Holiday Memory Cointest

[+drneal]

Time for a cointest! 2 winners, 2 coins up for grabs...one from St. Nick, and one from Hanukkah Harry!

 

 

For this one, I want you to think about a gift you received in the past, one that made some sort of lasting impression on you, and tell us why. For any of you who received a BB gun, gotta ask, did you shoot your eye out?

 

Cointest will end midnight Dec. 23, whatever time zone you're in (i'm not staying up till minight to pick a winner...I'll pick the winners randomly on the 24th and post sometime around noon.)

 

As with my past cointests, I'll go first.

 

I remember visiting my girlfriend (Kathy,) at her parent's home for what was our first Christmas together. We had already been dating for just a little over a year, so I'm sure there were some good, goodies under the tree, but the only one I can remember, was a mallow cup. It seems I had mentioned to here at one time or another that they had been my favorite as a kid. A simple gift that left a lasting memory for me...thank you Kathy!

 

Now it's your turn.

 

ILYK

[+dhenninger]

The almost yearly trip to the emergency room. Funny when you look back on it. One year it was my Mom falling back onto the train display and taking a miniature light pole to the head. The next year is was my Dad with a scratched cornea from sawing wood for the fireplace.

 

or a nice memory

 

My Grandmother always hid a mini stocking for each of us on her tree, and it had a DOLLAR in it!!

[+GATOULIS]

You did it!!! you made a cointest!!! Thank God I didn't win in the other cointest!

 

hmm... you want us to tell you about Christmas holiday memories, right?

[+murphyrulez]

My great grandmother would always have a fresh from the mint 2 dollar bill inside a paper envelope with the hole cutout for the presidents face... I always remember being so excited to go to her house to get my 2 dollars every year!!

[+LadyBee4T]

I have been a life long baseball fan of The Detroit Tigers. Believe me that that has been MANY years. The stadium was called Briggs Stadium when I was young and when they changed the name to Tiger Stadium I swore I would never call it that. It was declared a State of Michigan Historic Site in 1975 and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1989. However, the team moved to Comerica Park for the 2000 season so Tiger Stadium was no longer used. Since there were no prospects for redevelopment of the site sadly it was demolished. Prior to demolition everything that could be removed was sold. When I saw the sale in the newspaper I knew that I could never afford any of it. My oldest son inherited the love of baseball from me but I forgot to tell him about the sale. That Christmas both my sons told me to close my eyes and they carried in a huge box and put it under the tree. I had no idea what it was. The first thing that came to mind was a toilet. You might think what kind of a gift would a toilet be but I was and am still trying to add a new bathroom to my master bedroom as I can afford it (and yes I have bought a toilet since then!) When I started to open the box I knew immediately what it was. They had bought me two stadium seats from my beloved Tiger Stadium!!!! Since one was an end seat I was even able to pinpoint where the seats actually came from in the stadium. The gift brought tears to my eyes and still does when I think about it. It was the gift of a lifetime and one that could never happen again. When I finish the renovation of my family room those seats will have a place of honor that I have already created for them.

 

There are other memories and other gifts but I don't think this one can be topped.

[+drneal]

You did it!!! you made a cointest!!! Thank God I didn't win in the other cointest!

 

hmm... you want us to tell you about Christmas holiday memories, right?

 

Looking for a gift that evokes a special memory for you.

 

ILYK

[ATMouse]

I come from a large family, but was lucky enough to go to college. My parents, bless them, paid for the greatest amount.

 

My freshman year I came home from school and Christmas day, there was the normal "read the tag and hand the present out" for the family. Present after present was pulled; my sisters had a small pile in front of each of them...I had perhaps two and they were things like underwear!

 

Well, all I could think was "My present is my education, I'm grown up and it's good to be with family today."

 

Finally the last present was dragged out from under the branches of the Christmas Tree and I had my two presents...and Mom said: "Isn't there something on the tree with Alison's name on it?" and my sister Norah handed me this small wrapped cylinder, smaller than a film canister. It was a small wooden box, with a smaller wooden box inside and yet ANOTHER box inside that one. When I pried open this tiny box, a folded bit of paper inside read: "Go look under Mom and Dad's bed".

 

So I ran upstairs and under their bed was a set of cross-country skis!!! I could hardly believe it! I used those skis to go to classes that winter and every winter I was at school. (I went to school in Western New York. We know snow.)

 

The skis are long worn out and gone....but in my corner hutch, where I keep pretties and important things...there is a small wooden cylinder, with a smaller one next to it and tiny one beside it.

 

Edited December 15, 2009 by ATMouse

[+PaRacers]

When I was a kid, our house had a long living room. At one end there was a floor furnace where my Mom would stand, her nightgown & robe billowing out like a huge bell. Around Christmas time, the Christmas tree always stood on the opposite end of the long room. One year Santa brought me a cool little cannon about 2 feet tall that actually shot little plastic cannon balls when you pulled on a string that looked like the fuse of the cannon. Right off, I excitedly cocked the spring loaded trigger and stuffed in a ball. To everyone's suprise when I jercked on the trigger/fuse, the little cannon could launch it's projectile a good 25-30 feet. And also to everyone's suprise, the first cannon ball spotted my Mom right between her eyes! She wasn't hurt, and we all had a great laugh over it. I had to play with the cannon outside after that, but I can still see her standing over the furnace, and the look on her face after that ball hit her! Thanks drneal.

Happy Holidays all!

[+labrat_wr]

Funny you should mention the ol' BB gun !

 

well, it wasn't my gift but the memories are shared by the whole family.

 

After all the celebration was done and the toys had been played with for a week or so, it was time to take down the decorations and the tree and get things back to the normal chaos of a famiily of five.

The ornaments and decorations were all packed in the boxes and it was time to remove the tree from the house and my Dad spotted one last glass ornament hanging on the nearly bare tree. SO... he decided to use the BB gun my brother had recieved as a de-ornamenter. He cocked the gun, took aim, and squeezed the trigger. Ping, the ornament shattered and as we were all chuckling about it we noticed the BB hole through the inside pane of the dual pane picture window and the crack that began forming from it. OOPS, whose laughing now?!?

 

Sure was glad it was Dad and not me that shot it out.

[+Ashallond]

I remember one year that my parents would let me open one present early. I picked a nice size box, not too big, not too small, and my mom suddenly got this look.

 

"Honey, why don't you pick another one, it won't make sense until you open another present first"

 

Of course, I'm stubborn back then, and I open it anyway. It's a programming book for a Commodore 64.

 

We didn't have a Commodore 64. So, yeah, it didn't make sense.

 

Until Christmas Day when I got (ready for this?!?!) a Commodore 64.

 

It was my first computer. I think the next year or the year before, my parents got me the red box Dungeons and Dragons set. I hear that's worth something these days.

[+tsunrisebey]

Not entering the cointest part just submitting a memory

 

In the Fall of 1987, I joined the Army and went off to Basic Training in Fort McClellan, AL. When Christmas rolled around, I flew back to Minnesota where all my family was at the time for a short Christmas visit.

 

Now being that I was in Basic, I didn't have much for civilian clothes. Me and my cousins decided to go outside and play in the snow at night. We were all about the same age give or take a couple of years between us. So I went and changed into my BDU's and headed outside. As I walked through the living room it got real quiet and everyone just looked at me and smiled. I come from a military family so it wasn't that unusual to see someone in military garb.

 

We're all outside playing hide-n-seek and who knows what else back then. I remember standing in a big circle talking about what to play next and a big owl swooping down out of a tree and about taking my head off. Other than that I don't really remember much about the Christmas Eve that year.

 

However my mom told me later that after I walked out the door, they all busted out laughing cause I didn't dress in my other winter gear but I had to put on my BDU's and they thought it was funny (but hey, I was gung-ho back then). Then they all went to the window and started roaring as we were playing some game and there I was low-crawling in the snow trying to put the sneak on all my cousins (hey a soldier needs to practice their skills!). She told me they all sat and laughed as I was so into the whole outdoors playing while no one else seemed to be as serious about it as I was. She also mentioned that while I was out low-crawling and hunting down the enemy that my older cousin Brain came into the house and complained about me. He said I was out there bossing everyone around and not playing fair which made all the adults laugh even more.

 

By the time I came in after pretty much everyone got tired of me, I walked back to simple smiles and was none-the-wiser that everyone was finding my military antics humorous. I had fun though

 

That was the last time and Christmas I saw my grandma and grandpa before they passed away when I got shipped overseas. I wish I would have given them an extra hug before I left but I do remember the smile my grandma gave me when I left to finish up Basic. She gave me a hug and told me how proud of her granddaughter she was and how I was taking after my dad who was still in the military at the time and a Vietnam vet. She gave me a wonderful hug and kiss and off I went into my own little Army world.

 

My Christmas' have never been the same since they passed away. It was always my grandma's favorite holiday. She always had blue Christmas lights up and every other year, I put up blue lights in honor of her.

 

Funny how when you're a kid that those are the best memories cause so many people you love are around to celebrate with. Always makes me smile and warms the heart.

[Maine Family]

The gift that means the most to me was when I was 18 and had moved out and into my own apartment. I wasn't going to have a tree. I was by myself and didn't think it was a big deal. My dad thought it was a big deal and he surprised me with a small artificial tree and a bag of bows. My Dad never shopped but he went shopping and bought me a tree. I still have the tree and it is over thirty years old. It doesn't look as good as it once did. moved every time I did, went through the flood in 87, not much survived but the tree did. Every year I put it up and decorate it with bows. My husband and daughter convinced me we needed a new tree which we got. At first they thought I would get rid of the little tree.They were wrong and now they enjoy the little tree too. My daughter wants to inherit the little tree and she probably will. My mother was the one that always did the shopping and this he did on his own without telling anyone. It meant so much to me that he went shopping and bought me the little tree so I would have a tree for Christmas. It meant a lot to him that I appreciated it so much I put it up every year just the way it was the first Christmas. Every year now when I put it up I know he is smiling down on it.

Thanks DrNeal.

[mud4x4]

Coming from a divorced family, I'll give you 2 stories:

 

1st - with my mother and stepdad. I was 12 and no longer believed in Santa. That year there were no presents under the tree. And we were never well off as far as money goes. I figured they had no money to buy gifts that year. I never complained about it but I felt very sad and depressed that we weren't going to have a Christmas that year. Well Christmas morning arrived. I woke up and went into the kitchen and seen my mom casually drinking her morning coffee just like any other morning. My stepdad worked for a repo service, so he was on call 24/7 I figured he was working. I ate breakfast and went to get dressed. As I came back through the living room, I happened to catch something out of the corner of my eye through the bay window. My stepdad was walking up the driveway with a baby horse. I was so excited (I have and always will be a huge horse fanatic). And to find out he had the guy drop him and the horse off just down the road, so he could quietly get the horse to the house.

I got to raise that foal up and train him myself. Which I think was a good lesson not only for the horse but for myself. That also started me on training horses for awhile until recent retirement.

 

2nd - with my dad. He was never much for getting presents. He would always just ask me what I wanted when I was younger. As I got older he just gave me $100 ($50 for my birthday and $50 for Christmas - my b-day is really close to Christmas). I always loved getting that $100 to spend however I wanted when I was younger. But now that he passed away and I am older and know more about life... if I could change it, I wish I would've not taken the money. I really wish he would have gotten me something himself because it would have meant more to me (sentimentally).

[+fuzziebear3]

For me, Christmas is really just about family ... we would get together with my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins, for several days. It was huge and chaotic, but it was just right.

 

So the gifts were never the most important part ... visiting was. But you want a gift story, here is one.

 

One year, I got a pogo stick for Christmas. This is the shortest-lived gift ever. So me and my cousin head outside with it ... we bounce around on the patio for about 5 minutes. She slips on some ice and twists her ankle. You know how the rest goes, crying, ice on the injury, pogo stick taken away never to be seen again. Next day, some of us went ice skating at a rink nearby. Of course my cousin couldn't go with a bad ankle. She has never let me live this down. (And I don't know why it is my fault anyway).

 

Actually, this was a pretty common pattern ... No direct adult supervision (I am oldest, and 5 years older than my next cousin), I am in charge of 'the kids' (6 of us), the gang of us hatch some hare-brained idea (another one involved somersaults and pillows) ... someone gets hurt (not usually me), but of course it is my fault.

[+gardengorilla]

Thank you sooo much for this cointest, for me it is difficult to feel like celebrating when my family is on the other side of the world. My husband has been working away for the last 6 months in Brisbane. All the usual 'cues' for Christmas are gone...the freezing temperatures, the kids xmas concert, the baking exchanges, the pull of comfort food...it's just not here and I am really surprized that it has had such an effect on me. I almost wanted to cancel it all together. I decided since we are alone here that maybe an xmas holiday is the answer so we are going to be staying along the kintabatagan river in Sabah, Malaysia (Borneo) in the jungle for Christmas. I told the kids that the trip is their present and my littlest, Sam spoke up and said with all confidence, "Yes, but Santa will still bring presents so it's ok mum" Bless him! So out to the crowded shops I go and buy them each a small gift as I really feel Christmas is not about what you get but who you are with and of course we all know the 'reason for the season' whether we acknowledge it or not.

So, in an effort to give my kids a Christmas we've put up a tree and baked some tarts with carols on...I went to the church and sat through and even participated in a discussion on the meaning of Christmas and I think it has helped if only just to talk to someone.

That is my current Christmas story.

I am so far away I can lose touch on things like birthdays too. I woke up today and realized it was my brothers' birthday and it made me remember my favorite Christmas memory of all...

I was six when my mum married my current dad. She had my sister soon but then they had a hard time conceiving after that. They heard that a family friends' daughter was expecting and decided to try and adopt the baby. I wasn't told much if anything but I do remember my mum crying on the phone and saying 'It's a boy!" That winter was soo cold and we had a little chevelle but we bundled up and made the trip to Alberta to have Christmas with one of my mum's sisters. On Christmas eve, my parents left the party for a while and when they came back they had this cute little bundle in their arms! Everyone, all six of my mum's sister and her brother and all their kids and spouses were there to welcome little Mitch to the family. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. My Grandma got to hold him first but then I got to meet him. He was definitely the best xmas present ever!

Edited December 15, 2009 by gardengorilla

[+GATOULIS]

Well... I was thinking what to write here.... I admit that the most memorable presents I had where in my birthdays and one during Easter and not at Christmass... with an exception of a PS2 from my brother in law with 3 games....

Most of the presents were given to me when I was a child! I still have some!!!

I have the first plastic car I was given when I was a baby...

 

Holidays were difficult for us! My father was working all day and night at the hotel's restaurant, so we were seeing him only for some hours or the next day!!! In Greece, most of the times we give presents in the new years eve! As a tradition we have to wear something new! For christmas... I have to make something new in my manger!

 

I remember one day, it was Christmas.. when I came home after about 25 days I was in (I was in the army and we were not getting out often... especially during holidays...) the camp! When I entered in my room I thought I was in the wrong house!!! A TV and a stereo were there waiting me!!!! I was socked! I didn't know what to say!!! My mother bought one and my sister the other! The presents I was bringing were not so good.... I was bringing a teddy bear dressed like a commando to my sister and a huge pack of clothes to wash to my mother!!! I am kiding!

 

Well.. as I said, the most memorable presents were not during Christmas and one during Easter.... Shall I write about them????

 

I hope I am allowed..... but I will write my stories! I hope you will not be so bored with my huge post!!!

 

It is said that in a present the size or the cost doesn't matter, but it is the move you make to show to someone that you care and love him!

I agree with that but I have to add something else.... some times, presents are not material things!!!! A smile, something that your family or a friend may do to make you feel special and to show you what you mean to them are the best presents!!!!

 

Living in the borders of Greece and Turkey is not always something nice! We have troubles so... Well.. I am sure you heard about the situation with Imia islands in 1996 when greece and Turkey were about to have a war... The US president calmed the things down then....These island belong to Dodecanese like Rhodes...

 

I remember I was a child somewhere in the 1980's and had my birthday! My father was already at work! that day he desided to go earlier because he had asurprise for me! The confectioner of the restaurant (the restaurant of the hotel my father was working! my father was in the kitchen!) was a friend and they desided to make a beautiful birthday cake for me!!! It was ready in the morning! Unfortunatelly things with the neighbours were not good once again and (I am not suppose to say that...), army recall all men to go back in the army!!! That was not good at all!!! The army men found my father in the restauran and took him! They took all men from there! He was taken to a camp where they dressed him as a soldier, they gave him a riffle... as I said.. things were not good at all!!!

 

We didn't know anything about it! Midday had passed when we heard the door bell ringing! It was my father! He left the area they were...{like an outside camp...} (even it was not allowed...!!!) for a while he picked the cake and came to celebrate my birthday!!!! He was dressed like a soldier but instead of a gun he had a cake!!! He stayed until I blow the candles (and I was wearing my father's helmet!!!), he ate a little of the cake and left back to the area they were! I vivisted him 2 -3 times! He stayed there for a couple of weeks.... I do not remember... but the thing he had done was the biggest present I ever got!!!! He risked many things for that!!!!!

 

My other story has to do with Easter and when I was in the army! we were split in groups to take some days off to visit our families! I was in Athens! The Athenians were going to leave with the first or the third group (one week before or one week after easter), and the soldiers from other places far away... were going to leave with the second group ( in Holy week)! I was anxious and I was counting day until I take these days off and see my family! I had telephoned my parents to wait for me to celebrate all together!!! Unfortunatelly for me... a guy who already had taken his days off but he was a relative with the general.... (the general was his Uncle?) desided to take days off again!!! So... they picked one to go with the third group... the unlucky guy was me!!! I remember that day that we were waiting to leave we were cleaning the gound from the wild grass the cigarettes.... it was quite hard but I didn't care! We were all counting minutes when the officer came and told me that I had to go to help in the kitchen!!!! I explained that I was leaving but....

It was a terrible week at the kitchen! I was so mad about it!!!! I phoned my parents to tell them to celebrate without me and to tell them what happent!

The Easter day I had a terrible job! At first to be near the fire for 6 hours so the goat to be cooked and then to wash and clean all the food discs (more than 1000!!!)! the disks were creating towers and we were only 3 soldiers to clean them! I was hungry....I went to eat but they told me that they had forgoten to leave food!!! I was cooking the meat and I didn't eat any!!!! I started yelling and speaking "french" and I kicked the discs!!! I didn't want to wash them! I didn'e care about the prison!!! I started saying that I wanted to start raining so all the high officers leave the camp and sto eating!!! Oh boy... God heard me!!! It started raining so hard and the discs started clening by the rain! After that... things were easier!

anyway... the day to leave came... Easter had gone but at least I was going to see my parents.... do you know what they had done??? they were waiting me to come and celebrate all together Easter!!!! YES! we celebrated one week after!!!! I felt so... so... Sorry I cann ot find words to write!!!

 

Even if we are not exchanging presents at Easter... what my family had done was one of the greatest presents!!!!!

 

So... am I rights to love them so much???

 

sorry for the huge post and I am sorry if my stories were probably not what you wanted for the cointest!

[+gardengorilla]

Ah, I just remembered another Chrissy gift that was significant....do you all remember the year that you felt like childhood was over? Not the year that you found out about Santa but the year you were too grown up....I do. I remember my mum worrying over what it was a 13 year old would want for Christmas and on a very tight budget...she had me pick out my own prezzie and I bought my very own set of Reebok sneakers, my very first 'name brand' item! All that was not so bad but then she was very busy sewing and knitting other prezzies that she had me do the Christmas wrapping for everyone including myself! I remember unwrapping the shoes and thinking sarcastically (as 13 year olds do) 'wow, you should'nt have!'

 

Because it was the eighties and we were farmers, we didn't have a lot so the next year was tighter...but at least my mum had learned her lesson and decided to try and surprise me a 14 year old still likes surprises! Christmas morning we all woke up bright and early and ran to the living room to check out the tree, my sister who was 8 and my brother who was 2...there under the tree with a big bow around it was a sweet (but slightly used) boom box (as they were called in the 80's) my sister grabbed it and started thanking my parents when they told her it was for me the teenager, duh! For my sister were a used pair of cross country skis! That was a pretty tough year for her, she isn't very athletic and there was no way I was gonna let her keep up to me on the trails!

 

My parents were really inventive with the Chrissy presents when i was growing up, one year it was a chalkboard salvaged from the old school that was torn down, and always a new home made christmas outfit sewn or knitted! Dad would always go into town especially to get a load of Christmas candy and we would alternate between going to an 'Alberta aunties' house or a 'Saskatchewan aunties' house as my mum had 6 sisters. Holidays were filled with tons of cousins and food and Grandma would make each of us either a pair of mitts or wool slippers. Quite a feat for 60+ grandkids! If they didn't fit we would just swap on down the line until everyone was happy

 

Those are good memories! How is it that when you grow up Christmas becomes more about the shopping and obligatory parties and stuff that really doesn't matter?

[+gardengorilla]

The almost yearly trip to the emergency room. Funny when you look back on it. One year it was my Mom falling back onto the train display and taking a miniature light pole to the head. The next year is was my Dad with a scratched cornea from sawing wood for the fireplace.

 

or a nice memory

 

My Grandmother always hid a mini stocking for each of us on her tree, and it had a DOLLAR in it!!

 

oh, lol! I remember a trip to the ER the year I ate wayyyy to many Christmas oranges (mandarins)! Sheesh what an oinker!

[+GATOULIS]

hey!!!! I just remembered something... a somehow Crhistmass present that because of it.... my life changed a little... even if I was almost a baby!!!!

 

This present is nothing expensive, nothing serious, but for me, (I still have this present) is the most precious thing I have.....

 

Let's take them from the begining.....

 

Christmass was coming and we desided to go to Leros island to spend Christmass with my godfather (also my Uncle), my Aunt and my grantmother! It was so nice! I remember that it was one day before Christmas when we entered in the ship to go! To reach Leros from Rhodes, was about 7 - 7:15 hours, (the ships were old...) so there was plenty of time to meet other and play or for the grow up to talk....

 

my mother was talking with a women from Cyprus and I do not know how and why... they wanted my to sing the Christmass carols! I started singing them without stop!!! It was a nice thing for all in the ship, and was considered to be a blessing! as a tradition they were giving money to me!!! WOW!! A sailor from the ship who was actually a relative, came, took me in his hands and we went to all the passengers and the crue... I even reached at the ships bridge where the captain was!!!! I collected more money than the ones we had spend for the trip!!!!:

I think that at that time, I was the only child in the chip!!!

 

The woman from Cyprus gave me some money too and then she turned to my mother and gave her 2 coins from Cyprus!! they were 2 copper coins of 5 mils, dated 1963 and 1971! She told to my mother to keep them and give them to me when I will be a little older! By that we would all remember her!

 

Not only we still remember her but these were the first coins and because of them I started collecting coins! So... this present changed me and a new collector was born! I have now some nice expensive coins bought when I was working... but these 2 coins are my treasure!!!

 

I wish I had my multi machine so I could show them to you!!!

As I said, they are precious for me! their collectable value is too low, but who cares about collectable value!!! I wouldn't give them even with 1 million!!!

 

I found a photo of both sides in the netso you can see how they look like! This is not one of the coins I have... ok?

 

[+Laval K-9]

For me, Christmas is really just about family ... we would get together with my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins, for several days. It was huge and chaotic, but it was just right.

 

So the gifts were never the most important part ... visiting was. But you want a gift story, here is one.

 

One year, I got a pogo stick for Christmas. This is the shortest-lived gift ever. So me and my cousin head outside with it ... we bounce around on the patio for about 5 minutes. She slips on some ice and twists her ankle. You know how the rest goes, crying, ice on the injury, pogo stick taken away never to be seen again. Next day, some of us went ice skating at a rink nearby. Of course my cousin couldn't go with a bad ankle. She has never let me live this down. (And I don't know why it is my fault anyway).

 

Actually, this was a pretty common pattern ... No direct adult supervision (I am oldest, and 5 years older than my next cousin), I am in charge of 'the kids' (6 of us), the gang of us hatch some hare-brained idea (another one involved somersaults and pillows) ... someone gets hurt (not usually me), but of course it is my fault.

 

The story with the pogo stick made me laugh even though I was sorry for your cousin. Icy surface is not the best place to use a pogo stick

 

Thanks to all for sharing your Holiday memories with us!

[+Wandering Vikings]

My favorite Christmas gift ever was a fairly recent one. Three Christmases ago Holmbiorn and I went down to look at the village that is set up around our city center every year.

While walking around the lights and minature buildings that are set out and decorated he pulled me to one side, told me how amazing the past year had been and how the only thing that could possibly make him any happier would be if we made it official...

Then he got down on one knee in the snow and proposed!

 

Everytime I glance at my left hand I still get that giddy feeling of a kid on Christmas morning.

 

[+kini_ont]

Well first thank you for the cointest drneal and having us all revisit those days that should be fun and happy and just give us a warm feeling during this festive time of the year.

 

The Christmas I most remember was the first Christmas I was married, Ki and I had gone to her parents house on Christmas Eve and had meat pie and cakes and cookies and then the whole family was off to midnight mass.

 

What I was not aware of was that an elf was visiting our home (her maid of honour) and was placing a little white and fluffy present under the tree. When we got home, to my surprise out came the cutest bundle of joy, we played for hours that night and she made herself at home, cozy between us for many years.

 

Here’s a picture of our Neige taken 35 years ago.

 

 

We later added to the family with a stray black cat named Spooky, they were quite the pair but that’s another story .

[+hollora]

Ralph, my husband, always asks me in the fall what I want for Christmas. In 2005, I told him a GPSr. He said, of course, "What's that?" So I explained to him I had found the information about Geocaching on line and I needed a GPSr to try it ~ and it sounded like fun.

 

Little did I know he would pursue the suggestion. He found mutual friends who were familiar with the technology from the Coast Guard, but they knew nothing of the sport. They took him to a store which sold the unit and of course the clerk talked him into purchasing a very expensive model for the time. The unit and a ton of extras were purchased.

 

On Christmas morning 2005, I opened a brand new Garmin Map76C unit. My son-in-law was a bit familiar with GPSrs so he turned it on and sort of set it up. I wasn't able to master things to find my first cache until January of 2006. This was, however, a lasting memory. This gift has given back to me in more ways then I could ever imagine. From getting me off the couch, making me move to get more healthy, to learning more about my state and gaining International friends, this present has continued to remind me how large the World really is - yet, how small.

 

It has given me a whole new circle of friends. And it sustained me with a sport which I used to de-stress, as an outlet, through my husband's cancer diagnosis (May 2006), surgery, recouperation and chemo. Every day I pick up that GPSr (battered and as scratched as it may be), I remember the Christmas morning I opened the package and my amazement he worked hard to find me that unit. It is also neat the new friendships Ralph and I share because of this present.

 

Today, Ralph is doing pretty good. Blood work is good and he feels good. He can't hike the trails with me - but he does ride in the car. He smiles a lot whenever he has a chance to tell folks about geocaching. If economic times were better my wish this year would have been for a new unit - instead - the old Garmin still gets me there and a gas card seems more appropriate.

 

DrNeal - thanks for the cointest and time to reflect. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all!

[+anne.and.eli]

Happy Holidays everyone!

 

My family is very close and Christmas is by far my favorite holiday because of it. We open gifts on Christmas Eve after dinner. Every year, my father starts asking for dinner at around 2p. Every year, someone always has to go to the bathroom right as we sit down to open gifts. My dad is always throwing a fit because he wants to open gifts!!

 

One year my dad surprised my mom by saying he would take care of Christmas dinner. That was the year we had take and bake pizza on paper plates.

 

As for a gift I've received...wow, I'm much more excited about giving gifts. However, this year Eli helped me pay for the cost of minting the Li'l Dreamer coin. It's my first coin so the whole process has been a bit tumultuous, but Eli's been very supportive of the whole thing. Really, who could ask for more?

[+redjada]

I remember going to get the Christmas tree. Mom, Dad, and my to brothers would pile into the 1967 Corvair convertible, top down of course. Once dad had picked out the tree, he told us kids to climb into the back seat. And set that sucker right down on top of us. Told us we had to hold on to it and not let it go. Remember holding on for dear life so it wouldn't fly out, freezing at the same time. Now those were the days. Makes me chuckle just thinking about.

[+FScout]

My favorite Christmas memory involves three special gifts.

 

 

I must have been around ten years old that year. We had gone to my grandmothers house in the country on Christmas Eve as usual. My little sister and I loved to shake the packages under the tree and try to guess what they were. One from my grandmother really had me stumped. What glorious rattling it produced.

 

 

My grandmother made a wonderful Christmas dinner, her best china on a beautifully set table with those darn glass teaspoons with different color spoons. I always loved those teaspoons. Coffee and boiled custard with cake was always served after dinner(I think my uncle had a drop or two of boubon in his custard.) Then off to the livingroom and with the coal fire burning in the grate, we opened our gifts. My mystery gift was a Scrabble game. Back then it was made with wooden tiles, thus the wonderful rattle. I still love that game.

 

 

That Christmas was not the norm as we usually had fairly mild winters. Not that year. When we looked outside, and it had been snowing. Snowing like we had never seen here before. My mother was really scared to try to drive us home. It was only about ten miles back to town but this was a snow storm like we had never seen before. Oh no, were we to miss Santa Claus?

 

 

My cousin volunteered to drive my mothers car home and my uncle followed in his car to take them back to the country. It was a very hairy and tense ride home, but we arrived safe and sound. We got to sleep in our warm beds and wake up Christmas morning at home.

 

 

My second gift was one more year of believing in Santa. How could I not? My family went to great risk to make sure we did not miss his visit and when I woke up the next morning I discovered a brand new bike that I knew my mom could not afford.

 

 

My bellef in Santa was renewed. You see my dad had died a couple of years before and I was just old enough that Christmas to understand the struggle my mom had to raise us alone. No way she could afford to buy me that brand new bike I wanted.

 

 

So my gifts were my wonderful memory of Christmas at Grandmothers house, the ride home, and a extension of my belief of Santa( ie, one more year of being a kid).

 

 

i wish I could thank my relatives for that wonderful Christmas memory but they are all gone now, but that Christmas and what they gave me will always live in my memories.

[+Dark Elf]

My favorite christmas memory was two years ago.

 

I had to go to the hospital on december 18th because my appendix had to be extirpate.

 

The docotrs said, that i definetly would be home on the 24th.

But on 23th they had to operate again, because there were some troubles.

 

I was quite sad and angry, because i didn't want to spend christmas in the hospital.

 

But then, in the evening the hole family and some friends came and brought presents, Christmas decoration and food.

 

They all sat around my bed and sang and talked and we had a lot of fun.

Because i couldn't be at home for christmas, they brought christmas to me in the hospital.

 

I was really touched, because i was not alone at christmas and they all came to celebrate it with me.

 

I don't exactly remeber the presents we had that day, but the biggest present was, that they were there.

 

I will never forget this christmas.

 

 

Merry Christmas everyone!

[+drneal]

And the winners (randomly drawn,) are

 

LadyBee4T - the Christmas Ornamnet

gardengorilla - Kathy's Coin

 

Thanks to all of you that shared a memory, but now it's Christmas eve...go out and create a special memory for someone you love!

 

ILYK

[Maine Family]

And the winners (randomly drawn,) are

 

LadyBee4T - the Christmas Ornamnet

gardengorilla - Kathy's Coin

 

Thanks to all of you that shared a memory, but now it's Christmas eve...go out and create a special memory for someone you love!

 

ILYK

Congratulations to you both. Thank you DrNeal, this was fun to read and participate in.

 

Merry Christmas.

[+GATOULIS]

Congratulations to the winners!!!!

 

Thank you DrNeal my friend for the cointest! It was so fun to read and post here!

 

Merry Christmas to all!!!!

[+drneal]

Forgot to mention a "Mission Cointest", that's right, "Mission Cointest" coming the end of Jan. 2010 !

 

ILYK

[+kini_ont]

And the winners (randomly drawn,) are

 

LadyBee4T - the Christmas Ornamnet

gardengorilla - Kathy's Coin

 

Thanks to all of you that shared a memory, but now it's Christmas eve...go out and create a special memory for someone you love!

 

ILYK

 

Congrat's Ladies

Thanks drneal for the cointest and thanks everyone for the great stories

[ATMouse]

Congrats to the winners, and thank you for the cointest that got so many good responses!!

 

[mud4x4]

Congratulations to the winners.

Thank You drneal for the great cointest.

It was nice to dig up fond memories and to read others memories.

[+hollora]

Congrats to the winners. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas holiday and will have a Happy New Year!

[+anne.and.eli]

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you everyone for sharing your stories.

[+LadyBee4T]

I just got home and discovered that my name had been generated byt the random number generator. I enjoyed reading all the memories--so much so that I had forgotten that it was actually a cointest!!

 

Thanks drneal for fun and all the memories and thanks for the cointest!

 

Happy Holidays to all!!