Favorite Holiday Memory

Getting a parakeet in 1980 or 1981 from Santa. I remember 'Santa' had typed basic care instructions on a piece of paper and taped them to the cage. I knew the whole Santa thing was a hoax right then and there because the typed instructions were from an old fashioned typewriter that just so happened to have the same bad qualities as my dad's.

Getting a parakeet in 1980 or 1981 from Santa. I remember 'Santa' had typed basic care instructions on a piece of paper and taped them to the cage. I knew the whole Santa thing was a hoax right then and there because the typed instructions were from an old fashioned typewriter that just so happened to have the same bad qualities as my dad's.

How do you know Santa didn't type it with your Dad's typewriter.? Santa does stuff like that you know. ;-)

Favorite Thanksgiving Memory

watching Rowan fall asleep in Smiling JOe's arms.

Well, let me share one of my family?s favorite holiday stories.

My mother?s family is from the Canadian province of Quebec. They are French speaking.

During the Second World War, my grandparents moved from their home in Quebec to a town in Ontario so my grandfather could work at a factory making war material.

Ontario is an English speaking part of Canada so at first there were more than a few language challenges for a French speaking family.

The first Christmas in Ontario, they got some Xmas cards from their new neighbors?..some of which read Season?s Greetings- and they weren?t exactly sure what that meant. You see, the French word for season is, well saison ?so that was easy; but the word Greetings when read phonetically ?sounds a lot like the French slang for skidmarks in your underwear.

Season?s Skidmarks is basically how they translated the card.

To this day ? I can crack my grandmother up by saying ?Joyeux Noel, et Greetings de la saison.? (Merry Xmas, and Season Skidmarks)

The first Christmas in Ontario, they got some Xmas cards from their new neighbors?..some of which read Season?s Greetings- and they weren?t exactly sure what that meant. You see, the French word for season is, well saison ?so that was easy; but the word Greetings when read phonetically ?sounds a lot like the French slang for skidmarks in your underwear.

Season?s Skidmarks is basically how they translated the card.

To this day ? I can crack my grandmother up by saying ?Joyeux Noel, et Greetings de la saison.? (Merry Xmas, and Season Skidmarks)

and free! That's hysterical.

Re: Favorite Thanksgiving Memory

watching Rowan fall asleep in Smiling JOe's arms.

Ohhhh, that was sweet and a very good memory!

When I was growing up, every year on Christmas morning, we would still be asleep in my house and the phone would ring at like 5:00 or 5:30am. It would be my best friend who had already opened their gifts & was already calling to see what I got and to tell me what she got. Of course, everyone in my family always got po'd at me because it was so early. I used to sort of get nervous the night before, but she did it every single year!! I still think about it each year to this day and always remind her of it now! Believe it or not, it's actually a sweet memory for the 2 of us.

Lining up our 4 kids on the stairs looking down at the tree in the livingroom to take their picture. The looks on their faces as they looked at all of the presents is priceless. We did this every year until the grew up and moved out.

Well, this is going to be a little different. Believe it or not, I miss hearing my dad's favorite expression the minute anyone had a disagreement during the Christmas holidays, "Well, there's another Christmas...shot to h---!" We still shout this out when the tree lights won't untangle, when someone drops or spills something, or when family members first begin a bicker-fest. Stops 'em cold, as a general rule and laughter all around. My dad loved Christmas, although he never had much of one as a child himself. His favorite claim was that he broke his arm while eating breakfast one Christmas...fell out of a persimmon tree! (Ka-boom!)

On Christmas Day, when Will was 4 or 5, Santa came to the front door!

(Actually, it was the mailman. The Post Office will make a Christmas Day delivery, and this particular postman loved to work Christmas and get the holiday pay. He looked just like Santa too- white beard, white long hair, kinda plump. Bdarg and I about fell out of our chairs.)

Needless to say, we had to scrape Will off the floor. We answered the door, he handed Will a package and told him that someone had made a special delivery request, and although he was tired, he was working until lunch, then going back to the North Pole for a BIG nap!

Aww, I loved reading everyone's stuff, esp Uncle Timmy's. ;-)

Mine aren't that thrilling, but I cherish them. My dad always read Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" to us over several nights. Also, we watched Mr McGoo's A Christmas Carol as well as A Charlie Brown Christmas, and of course Rudolph, the Elf Dentist, Yukon Cornelius and the Island of Misfit Toys.

Much later, when I had my own kid, at the age of 5 the kid asked me point blank if there was a Santa Claus, and I couldn't lie. That was the year we purchased the book The Polar Express, which had been published when he was 2 years old.
He faithfully continued the Christmas conspiracy for his little brother.

Best Christmas gift was the year my husband 'borrowed' my car and installed a 5 cd changer(I love my drivin' tunes.) We went out for Christmas dinner with our best buddies, and on came the music, which happened to be The Chieftains' Bells of Dublin.

my favorite memory involves my papaw. i stayed with them a lot because he always wanted me around. i stayed one year dec. 23 all night with them, and i was telling papaw i needed to make him pretty for christmas. i was young at the time, my sis wasn't born yet, so i was under the age of 10. anywho, papaw was bald on top with the ring of hair around his head, but he had 3 long hairs on the top. i used to roll each individual hair on the pink spongy rollers that snapped shut. mom has a picture of him sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper and listening to the radio, one cigarette in his hand and one burning in the ashtray, with 3 rollers on his bald head....i miss him so much

running through the Christmas trees for hours and finding the perfect one (still my favorite thing to do).

hearing jingle bells from a distance after opening presents every year on Christmas Eve at Grandma's house.

rushing home to get into bed so santa could come.

tearing down the hallway, all four of us kids, to see what santa brought. chaos for the next 2 hours!!!

Now, we get into decorating the tree and setting out our nativity scene, etc. We make lots of homemade ornaments. I love talking to my little one about all things Christmas, and reading Christmas stories such as Strega Nona's Christmas, Twas the Night before Christmas, and watching Rudolph, the Grinch and Frosty. Together we try to figure out how Santa gets all those toys to boys and girls, how he gets inside the house and back out (houses with and without chimneys), and oh, there are so many things to imagine... and then - setting out Santa is a blast!!! I love how my son takes his time on Christmas morning really looking at his gifts, not getting in a hurry, and enjoys every moment.

Great thread, Mango. I loved reading the favorite Christmas moments!

Mine are:

Listening to my grandmother, father, and other Italian relatives singing Italian Christmas carols.

Playing shuffleboard in Zio Julio and Zia Nella's basement on Christmas day (we have their dining room set at our cottage and I'm always reminded of the holidays of days gone by when I'm at the cottage and I'm glad that other people are making memories with that dining room set as well when they're there).

Watching my grandmother kiss Zio Julio under the mistletoe (it's a long story -- she was engaged to him and then they had a fight so she married his brother who ended up being my grandfather).

Watching my father put the angel on top of the tree.

Watching our kids today -- who are being raised Jewish -- totally enjoy our Christmas traditions at my sisters' homes during Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

Watching the kids put up the little wooden village made by my sister and brother-in-law. We get new pieces almost every year.

Donna, my father's favorite saying was, "Why eat out when you can eat better at home" though he said that all year round, not just at Christmas!

I have many, mostly involving my kids when they were little, but probably the most "memorable" was when I first met mr. dd.
He's from Kansas City(he would want me to say MISSOURI). So, the first Christmas I knew him, my kids were going to be with their dad the weekend before Christmas, so he wanted to take me to meet his parents and see KC. So, we drove up. Beautiful snow most of the way--until it began to blow sideways and became a blizzard, but we made it ok. Since we weren't married, his mom said we couldn't stay in the same room at their house, so he booked us a room at a hotel on the Plaza. Well, being from Texas, I was most impressed because the Plaza looked like a Christmas card. Snow, lights, Budweiser horses...beautiful. We had a nice dinner and walked around and planned to meet his parents the next day. At 6 am the next morning, I woke up and found mr. dd putting on his coat, etc. I asked what the heck he was doing and he informed me that his car was gone out of the parking lot. He had gotten up to see if it was still snowing, and noticed that his car was not where we left it.
Sure enough, it had been stolen. He called the police, who informed him that he would have to come to the station to fill out a report. So....we had to call his dad to come take us to the station. Then, we had to figure out how we were gonna get home. Mind you, this is the weekend before Christmas, so all flights were booked. He finally sweet talked some girl at Southwest into bumping someone else and getting us on a flight. Never met his mom that trip. You all know how much I love to fly, and it was snowing like a mofo. We had a three hour layover in OK City. Let's just say that if they had had that show "Airline" back then, I woulda been one of those folks they refuse to let board, cuz I was toasted in three hours. Finally made it home. Cops called on New Year's Eve and said they found the car. He went up the day after New Year's and picked it up. It caught fire in Wellington, Kansas, so he had to leave it and hitchhike home. Happy New Year!

...dd wins!!!! That's a story!!!!

This would make a good movie, DD! That was some more story!

DD!!! it caught fire? he hitchhiked home????????? :clap_1: you are killing me!!!!!! Poor guy! why didn't you meet your MIL?

...dd wins!!!! That's a story!!!!

This would make a good movie, DD! That was some more story!

Yep, we're a million laughs!!

DD!!! it caught fire? he hitchhiked home????????? :clap_1: you are killing me!!!!!! Poor guy! why didn't you meet your MIL?

Didn't have time to meet her, had to get a flight. We were afraid we wouldn't get one the closer it came to Christmas, and my kids were gonna be home on Christmas morning.
yep, he hitchhiked with two truckers who stopped at every truck stop. Took him like 13 hours to get home. He was in a real good mood.

Sitting at home with all the lights out with a nice fire going, while staring at the Christmas tree and the other lighted Christmas decorations outside. Then there was that one time it snowed in Atlanta (6" here) a few days before Christmas. It was so magical for a southerner like me to see Christmas decorations with "so much" snow on the ground.

dd, if you could survive that together, you can survive anything, right ?

these are all so wonderful!
I have so many favorite memories...but the ones I remember the most are the Christmas mornings my dad would drape a sheet accross the doorway and we could not go in until my Mimi and Aunt Melissa were up and in attendance...all 4 of us kids were DYING with anticipation.....drawing it out was so bitter sweet!!!!! :roll:

DD - Wonderful Christmas story.....you have such an exciting life!

BSmart - Sitting in the dark and looking at the lights on my tree is one of my favorite things to do. Just tonight I was looking at the refection in a pciture on the wall and the tv screen....3-way lights.

My best Christmas memory...My oldest daughter was born on Dec. 22. In the nursery, each child was put in red stocking that we got to take home. She came home on Christmas morning in that stocking. A real gift! She still uses that stocking each year for Christmas on the mantle.