Merry Christmas from Us

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For Christmas this year, we each wanted to share a little about our favorite Christmas memories.

From the top:

H-J:
Growing up, every year our congregation held a Christmas party at the church, and it usually involved a nice meal, some Christmas Carols, a nativity presentation, and some socializing. One year, instead of the usual party, the ward decided to provide a Christmas tree, gifts, and food to several needy families in the area. As a teenager, I was not excited about it. I much preferred sitting around eating and listening to carols.

Our family was assigned to deliver gifts to a young Hispanic family a few miles from our house. I pouted and grumbled to myself the entire way. After arriving, we brought the gifts, etc into their small apartment. We were accompanied by another family from church whose father could speak Spanish. He translated for us as we made our delivery. After setting up the tree and passing out gifts and food, we all sang some carols together, we in English and the recipient family in Spanish. I’ll never forget the happiness I saw on the faces of that family.

During the time in their apartment, my teen selfishness sort of melted away, and by the end of it I felt like there was no place else I’d rather be.

As I look back on those years now, I don’t remember much about the various Christmas parties at the church with Santa and nice meals. But I remember very vividly the feeling I had while discovering that there are people with much less than me, and that it truly is better to give than to receive.

Chickadeedee:
One of my most magical Christmas memories is my sighting of Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. In my family, Rudolph was just as much a part of the Christmas night magic as Santa. If we received batteries to go along with a toy, they were always from Rudolph. One year when I was about six, I awoke to the sound of distant bells in the dark of night before Christmas dawn. I sat up in bed and parted the curtains of the window above me. Traveling steadily through the sky was a red light. I watched until it was out of view, and then I nestled back down under my blankets, full of wonder.

Another special Christmas memory involves a family tradition of preparing plates full of goodies and leaving them on doorsteps of friends and family. We liked to ring the doorbell and run so they would not know who gave the gift. One night, we stopped at my grandparents’ home. I remember telling my youngest sister, Wendy, that she should make the delivery because she was the quickest. For added measure, she had a Santa hat on for disguise. After setting down the plate and ringing the doorbell, Wendy came running down the street. As she came through the open door of our family van, she squealed for us to hurry and leave: they had opened the door soon after she rang, and she thought they had seen her. Later, we were thrilled to hear Grandma report that Grandpa had seen some boy running away after leaving a plate of goodies at their door.

Lucy:
Lucy's favorite Christmas memories are her involvement in every single facet of decorating the tree, and two years ago when she received a mother dog complete with pregnant belly and puppies (a stuffed dog- her parents aren't braving a real one yet)

EJ:
When asked his favorite memory, he responded "Away in a Manger". So we sang it together.

Hal:
His memory of last Christmas (only one so far) is foggy. So, we'll fill in for him on this one. One favorite memory is his indignation (both this year and last year) at having the tree on a table out of his reach. Our other favorite is from last year. He nabbed a chocolate bon-bon and bit it while still wrapped, puncturing the wrapper with his teeth. He then proceeded to suck out the contents of the bon-bon through the wrapper over the next several minutes.

Merry Christmas--Feel free to share your favorite memories with us!