Christmas Eve

When I was growing up, Christmas was a big deal.  Mom would decorate everything from head to toe.  There was always a Christmas scene spread out in the china cabinet, complete with a mirror made ice pond where people were skating and fake snow.  Other places, like the top of the stereo, held the manger scene.  Bows went up on the doors.  Charlie Pride, the Chipmunks, or Eddie Arnold were spinning on the record player.  My brother and I would always be tormented by our sister in picking out the tree from the neighbor's tree farm.  She always had to find the "right" one, which translated into walking around for hours in the cold.  Once the tree was inside, we would decorate it with the old school strings of lights complete with metal reflectors to keep the heat from the bulbs from catching the tree on fire.  Each ornament we hung on the tree had some story and history attached to it, along with the angel on the top.  Then, to cap off the tree, fresh boxes of aluminum/plastic tinsel were draped on each branch.  It was quite a sight.   It was quite a fire hazard.

Christmas Eve was our Christmas Day.  That night we would open gifts, get a long distance phone call from Aunt Sandy, and then hop in the car and go to my Aunt Kay and Uncle Claude's house.  There we would watch them open their gifts and then roast marshmallows in the fireplace.  Santa visited a few times before the cat was out of the bag.  I can remember my parents sending my brother, my sister, and me to one of their rooms in the basement so that Santa could show up.  Then, they would stomp around a little and our presents would appear.  The sad thing is that I never really questioned why they were able to see Santa and we weren't.  With that in mind, its not surprising that we didn't believe in Santa that much.

My worst Christmas Eve memory is this.  I received one year the best present ever...cris-cross-crash.  It was a matchbox racer set where the cars went around on a figure 8 track and hopefully crashed in much carnage in the middle.  It was awesome!  Unfortunately, it didn't last but an hour or so.  I can't remember if I broke it out of the box or if I broke it putting it away.  Nonetheless, it broke.  We tried to return it, but of course they were sold out.  

As I sit here and type, all of these memories come rushing back.  Family parties, the smells of food, and so much more are invading my mind.  Its a great thing.  Its the thing that I want to create for my daughter.  I want her to have the rush of great memories when she is 40.  I want her to have the desire to create memories for her family.  

What memories do you have?  How are you writing memories for the next generation to come?