What I remember Christmas

[adela]

As I go thru my first Christmas without Ed. I remember and smile. On Christmas Eve Ed would make a trip to Nordstrums and buy a gift for me and his stepson. The silver and gold box was so special. So I saved the box from 2005 and I am putting it under the tree. I remember what a good host Ed was, making sure you had a cup of coffee or something to drink. I remember what a socialable person Ed was. He would meet someone and before you know it they were buddies for life. Ed loved tamales, red chile and posole at Christmas time of course after 2 days of the stuff he was ready for a hamburger. I grieve for Ed and I suppose that includes the smiles and laughter I feel when I remember.

What do you all remember of your loved ones? What was their favorite Christmas song, cookie, food, favorite Christmas story or their favorite childhood Christmas memory.

Adela[/b]

[Ann]

Such sweet memories you have shared with us of your Ed. What a special person he was!

Like Ed, my Dennis was always the last person leaving the mall on Christmas Eve. He would always say that the last minute hustle and bustle really put him in a festive mood. Although I always shopped for everyone, he would buy an additional gift for each of our three boys that was something very special. He always put so much thought into gift buying and his gifts were always everyone's favorites. I always prepare a big Christmas Eve buffet, comprised of all appetizers. How Dennis loved to eat on Christmas Eve. Dennis always made his own Kahlua and would bring out the bottles on Christmas Eve.

Oh...how I long for those times!!!

[DianeR]

Adela,

What a great post. I think it is so sweet you can remember Ed at Christmas time with a smile! I also think the Nordstrom box under the tree is a wonderful thing to do.

I am struggling, but working hard to enjoy Christmas,as this was my dad's favorite holiday. He always made it wonderful and fun. This will be my third Christmas without him and it is still so painful.

I have so many favorite memories of daddy during the holidays that I just don't know where to begin. My parents would always come spend the week of Christmas with us. We only lived about an hour away, but they would come stay with us, which we loved. He would always be "ho, ho, hoing" as he carried all the gifts inside. My kids were always so excited to see him because he was the "fun guy" at Christmas!

I think the thing I remember most is when my kids would always wake everyone up before the crack of dawn on Christmas morning. Well, as my kids got older and weren't waking up as early, it would be my daddy going around saying "Santa was here" and waking up the kids! He was always so excited to watch the kids open up the presents.

Everyone just loved him and he is so missed everyday but, during these holidays it is almost unbearable.

I do want to thank you for starting this post, because it did bring a smile remembering these memories of daddy at Christmas! Thank you and I hope you have a wonderful holiday with warm memories of Ed.

Diane

[tnmynatt]

Charlie loved to shop on Christmas Eve, too. He would always buy candy to put in the girls' stockings...I guess I will keep that tradition going this year.

He loved to cook and made the entire Christmas dinner last year since my mom was in the hospital and I was helping with her (I tried to help, but he wanted to do it). She got to come home just in time for us to sit down to eat. Charlie had done a wonderful job with everything. I miss him sooooooo much.

I guess we are here for each other this year. Blessings to all!

[Nick C]

What do you all remember of your loved ones? What was their favorite Christmas song, cookie, food, favorite Christmas story or their favorite childhood Christmas memory.

Christmas growing up and even in adulthood rocked with Mom! Johnny Mathis Christmas Album, A Christmas story in full 24 hour rotation, Mom and I when it was just us would do an untraditional Christmas eve fish dinner (Sushi) and go home and open one present each. Christmas day dinner was a replica of Thanksgiving until I took that over a few years ago.

I realized that one of my greatest joys of Christmas wasn't giving or receiving, it was watching how happy my mother was to be giving. She loved watching me open a Star Wars toy, or legos or a new tool for the workshop.

When I was about 8 she started buying me a really nice snowglobe every year. I have a collection in the cabinet at my house. I'm going to halt that collection where it is. Those were from Mom to me.

I remember so much. I'm so blessed to have these memoeries. I will make new memories for my kids when I have them.

[Patkid]

This is so sweet, thank you, Adela.

Brian loved Manheim Steamroller Christmas music.

He loved a REAL tree.

He loved planning the gifts for the grandchildren and then sending me shopping .

I always got a lovely gift from Crimson Ridge. It is my favorite store and too pricey for me to buy for myself there.................but I love to look. They have the Vera Bradley Bags I love and other wonderful things............

Last year he got me a sterling silver bangle bracelet that he had engraved (at great expense because of the soft metal) SWEET P.

Not sweet pea

Sweet P

That is what he called me. Sweet P.

I probably don't need to tell you what that meant to me.................I am perceived by most to be : smart, efficient, organized, faithful, sincere, but NOT sweet...................

Brian is one of the few who really thought I was SWEET. Isn't that wonderful? I think sweet is a wonderful compliment and it melted my heart. He believed it and tried to become it. SWEET.

Geez, I miss him. I am blessed w/ wonderful memories.

[mamasbabygirl]

I love this post too. Thanks for starting it Adela.

My mom was Christmas crazy. She was always crafty and spent many years painting ceramics for all of the different holidays. So, I have all of those beautiful pieces of mama art now and they are proudly displayed all over my home.

My mom's side always got together on Christmas Eve. One of my uncles would dress up as Santa (until we got a little older and then there was a rent-a santa) and he would come in just as we were finishng up singing carols to give us gifts. We (me and my cousins) have continued this tradition and now my cousins dress up as Santa. Mom has her pics all organized chronologically (she was so organized), so we have pics of each family together with Santa from the time this tradition started 30 years ago. Mom always led the singing and I am very nervous about trying to continue this tradition this year. One of my aunts has agreed to lead it and I promised I would try to sing along, but it is just one of those things that was so "mom's job" and it hurts to know she can't do it anymore.

Mom always made tons of Christmas cookies and candy and I actually started an ingredient list today to carry on this honor. I am making 3 candies and 5 different cookies. She will guide me, I have no doubt.

Mom always wore a Santa hat this time of year. I found it as I was going through Christmas things and it made me cry my eyes out. I also found by brother's stocking and that made me lose it too.

I wish she was here in the living, but I am so thankful for all of the memories.

Merry Christmas Mama. Love, your Babygirl

[stand4hope]

Hello, Adela. This time of year is just so hard . . . .

I have always been the Christmas nut-head. Don was a bit of a bah-humbug, or at least he pretended to be so. He loved buying gifts, though, for both me and our son. He always bought early. He always had them wrapped and hidden away somewhere. I never found them ahead of time, but I never looked.

I always had Christmas CDs playing, sang out loud and just about drove him crazy with my festive mood. I'd tell him to "Get in the spirit of things." He said he didn't need to have the spirit because I had enough for both of us. Looking back, I see now that it was always part of the "game". It was the way it was supposed to be. I was supposed to sing Jingle Bell Rock, he was supposed to roll his eyes, I was supposed to then get even more silly, dance and shake my butt, then he was supposed to finally grin and say, "Be careful or you're going to break something!" It was such a fun game.

He always put up the tree and strung the lights and I would do the rest. I did it by myself last year and this year. Last year, I was totally numb and don't remember much. This year, I went into meltdown once I got all the branches inserted, and before any lights were added.

Everything is just so different now . . . . .

Love, hugs and Merry Christmas to you, Adela!

Peggy

[LynneH]

Lovely topic Adela, thanks for including all of us in this.....I loved reading everyone's replies since I haven't been on much in a while.

My Jim sounds a lot like Peggy's Don. I insisted on the REAL tree each year, Jim would roll his eyes, but off we would go.....

I didn't put Christmas decorations out last year as it was the first without Jim. This year, I went and bought the tree myself. Chose the first one I picked up. Just wanted to get out of there and to the house with it. Next, I pulled the boxes out of the attic. Jim always packed everything up because I'm kind of lazy and wouldn't get to it for a while.

So, I open the box with the stockings. Two for the dogs (although Sadie dog is gone now), one girlie one for me that I bought a few years ago, and one RATTY OLD stocking that I had needlepointed for Jim at least 20 years ago. In the needlepoint, I had 3 big letters for him.... J I M.

I pulled his stocking out of the box, turned it over, and on top of each of the letters, he had glued 3 new letters cut out of pink paper...L Y N.

He must have done that his last Christmas here when he knew how sick he was. I didn't know until a few nights ago. Now, that broke the water dam!!! I don't know if he was being his practical self and figuring I might as well continue to get good use out of it, or if he just wanted to say 'hello' whenever I got around to looking in that box. Jim was always doing things like that. He was wonderful. I miss him. Now the pink lettered LYN stocking hangs above the fireplace and keeps his memory alive when I pass by it each evening.......

Thanks and happy holidays to all of you here....you have been my life savers many a night......

Lynne

[Don Wood]

Memories of Christmases past are just too painful right now for me to come up with anything. I just pray I and my kids can get through this one. I'm sure we will, with God's help. Don

[J.C.]

Memories of Christmas,

Mike was hunting through the year for

small or bigger things that he collected

for the Christmas sock he had made

for me, digging in it was like living the past

year all over again, each month had a remimder

of a special event,

No more surprise for me, but all souvenirs

are there for me to remember.

Jackie

[ma's kid]

Your post brought tears to my eyes..thank you for sharing your memories with us.

As most of you know, I am *here* because my mom has lung cancer and presently, things are *stable* and I thankful every single day that she is doing so well.

Lost my dad to colon cancer and I, too, have beautiful sweet memories of him and so so many involve the holidays. I come from an Italian family that is steeped in tradition and much of that tradition revolves around FOOD! Homemade pasta and every year, about two weeks before Thanksgiving, my dad would make lupini beans. They are a bean that is cooked and then cured in salt water and it takes a good two weeks before they are ready to eat. They are served cold and have a tough outter skin that you pop off (similar to eating a sunflower seed) anyway, he would always make them and Thanksgiving and Christmas just wasn't the same without them so my brother now makes them

He was always in the kitchen with my mom helping her cook. I can see him so clearly, smiling and wearing his red santa hat, sipping a glass of wine and mixing and tasting.

Hugs and more hugs to you.

Libby

[Treebywater]

I am loving this thread.

Mom and I had one very firm tradition. Each and Every Christmas Eve, we HAD to watch Miracle on 34th St. during the day, and that evening we had to fall asleep to White Christmas. I can remember when I was younger, I thought "White Christmas" was boring... and heckled her something awful about it. And then I grew up and fell in love with it. Also.... every time we watched White Christmas we had to remember Mom's very conservative friend, Diane, quoting National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and saying, "I wanted to watch White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Danny F---ing Kaye!!!! (You see--Mom and I are romantics, but we're spunky romantics. )

Every Christmas morning we would wake up and open presents just the three of us. Daddy always video taped it, and Mom and I always grumbled about that and tried to avoid the camera.

After opening presents we ate Mom's special coffee cake (recipe in Volume 1 of the Cookbooks. ). And usually we had lasagna for dinner rather than ham or turkey.

This Christmas, I Will most certainly be watching White Christmas--and if we can find a reasonably priced Miracle on 34th St. we'll watch it too.... And you better believe that there will be coffee cake on Christmas morning.... and while it's not enough, and never will be, I'm so glad that by doing those things my Mom will ALWAYS be a part of my family's Christmases.

[Suzie Q]

My mom always did the Santa duties when we were kids. We always got an orange in our stockings, every year without fail. I was always bummed by the orange! It was a space filler.

As adults, my mom would continue to bive us frown kids stockings, which grew into hand-sewn felt bags. She shopped all year for the little things that interested each of us and our spouses - things we collected, pieces of jewelry, gift cards, etc. It was so much fun to see what she came up with each year for 8 individuals...incredible! I will so miss that.

She made about 8 kinds of sweets. I think it took until February to finish them off!

Dad always took us kids to Mass on Christmas morning, because mom had gone to Midnight Mass so as to be free to cook the Christmas Day meal.

I will miss my mom & dad's 42nd wedding anniversary on the 26th of Dec...they loved each other so deeply.

BUT...2006 sucked as a year, so I won't be sad to see it go. I welcome the coming year. It has to be better than this one.

~Karen