool every year to watch the Illuminations. Not really a holiday but close enough to christmas to count.

[draggar]

I love Legos and have my entire life. Birthday, Christmas, Easter, I always got a Lego set.

I *always* had to have the set built ASAP - even today (I stop opening presents just to put the set together (now I just make sure I open that one last so I don't annoy others).

But one of my two favorite memories was after the presents were done and my mom was cooking, my dad and I would build one of the sets I got.

The other favorite memor (was actually pre-Christmas). I was older (post-Santa) and my mom took us al into the living rom (we knew it was important since this was NEVER done) and my mom said that she didn't like the fact that she spent every Christmas in the kitchen cooking and preparing dinner (completely understandable) so she asked us a simple question:

Would we mind if we got Chinese food cor Christmas?

We thought she was joking at first but when she said she was serious, it was unanimous.

From then on, we have our "Old Irish traditional Christmas feast" - Chinese food.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Guess I might as well share mine. It's getting close to 20 years to the date it happened--*checks an online perpetual calendar* December 22, 1989. Yeah, that's it.

It was testicle-shatteringly cold that day, apparently across much of the U.S. School wasn't closed, but my parents tried to talk me out of going. It was really cold, I wouldn't be missing much in the way of classwork since the last school day before Christmas is generally a goof-off day anyway, why not extend your vacation a day? Normally I would've taken that, but I really wanted to go to school that day.

Why, you ask? Because that afternoon the third grade classes would be putting on their Christmas concert. One of my classmates and I were going to tell a Christmas story of some kind, and along the way the class would come in with the songs we had been rehearsing. I had done a lot of work to get my part memorized and didn't want to miss the concert.

So my parents dropped me off at school that morning, but made no promises about attending the concert that afternoon.

That afternoon, we had our concert. Everything went perfectly. I didn't miss any of my lines.

And my parents came out to the concert after all.

That's the Christmas I always seem to remember.

Also, that might have been the first year my parents started taking me and my sister to the city's Christmas parade, which was and still is the day before Thanksgiving. Some of the people in the parade threw candy to the kids along the parade route. I thought that was just the coolest thing. The Christmas parade also became a tradition of ours, until I got older and was in the parade as a member of my schools' marching band.

Lastly, something we always used to do when us kids were little was go out for a drive around town to look at Christmas lights before we opened our presents Christmas Eve. There's a neighborhood in town called Christmas Tree Lane, where all the residents put up more elaborate displays of lights. At one of the houses was an animated display of Santa, Elves, popular Christmas characters, constructed by the people living there. That was always the highlight. Sadly, the guy who used to do that has since passed on.

[Jester]

Eating six helpings of stuffing (my favorite holiday meal dish) in one sitting, prompting my stepbrother, who is such a big eater his family nickname is "Hoover," to stare in awe.

Going to the movies on Christmas day with Lil Sis. That was a bit of a tradition for us for a few years in our twenties. Now she lives in England and I live in Florida, and I usually work on Christmas Day. As I will again this year.

Conning my siblings into doing the dishes. Every year, The Witch would take over the kitchen from Mom, and just start doing things. And of course, me being smart, I would volunteer for any pre-meal task she wanted done. "Who wants to set the table?" "Who wants to make the salad?" "Who wants to help me spray paint the turkey in neon colors?" And I would quietly take on those tasks, knowing what would happen later. And later, after everyone had eaten, after everyone was stuffed, and after everyone (except Mom) was full of much booze, The Witch would look around the table and say, "Okay, who's doing the dishes....lesse, Jester did this, this, this and this....Lil Sis and Stepbrother, get on it!"

I never did wash a holiday dish. And my little sister and stepbrother never did think ahead on those days.

[Jester]

I forgot to mention earlier....

It was testicle-shatteringly cold that day...

THIS is my new favorite phrase! "Testicle-shatteringly cold." I bow to YOU, Irv!

[BookstoreEscapee]

The year my brother woke me up at about 5 in the morning by taking a stuffed animal that I had left in his room and throwing it as hard as he could at my head (I think I was 7, he would have been 9).

I don't know if it was the same year, but we were up at like 5 am, and opened our stockings. My parents didn't get up until 7:30, and we weren't allowed to wake them up before then or open any other presents. But we didn't want to go back to bed...so my parents got up to find us curled up under the couch cushions, sound asleep...

[Racket_Man]

Mine would be when all of my immediate family was able to get together for Xmas. up until I was 10 or so my brother and 2 sisters (all who are sbustancially older than I) would still come back home for the holidays. but after a while it got to be a pain for them esp if the weather got nasty.

It has been 40 years since the whole family gathered together at the same time for Christmas. and it will never happen again as my Father died 15 years ago and my Mom is in a nursing home now.

[Jester]

It has been quite some time since the whole family gathered, such as it is, and to be honest, the WHOLE family has NEVER gathered. The last "whole" gathering of me, my two sisters, my stepbrother, and our parents was....many years ago. That was not including my stepsister who, at the time, I really didn't know all that well. (Now we are rather close, she and I.)

Don't know if/when it will happen again. We are rather scattered:
Me: Key West, Florida.
Mom and Stepdad: NW Phoenix area.
Stepsister, husband, and son: SE Phoenix area.
Lil Sis, husband, and her stepchildren/his children: Wiltshire, England.
Stepbrother, wife, and children: New Jersey.
The Witch: Denver, Colorado.

The last time a significant number of us (everyone above, minus most of the children and my stepsister's family, plus my then-fiance and The Witch's then-husband, plus others) were gathered was Lil Sis's wedding in February of '03.

Though honestly, for the next gathering, if one happens, I could do without The Witch. (She is not a pleasant person.)