Christmas Memories

I love Christmas. I love the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings of the season. They are all so special and elicit so many emotions and memories.

One of my first Christmas memories is also one of the most special to me. I can almost still feel the magic. I remember the excitement and anticipation of waiting for Santa Claus and how magical the entire thing was. I remember that my sister planned on capturing Santa coming down the chimney, she even had the idea of setting up a camera that would be triggered by stepping on something in the fireplace and take a picture. We never had a video camera when I was growing up. At four years old, I thought my older sister's plan was ingenious. She never saw Santa, but I remember the pure magic of waking up during the night and sneaking out of my room to take a peak. Santa had come, my stocking was full and I was SO surprised to see a bike for me and my sister. That Christmas morning was one I will never forget, one when I could've still heard Santa's bells. Mostly I just remember the feelings and that was the best part.

My sister is about 16 months older than me, and when we were little I really looked up to her and wanted to be like her. I'm not sure if this was the same year or the next one, but I can remember her making plans to build an entire snow village outside. We sat around the house and planned it out for days...all down to the smallest detail. I remember when we finally went outside in the anticipated snow to build this magnificent snow village---we only lasted ten minutes before our toes were freezing. I kept begging my sister to let us go back inside and she kept insisting we keep working. Finally after what seemed like forever (but was probably only another 5-10 minutes) we all came in to warm up our frozen toes and drink hot chocolate. It probably took us longer to get dressed in all our snow gear than how long we spent out there. We never built that amazing snow village, but I still remember the dream.

I remember when I was young and it would snow; if it was a nice, gentle snow without a lot of wind, I would stand outside and look up. I would try to catch snowflakes on my tounge. As the snow would swirl around me, one of the most amazing things would happen. I would feel like I was floating up in the snow, as if my feet were no longer on the ground; it felt like I was flying. I loved that...it was magical.

One year I remember driving with my Mom just before Thanksgiving. I don't know what year it was, but I think I must've been 8 or 9. We had been shopping, I don't remember if it was for presents of food, it didn't seem to matter. I was happy to be with my Mom and was enjoying sitting next to her in the front seat. We were headed home and it began to snow...the first snow of the season. I loved watching those white flakes fall against the winshield and thought about how Christmas was approaching. Why that particular time stood out to me is interesting, I think it was the feelings of happiness and being together. Another year, when I was a teenager, I remember being out with my Dad and it started to snow a lot. It was a pretty good storm, so he decided to stop off and get new tires. I can remember being in the mall parking lot and he was talking about the tires. It was just the two of us. I always loved spending time with my Dad. We didn't do anything special, we just got tires, but I felt special and enjoyed being with my Dad. Funny how very, very simple things like that can make such an impact and be what stays with us. I hope my children will remember little things like that.

One year our furnace broke two days before Christmas, without the heat our water pipes froze too. Since it was so close to Christmas, my parents couldn't get anyone to come out until after Christmas was over. We lived on a farm at the time and had a horse, two cows, and several pigs, chickens, ducks/geese, dogs, and several stray cats that I adopted. We had to go to other people's homes and fill milk jugs to bring water back for all our animals. The toilets wouldn't flush either, it was not fun. I remember waking up Christmas morning. Despite having a ton of blankets, I has been cold all night long. I was ten or eleven and I was SO worried about my Grandparents who were staying with us. They are from upper state New York (where it gets VERY cold) and they were the only ones who weren't cold- the secret they told us was to wear layers. I'll never forget that Christmas with no heat.

I always remember loving Christmas lights. When I was young we went to Salt Lake every year and walked around and looked at the lights on temple square. We usually went with my cousins and that made it even more special. It was always cold and icy outside, which added to it all. It is hard to over-state how much I love Christmas lights, so this was always a favorite thing of mine. It didn't seem like Christmas until we went. I always remember the special feelings of the lights and then seeing the huge statue of Christ. Sleeping by the Christmas tree and watching the lights was another little thing I did at Christmas. Christmas music is another of my favorite parts of Christmas, I'm always so disappointed when Christmas is over and they stop playing it...I never get tired of it.

I was always a bit of a sneak when it came to Christmas. In fact, even when I was very little, I always knew just where to look to see my presents. I was so good at it. In fact I was so good at it, and always knew EVERYONE'S gifts, so my Mom would get me to wrap things for her since I knew everything anyway. My Mom got tired out from doing the shopping and I became her gift wrapping slave- a role I have served in almost every year- for my whole life. Good thing I enjoy wrapping.

There was even one year when I was eleven that I knew every single gift under the tree, except the three gifts sent by my Grandma. I decided to enlist my brother, and we told my Mom we were going to have a winter campout- we slept outside for about an hour---just long enough to unwrap the gifts from my Grandma and re-wrap them. No one even noticed that we re-wrapped them in the wrapping paper we used for all our family gifts. We would've gotten away with it, except my brother felt guilty and told my parents on Christmas morning. That is particularly funny if you know my brother and know that he was the one always getting into trouble and that I almost never got into trouble. It still makes me laugh to this day.

After I met David, he taught me that it really is fun to be surprised. He converted me and now I try to make up for lost time, there isn't much that I love more than surprises. I think that is why I love surprising Natalie with things.

This is a video of one of my favorite surprises of all time. Natalie is my Mom's first grandchild. Right after Natalie was born, we didn't think we would be able to spend Christmas with my family. I know my parents were sad, but they understood. Then at the last minute, David was able to get off work and said we could go. We decided to surprise them, this is the video of showing up and surprising my Mom. I know it embarrases her, but I love
it.

I love hearing about David's memories of Christmas as a boy too. I have loved adopting some of those traditions: the gingerbread, the nutcracker, and having a big dinner Christmas Eve instead of Christmas day. When David was growing up, they opened ALL their gifts on Christmas Eve and the only gifts on Christmas morning were from Santa, not wrapped. The tradition comes from his Mom who grew up in Mexico City where the big celebration is on Christmas Eve. As much as I love my childhood Christmas memories, having my own children and watching them enjoy Christmas has been the most special thing. I really enjoyed putting together a few clips of some our last few Christmases.


This was Natalie pulling out some of our Christmas decorations. I love all the special decorations and the story about each one. I remember this, it was even more special because it wasn't too long after she was diagnosed. She had just started walking again after working in physical therapy. I loved how she was interested in each item we opened, I don't think I will ever forget decorating the tree that year.


This is a little compliation from that same year. We made it to my parent's house for Christmas. It was very special. She ended up in the hospital with a gram-negative sepsis just a few days after getting home. She had a great Christmas before getting a stomach bug that the ENTIRE house got.

This is a compilation of some clips from Christmas 2007, she spent a large part of the month in the hospital but got out just in time to drive to my parent's for Christmas (on the 23rd). We had a relapse scare and it was a very difficult month for us, but it made being together for Christmas EVEN more special.


Last year was special because of ending chemo just a few days before Christmas. It was the perfect Christmas present. Since I just blogged about that the other day, I just included a video of Natalie reciting part of The Night Before Christmas. She got a little camera shy and forgot some of it, but it is still SO cute. She doesn't have the whole thing memerized anymore, but she used to. Actually, it is a shortened version in a little kids book she has, I used to recite it to her in the bathroom when she needed distraction.

I had a lot of fun looking through old videos and putting these together. It was fun to remember so many memories.