I'll Never Forget the Christmas that...
TV ClubHouse: Archive: I'll Never Forget the Christmas that...
Marysafan | Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 12:47 pm     I learned a valuable life lesson from my oldest daughter. It was 1991, she was a senior in high school and I was realizing that soon she would be leaving home. I was bound and determined that before that happened, we were going to have the "perfect" Christmas. I started months before, cleaning the house from top to bottom, making home made decorations, shopping ahead of time so that I would be able to find all the things on their lists...even the hard to find ones. The baking was done, the house was ready, and finally,it was Christmas Eve. All four of us were sitting in the living room, which was rarely used, just home from church, admiring the tree, and just talking. We decided that since our youngest was now 12, there really wasn't much point in waiting for "Santa Claus" anymore. Instead of being woken up early, we could sleep in, if the we all opened our gifts on Christmas Eve instead. So we proceeded and everything went absolutely PERFECT!!! I was feeling rather proud of myself for having finally pulled it off, so I asked the girls, "What was your best Christmas ever?" fully expecting them to say, "THIS ONE!". "Oh, that's easy!" said my oldest daughter..."It was the Christmas we ate spaghetti! "We ate spaghetti for Christmas! exclaimed my youngest one, "I don't remember that at all!" I was stunned...how could THAT Christmas be the best one ever! My daughter began to tell the tale to her sister... "We were living in Wisconsin at the time. I was about 10 and you were in kindergarten. It was Christmas Eve day and we were all at the church, practicing for the service that night. Dad was helping to deliver the food baskets for the needy. When he got back the men were talking about one family and how grateful they were and how they didn't have anything at all. The men were shaking their heads trying to figure out a way that we could do more for them. Dad asked mom if she had any money in her purse. She explained that no...her purse was pretty empty and so was the checking account, but not to worry...payday was the day after Christmas, and we were all set. All we had left to do was stop and pick up the ham...and she had a gift certificate for that from her work. "That's it!! We'll give them our ham!, Dad said. "But...all we have in the freezer is some ground beef...what will we have!?, mom asked. Dad said, "You'll think of something." So off we went to pick up the ham, and deliver to the family in need. Dad told them that it had been accidentally left out of the basket. "And so", my daughter continued looking at me..."You made spaghetti for dinner and because you weren't involved in the kitchen making a big dinner. You sat on the floor with us and played games all afternoon....and it was the best Christmas ever!" So now, I always make a point to find time to sit on the floor or at the table and play games with my girls and my grandchildren, because now I know that's the part that they are going to remember. C'mon, how about sharing your Christmas stories. What Christmas will you never forget? |
Goddessatlaw | Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 01:11 pm     My older sister and I lived in the house dormer, away from the rest of the family but requiring us to go down a lengthy set of stairs and through the living room to get to the bathroom. My parents were thoroughly tired of all of us getting up in the middle of the night to see what Santa brought and ruining their fun of seeing our joy (having something to do with the Christmas Eve they woke hearing bowling sounds coming from the basement, only to find us all down their skating across the floor in our Santa-brought skates), so we were all forbidden to get up before 7:00 a.m. when we'd been sent to bed. Sis and I were too old to believe in Santa, but had a despised younger sister who was (is) the baby brat of the family who still believed. Thus, everyone got Santa gifts until she grew out of it. Anyway, but OF COURSE we had to go to the bathroom in the middle of Christmas Eve night, and but OF COURSE we had a long-standing agreement that if one had to go to the bathroom, we both went (vewwy scawwy old house). So we creep down the stairs careful not to wake mom and dad, who slept just off the living room. While we're looking around the room, one of us kicks this freaking "Baby Go Bye-Bye" toy that they'd gotten for the brat and sets it the hell off. If you don't remember that toy, it's a doll in a car built like a convertible VW Beetle. The car goes in circles - VERY LOUDLY!! So we go into panic mode, Sis chases the thing around the room then picks it up and tries to find out how to shut it off. At the same time, she orders me to go shut my parents bedroom door. I get to the door, and all I can see is Dad's big, formerly brown but suddenly red and beady eyes glowing at me in the dark. I had no shame, I warned not my sister - I simply rounded the corner at top speed and flew up the stairs, Sis later said with my butt cheeks bouncing the whole way. Sis apparently was standing there with this hell-raising Baby Go Bye Bye in her hand when Dad came 'round the corner shortly behind me. I heard Dad downstairs trying not to laugh as he sent my sister up to bed, but man she wasn't happy and I thought for sure he'd come up the stairs after me next. Hell, we're both STILL traumatized! I think we both remember it for the ass-kicking we deserved but DIDN'T get. And by the way, to this day we blame the brat for the whole thing. As it should be. |
Midlifer | Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 01:17 pm     As kind of a mirror image to Marysafan, I remember the 1st Christmas my youngest daughter, as a freshman, came home from college for Christmas break. For years, we had had an artificial tree, and because it was my daughter's FIRST time coming home from college, I decided to get a real tree. She walked in the door,smelled and saw the lit-up tree, and her face was almost as bright as the tree. I'll never forget it, and 3 years later, I'm still buying a real tree. <sniff> |
Carrie92 | Thursday, December 18, 2003 - 08:16 pm     Actually, it's THIS Christmas I probably won't forget. We have a small place, so we have a little 4 ft artificial tree that we've used for about 8 years. We store it in our son's closet in the off-season. He's 6 yrs old by the way. This year, while we were decorating it, my son asked, "Hey! Is this a fake tree?" |
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