Ghosts of Christmas Past

I would like to thank my friend Laura for the idea for this post. She has been doing a 12 days of Christmas memories on her blog and it really has had me thinking a lot. Some of my memories are silly and others just warm my heart. So if you are up for some reading, continue on, but warning this might become a novel. I've had 31 Christmases so far, so there are lots of memories. Many of my memories come from pictures and stories from my mom. When I was about 3 years old we had a family home evening lesson about the nativity. We had a flannel board and my job was to place the pictures on the board at the right time. Being 3 I had a mind of my own and so the pictures were all over the place and some were upside down. I believe that was the same night that I was singing at the top of my lungs, when my mom asked me to be quiet I said "you don't tell a child of God to be quiet." I hope she laughed at that. On Christmas Eve I would lie awake, too excited to sleep and I would listen for Santa. because my siblings were much older, I would sneak downstairs by myself and check out the haul and then I would go back to bed. It was always great when Santa left something unwrapped. A lot of times I would empty my stocking and re-load it before returning to my bed to wait. Some of my favorite gifts were a play kitchen with lots of food and dishes and appliances. I wanted to be chef Brocket from Mr. Rogers. I also loved my roller skates, cabbage patch dolls, charm necklace, moon dreamers and my Molly doll. Molly is one of the original American Girl dolls. I even took a catalog to Santa so that he would get my order right. What a silly kid. When I was in grade school we would ride in buses up to the training school (developmental center) and watch a Christmas show put on by the residents of the school. It was always fun to go and watch. The kids would put on a show with music and dancing. I remember they had Sesame Street costumes and I can still see Bert dancing. They would act out the Christmas story. I remember being impressed because their manger scene had two real live doves in a cage at the top of the roof of their stable. They no longer put on a Christmas show at the training school which is sad to me. Now when I look back, I think how special all of those children and adults were. How sweet it is that they brought so much joy to others when their lives maybe weren't so great. Christmas day was always great, after opening gifts we would pick out our favorite toy and take it with us to visit my grandparents. We would stop at the Riddles and see what funny quirky gifts Grandma had picked out for us, then we would go to Grandma Carters. I have a special place in my heart for my Grandma Carter. She was the best, she made me feel like I was her favorite. It wasn't until recently that I realized that she made all of her grandchildren feel like they were her favorite. We would eat at Grandma's in shifts because her kitchen was so small. I would play with my cousins and we would show off our new toys. Grandma made the best homemade fudge and toffee. I remember sneaking as much as I could and then wanting to visit after the holidays for left overs. I loved spending time with my Grandma and all of my family. Our Carter parties were full of love and laughter and hours of playing "do you love your neighbor?" I hope that one day my children will look back at Christmas and have good memories that make them laugh and some that make them cry. I have many more memories, but for now I will spare you.