Now that I have kids, I'm always thinking about their memories. Like, I wonder when they'll start remembering the holidays and what their best memories will be. My guess is that they won't remember every little present, but they will remember time we spent together and weird, random things that you wouldn't expect. Below are some of my favorite Christmas memories and traditions. (BTW, these aren't in any order, they are just the first 10 things I thought of.)
1. We used to always pull out the projector and screen on Christmas Eve and watch all of our old home movies.
2. My Granny would spend the night on Christmas Eve even though she lived in the same town as us. I remember coming into the room and hearing her breathing in her sleep. I thought she sounded like Darth Vader (in a funny way, not a scary way).
3. I remember going to my Meme's house and heading straight for her buffet to see if the little crystal dish had her homemade date-loaf in it. Sounds gross, but tasted GOOD.
4. I remember getting some really cute, corduroy knickers one year that I loved and wore all the time. (Remember knickers?) I think my mom actually made them, and I can picture myself on my Meme's couch wearing those knickers - so happy.
5. I remember that our stockings were always stuffed with a lot of fruit every year! We had other little presents in there too, but the fruit must have been an easy and cheap way to fill that sucker up.
6. Seems like there was always a big jigsaw puzzle laid out on a card table that everybody worked on during the days at home after Christmas.
7. One year my sister and I both had the chicken pox at Christmas. Our brother was the only one who had any fun because he had them a week or two before and was already well. I'm not sure I remember this actual event as much as I remember seeing the pictures (and home movies) of my sister and I in our matching pj's looking really sad.
8. We had an artificial Christmas tree and I remember pulling it out of the box and putting it together every year by matching up the color-coded branches with the trunk. I can picture most of our Christmas decorations and exactly where they were in our house year after year.
9. Food staples: ham, cheesy potatoes, pecan pie, gum-drop cookies, fudge, trash.
10. I remember the unfortunate time that I got busted for peaking into my presents before Christmas Day. Doh! My secret tradition became a painful memory. haha
Share your favorite tradition or Christmas memory. For every person who comments on this blog post, I am going to donate $10 to Central Texas Children's Home.
