Christmas Memories

A friend posted on Facebook the other day asking for our favorite memories. She wanted to give her kids memories, not presents because she treasured the memories of Christmas from her childhood.

It got me to thinking about my favorite memories and I'd like to share them with you.

When my sister & I were young, we lived in an apartment above the clubhouse of a golf course. Dad worked on Christmas running the course and had to be ready for the golfers before the sun came up. But he always wanted to be there when we opened presents. We'd get up and open our presents, hug and kiss mom & dad then go back to bed with a toy or two. Dad would go to work. Mom would get busy in the kitchen. Not for us really, but for the golfers. The café at the golf course was closed for the holiday and mom couldn't let the golfers go home with empty bellies. There were pies to be baked, cookies to be put out, veggies to steam, meats to roast, drinks to chill and pineapple chunks to soak in rum. We'd wake up again to the savory smells coming from the kitchen and play as golfers streamed into the dining area mom had set up as a buffet with candles and decorations.

There was warmth and love flowing throughout our home.

Several years later, I was away at college - what felt like a world away from family and friends. I had just escaped from a violent marriage, was facing Christmas alone and feeling all the lonelier as my friends at school had gone home. I cried myself to sleep holding onto the one thing that kept me going, my dog Max. For a tree, I cut down with a kitchen knife a little scraggle of a tree (think Charlie Brown), wrapped the trunk in rags so it would stand upright in the holder and threw some tinsel and lights on it. At least I'd have a tree even if there were no presents underneath. My cupboards were pretty bare - hotdogs and Top Ramen were the fare for most days and I wondered if I should splurge.

A few days before Christmas, a man I had been tutoring called and invited me to spend the day with him and his family. He was a man who had seen the underbelly of humanity in himself and was fighting his way out of the waste he had become. She was the daughter of a preacher who saw the potential of the man he wanted to be. They had four kids together and they all loved to sing - so did I. They had no more than me as they were also college students and struggling to make ends meet. But they had room in their home and their hearts for a lonely woman on Christmas.

We ate food from their garden preserved for the winter, sang Christmas carols and filled their home with warmth and love.

These are memories I will treasures for as long as I may.

Merry Christmas.
Heidi