Christmas Memories

What is it about the Christmas season that is so magical? As a child I remember the excitement as we put our tree up. My mom had a knack for making the whole house feel like Christmas. I loved the way our house looked after mom was done working her magic. One of my favorite trees from my childhood she had decorated in little white lambs. I had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed that tree with the train tracks going around the bottom until this year as my kids were decorating our tree.  I had in my box of ornaments one of the little white lambs, it landed towards the top of our tree, and made me smile.

I remember the excitement of Christmas morning, tiptoeing down the stairs to peak around the banister to see if Santa came then running up to wake up mom and dad way before the morning would have normally began.  We would gather around the tree with excitement opening presents.  Then we’d wait for dad to take his life-sized stocking down and open his gifts, he was always the last one. Afterwards, we’d eat a breakfast feast before heading out to celebrate with our extended family.

Each side of the family has something that always stood out. On my mom’s side I remember the delicious food my grandma would make, her sugar cookies and pies are still to this day the best.  We’d all head back to the family room and sit cross legged on the floor going around the room opening presents.  On my dad’s side, I think of the games we’d play, spoons being the crowd favorite. I think I still have a scar from a serious game one Christmas. The one thing I could always count on from my grandparents’ stockings was an orange being in the toe of it. I remember the laughter and the smiles and the love that filled the rooms on both sides of my family.

When I think of Christmas memories, one of my most vivid is our family trips to look at the Woburn Christmas lights. I remember how excited we were to load up in the car and walk through to look at all the different displays. That was and is one of my favorite memories from my childhood. Perhaps that’s why I wanted to make sure it was a tradition that I carried on with my own children.  Now I love watching them run from box to box “ohhing” and “awwing” with excitement. I hope that it is a memory that lives on in them.

We've created our own Lemons family traditions that we look forward to every year.  We do an annual gingerbread house and I enjoy watching the kids try to work together on the design. We have an advent calendar of sorts, it's a box that I fill with either activities for us to do or chocolates. We've tried a few things that I'm not sure will continue, like making salt dough ornaments, but that I hope the girls remember the experience of and smile.  I hope they remember the laughter and fun we had with each one, successful or not. Who knows, maybe some day one of these will be something they choose to pass down to their children.

In my mind, I always imagined that’s what my kids would experience: bounding downstairs to see if Santa came, ripping open presents with anticipation, and then sitting together for a big breakfast before we were off to see the rest of our family. I imagined our evenings would be filled with the love and laughter of our extended family.  I spend each year hoping that the memories that they’re putting in their memory bank are some that they too can’t wait to pass down to their children when the time comes.  Mostly, I hope that my children never forget the reason we get to share this love and season, Jesus.