This week Shane asked "Tell us about your most-memorable childhood Christmas."
My most memorable Christmas as a child took place when I was about 7 or 8 I think. I was still playing with Barbies at the time (this amazes me to this day, granted I usually cut all their hair off and had their car crash or something like that) and my dad built me a doll house. The floor and walls were covered with different kinds of wall paper, it was painted white with a red roof, had a carport for my little corvette, and their was a deck on it. My mom made little pillows and quilts to go on my furniture, along with some of my doll clothes. It was awesome! I was so excited when I woke up Christmas morning and saw that, I bet I played with it everyday for the next few years.
The other childhood memory is just really a collection of how great Christmas was at our house. The festivities really started on Christmas Eve when we would go to church every year. We always got to open one present on Christmas Eve also, which was either the dress for church or pajamas usually. My brother and I would spend the night in his room in our sleeping bags, than in the morning it was a mad dash to get the stockings...of course sometimes the stockings were on the end of our sleeping bag...which was really cool. I know realize this was done to force us to stay in the room longer, but it does negate how great it was. We always had an orange in the toe of our stocking, some mixed nuts in the shell still (??), the lifesaver book, and then 1 or 2 very cool toys or games. Almost always these were similar to avoid fights. Then there was the one special unique thing that was always in there too. After we were worn out with that and whatever present was under the tree not wrapped, we would wake our parents up. My parents had this tradition of taking turns when opening presents, so the whole event lasted longer and we could fully appreciate what everyone received. Next came breakfast of my moms famous coffee cake or waffles.
2 other Christmas's stick out in my mind. One when I was about 15 my brother received a box of money that was all crinkled up so when he opened the box it sprang out. The other was 2 years later, the last Christmas I spent with my brother. On Christmas Eve we went to see Imagine by John Lennon in the afternoon, then went shopping in Nordstroms where he bought me a shirt with a self-portrait of John Lennon on it. (I still have that shirt even though it is way too small for me now, I will never get rid of it) Then we went to chuch together, just the two of us to a different church where our previous Associate Pastor was now the Pastor. Back home we shared some eggnog with rum and talked in my room for hours. The last thing he did that night was play John Lennon's "Woman" for me and told me that this song always made him think of me and the person I was becoming. In the morning we had our usual deal, but the present he gave me was a framed sketch of the Beatles. It was one of the coolest gifts I have ever received. I just remember being so amazed at the man he had become at 19. He was thoughtful, he was generous, he was funny, and he was so thankful for all the people and gifts in his life. It was eye-opening for me and still gives me pause when I think of it. That was by far one of the best Christmas's I ever had.
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