The other day Nina asked me what my favorite Christmas present was as a child. I’m sure there were plenty of them, I just don’t remember any! I have a vague memory of a bicycle and then being quite frustrated that it had snowed overnight and it wasn’t possible to ride it outside, and there was no room inside the house, either. That’s pretty much what comes to mind!
Christmas has always been an important holiday in our family. Our children probably have different memories of the same Christmases than Nina and I have (sometimes I wonder if we were even in the same universe sometimes for some events), but there are a few that stand out in particular.
When we were living near Munich, Germany in the mid 1970’s, the big Christmas gift for the girls was a doll house large enough to really play with it. I spent several evenings constructing the building which stood almost as tall as they did. We were living in a duplex and the neighbors were particularly unhappy with the construction sounds, and let us know on several occasions. Jim’s gift that year was a skate board and he vigorously rode it up and down the hallway … occasioning another irate phone call from the neighbors. I ignored them. Jim and the girls were having too much fun!
Our daughter Heather and her fiance Ty decided to get married just before Christmas when we were living in Chardon, Ohio. We held their reception in our house where we put up a huge tree with special ornaments in their wedding colors. It was a beautiful tree and is still a delightful memory.
Of course, in Chardon we had the special Christmas that I wrote about in the blog post titled Five Dollar Christmas Tree Topper.
While we were living in Japan the last time (1995 – 1998), we enjoyed Christmas with our Japanese friends. Nina was teaching conversational English at the Church building and invited her entire class to come over for a Christmas party. Our house was packed with Japanese friends who were very curious about how Americans celebrated Christmas. We had a delightful time that evening trying to teach them a couple of Christmas carols.
The last few years, Nina and I have gone to visit children and grandchildren for Christmas. It’s easier for us to travel than for them to pack up everything for Christmas and come to us. We have really enjoyed being with grandkids for Christmas and seeing their delight on Christmas morning. Over the years we’ve developed a number of Christmas traditions and it’s fun to see them being perpetuated in the upcoming generations. Those traditions include remembrances of the whole reason for we celebrate in this season … the gift of life from our Father in Heaven.
Merry Christmas!
Ta ta for now!