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We spent one Christmas day in Disney World with our four children, thinking we’d have the place to ourselves. Hah! Who knew it was its busiest day? It was so cold the kids wore their winter coats and we had to buy them hats. We opened the tiny nominal presents we packed in the hotel room before we ventured out. We ended the day with the parade and fireworks, with my 5 year old sound asleep on her brother’s jacket on the street!

Our traditions? Champagne all day. The girls play Dirty Scrabble. We laugh a lot. Life is good.

Liz, your first married Christmas sounds really special!

My first married Christmas was my worst ever for a variety of reasons.  It was the first Christmas after my brother had died and my parents went to stay with my older brother across the country.  My younger brother went to stay with his girl friend.  It was my first Christmas without any of my family members.

And we got my mother-in-law for a week.  She was really difficult to get along with at the time - she spent most of the holiday telling me not to feel sorry for myself and that everyone had their own “crosses to bear.” And my new husband (who has wised up considerably since then!) spent the whole time siding with his controlling mother instead of his grieving wife. 

Well, enough of bad memories!  Since then, Christmases have been wonderful!  We celebrate at our house with my parents and brother, and having kids makes all the difference in the world.  The one odd thing we do is open all our gifts (except those from Santa) on Christmas eve.  My mother is from Germany - where it’s the norm - and we’ve had this tradition my whole life and we’ve carried it on with my family.

And on the Wii front - my husband left the house before 6:00 yesterday morning and still came away empty handed.  He went to get in line at one store that only had 5 people in line and the manager came out and told them they had TWO.  My son is now getting a new guitar for Christmas (he’s taking lessons anyway).

This past Thanksgiving we spent on a cruise which was the first time in 45 years that I broke from tradition.  It was great and I would do it again, even though everyone commented on the turkey dinner Thanksgiving Day, which I thought was fine, but then again I didn’t have to cook it so PB&J would have been great, too.

We are pretty vanilla so we don’t have any unconventional holiday traditions that I can think of.

Best holiday ever would probably be the first Xmas my husband and I spent married and in our own home.  I remember being excited about decorating “my” house and tree, sitting in front of the tree after everyone left on Xmas eve, cuddling and sharing Xmas memories and future expectations.

After twenty-two years we still like to sit in front of the tree at night when things settle down and just admire the lights and cuddle.  It is probably our most peaceful time during the holiday season.

Liz, that sounds like it was an amazing first Christmas together.  I love that story.

My family (13 total with grandma, nieces, etc) spent 2 weeks in CanCun over Christmas and New Years.  That was a blast.

In our house growing up Santa would attach a string to our stocking and we woud follow it around to find a special gift.  The rest were under the tree but there was always one that Santa was extra excited about us getting that was on the end of that string.  I’m 30, married and have 2 kids and we all still get a string gift in our house.  Apparently Santa is considering retiring but we’ve been bribing him with good wine and food on Christmas Eve so he keeps doing the strings.  That’s my favorite Christmas tradition.

I think being a military family, you adapt to what is going on around you. When we were stationed in Japan, live Christmas trees were dear..($$$$) and we had to wait in line to get one!
One Valentine’s day found us in Dublin, Ireland (rough, that!) thinking we’d find a cozy, romantic place to eat..so did all of Dublin. There was not a eatery for miles that had an opening, all which had been booked mths. in advance. So we ate KFC in Dublin, but we were sitting across from the Guiness brewery.! Found a great pub after, though!

The worst ones were the deployed ones. (Hugs to you, Gannon..) unfortunately, many are having those these days. I felt last year when hub was deployed I just want to get Christmas over with..humbug! Not too good w/3 kiddies..
Well, delayed the shopping long enough, I’m off..

Liz, your first married Christmas sounds wonderful. What a memory to cherish.

What a lovely and romantic story, Liz!  I’ve often thought of how we have so little when we first get married and yet we’re so rich in every way that truly matters.

Carolyn, I can sympathize with you about your brother.  I lost one of my brothers just a couple of months ago.  He left behind 4 young children ages 12 to 3, so this will probably the worst ever Christmas for my family.

For the most part our family traditions are fairly conventional except for our Christmas eve.  We usually started Christmas eve with my cousins coming over (They had 12 kids and we had 10).  Our very small house (with just one bathroom) was overflowing with kids, parents and dogs.  We’d always have koolaid and cookies while listening to the story of the first Christmas.  The noise level in the house was always loud enough to damage hearing as everyone had to talk louder to be heard over everyone else.  My dad was usually wrestling with my brothers and older male cousins in the middle of the living room, making my mother furious.  My aunt was the ultimate feel-good person so she was always telling my siblings and myself how brilliant and how talented we all were.  My younger sister, Juliann, and I always had 3 or 4 of our female cousins in our bedroom making up some sort of skit that we would perform, thus generating more of those compliments from my aunt.  My uncle, who was about 17 years older than my dad, would usually turn down his hearing aid and read the paper.  there was usually at least one of the younger kids crying, spilt koolaid on the kitchen floor, people fighting over the limited seating in the living room, the dogs getting underfoot and my brother Michael stressing out on a major level (he’s autistic and doesn’t like crowds). 

All the noise and chaos always made Christmas eve one of my favorite nights of the year.

I am having trouble thinking of a special memory today. I think I need cheering up.

This will maybe sound odd, but I’ve spent a couple of very nice Christmases at work.  I used to work, first as a nursing assistant and then as a nurse, at a nursing home, and since our family Christmas was usually on a different day, I volunteered to work Christmas Day even if it wasn’t my holiday to work.  I enjoyed being able to spread some Christmas joy among the residents of the nursing home, everyone was always in a festive mood, and it was very rewarding.

My favorite Christmas was the one where I first met Steve’s family.  He was my boyfriend of 6 months then and we drove from central California to central Texas.  It was the first time I wouldn’t be around my family for the holidays and the second Christmas without my daddy.  It was GREAT they made me feel like I was one of their family as soon as I walked through the door.  And even though I was so shy I avoided them every chance I got, they still hugged me and tried to talk to me.  There were many nights I would cry because they accepted me like a daughter...like my daddy did.  No strings and his mom and I had reading in common so we talked a lot about that and they even gave me a photo album that Steve’s Nana made for me with pictures of Steve as a little boy and teenager.  It was great!

My first MARRIED Christmas, my husband of almost a year had just come home from Japan for the holidays and I was in the hospital after having my gall bladder removed.  There was still 5 days till Christmas when they released me and we drove again from California to Texas.  It was painful, but with the help of percocet and my fluffy pillow I slept the whole way.  When we got there, we fought most of the time or I was asleep.  I finally started to feel better on Christmas Eve.  That year I got a mink blanket and Japanese crafted jewelry box with a necklace in it. 

The worst MARRIED Christmas was when Steve was in the sand box and I had a 2 year old.  It was so hard to keep a happy face.  I just wanted to get it over with.

This year’s going to be very different since hubby, son, and myself are in Japan and all the family is in the states.  I’m so homesick it physically hurts.  *sigh* Oh well…

Here’s hoping all your holidays are the best this year!

Big hugs, Billie, on your loss. Christmas is so hard after losing a loved one. I’ll keep your family in my thoughts.

Hugs to you, too, April, on the homesickness. I spent a fair number of Christmases away from my family in those early years (and that was back when we all got along *G*), but I was always glad I at least had my hubby with me. And now, I think it makes the holiday that much more special when we can all be together and put our differences aside for a day.

Carolyn, it’s good to know your Christmases improved after that first. (I sympathize, as I have an m-i-l much like yours. Oog.) And, hey, there’s a lot to be said for guitars. My son got one for his birthday a few years ago and loved it.

I love hearing about everyone’s traditions and Christmases past. Dirty Scrabble sounds like too much fun, and I adore the string idea.

And like Mary, I must brave the shopping crowds today. Will check back in later. In the meantime, keep sharing stories. Kay needs cheering!

My favourite Christmas tradition is one no one else in the family knows about. NO ONE. And I plan on keeping it that way, so no, you may NOT rat us out. It started the year we first moved in together, with our first Christmas tree, rather bare with only a few strings of lights and a dozen or so ornaments. It looked so pretty, and hubby looked so...alpha male yummy after sneaking the tree into our apartment building (no real trees allowed), wrestling it into place, hanging the lights, etc. So we made love right there on the floor with only the lights from the tree. It’s a tradition we’ve kept ever since. A little trickier now that we have kids and host Christmas here for both our families, but I wouldn’t give it up for the world.

Billie, I’m so sorry about your brother.  It’s been 16 years for us, but I still remember how difficult that first year was.  Every occasion had a such a huge hole in it.  I wish your entire family the best this Christmas; I hope there are good memories among the difficult ones.

Carolyn

Most of my Christmas memories just sort of meld together with one another, memories of family and church and scores of traditions. The Christmases that stand out are the sad ones--the first Christmas after the death of a loved one. But I do remember one Christmas gift that still has an impact on who I am.

My senior year in high school my mother had just been diagnosed with a heart condition. My sister, brother, and I were all teenagers, old enough to understand that the loss of her income and the medical bills meant Christmas would be modest in the gift department.  My mother always became a kid again at Christmas, and Santa still brought out big gifts. But I wasn’t expecting much. Moreover, college was looking unlikely in the new circumstances, and I was depressed and angry with life.

My gift from Santa was a set of pale blue Samsonite luggage, wildly impractical but it was something I had longed for to complete my image of myself going away to college. The tag from Santa read “for your college years” and then “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1” More important than the gift was the example of my parents’ faith holding fast even during a dark time. I later learned that my dad had worked a second job to buy our Christmas gifts that year, and my parents’ sacrifice and the blessing of three different scholarships made my college years possible. That Christmas is a memory that I have held fast to whenever life has handed me difficult times. More than four decades later, it is still a special memory.

My story isn’t Christmas but Thanksgiving.

In 02, my husband was working in Tarragona, Spain. I flew over one week and we had Thanksgiving on the Mediterranean coast. We at our Thanksgiving dinner in a restaurant that was once some sort of ancient Roman structure.  We never could quite understand if it was a residence or something else. Our Catalan language skills were as sketchy as their English. I ordered grilled shrimp and expected something along the lines I would get in the states.  Ha!  Do you know how unnerving it is to have your food staring at you while it swing like a pendulum on this huge metal skewer? Yes, my shrimp still had their heads.  They were quite tasty once hubby helped me get them off the skewer (imagine a crossbow bolt which could penetrate a concrete wall) and get them peeled.

The following two days we spent site seeing other ancient Roman structures throughout the city, drove to Barcelona for shopping and site seeing and visited a monastery which sat atop a mountain.  When we were given directions to the monastery and told it was on top of a mountain, we just figured it was a really big hill.  Nope…it was a mountain.  We were actually above the clouds.  I was thankful we didn’t encounter one of the tour bus going up or down on those extremely narrow roads.  We spent our last afternoon walking along the beach over in Salo. Definitely a holiday I won’t soon forget.

26 years ago, I spent the week between Christmas and New Years in Puerto Rico showing off my 4-month-old daughter to my extended family and in-laws.  I was based at my in-law’s house in Santurce.  What a noisy place that time of year.  Every night, we were plagued with “el asalto” (the assault).  During the wee hours, neighbors of all sorts come to the door or marquesina (gated porch) and make a racket.  Once the unsuspecting householder opened their doors, they are regaled with traditional music and humorous implorations begging the recipient to let the group in and allow them to partake in the holiday fare that was standard in practically every Puerto Rican home.  This went on for hours almost every night.  I got no sleep until I went to Naguabo, which is where my father’s family is from.  There I was lulled to sleep by “coquí, coquí” every night and not an “asalto” in sight.

My favorite Christmas is the Christmas when my daugter, Katie Scarlett was old enough to enjoy the holiday. She was two years old. I found a beautiful green velvet dress trimmed in pink ribbons. All of my siblings gathered at my house for the holidays. All of the kids were young enough to enjoy the magic of the season. Oh wait, I still enjoy the magic of the season.

This year is a happy/sad Christmas. My youngest sister, Alicia, is terminally ill with a brain tumor. But we are so grateful that she is here this Christmas 18 months after her brain surgery. No one is more grateful than Alicia. She is spending Christmas with her children. Alicia loves being a mom. She spent her life mothering everyone. She knows that every minute counts, so she enjoys each day.

This season really enjoy the gift of love and friendship. It is all that really matters.

Liz, my husband and I were married spur of the moment and spent 3 months apart afterward. We didn’t even get a honeymoon. We drove straight from Vegas to San Diego where I caught a flight back to my Texas hometown. I didn’t see him for 3 months (Navy guy).

Thankfully though, he had come to visit me for that Christmas and that’s when we decided to drive all the way to Vegas to get married.

On the 29th of December we will celebrate our 5th Anniversary. And I’m so glad he’s out of the Navy so we can spend our holidays together.

Liz, What a wonderful story, that’s the stuff true romance is made of.

Nothing has happened like that for me....yet.  You just never know.

The only Christmas tradition is one I started 20 years ago, giving everyone a box of socks.  In the “lean” years, it was what was needed not wanted.  But the kids have had such good laughs over it, I send them socks, no matter where they are at Christmas. And since I became a grandma today for the first time, I’ll be sending a very tiny box up north.

Liz,

I’ve been following your Wii story. Nick wants one, too. John and I finally had to camp out at Best Buy Saturday night. 9:30 p.m to 7:00 a.m. We were the oldest people there. All we needed was a Craftmatic bed and a Matlock DVD to complete the picture.

It was an interesting experience to say the least, but well worth the look I’ll see on Nick’s face. We decided to go camp out on the spur of the moment, so we left without a good story for his older brother to explain why we were gone. He told him we were at an all night prayer vigil for a charity.  I was impressed with his creativity, but a tad concerned how easily my 15-year-old son came up with such a plausible sounding cover story!

Our “newest” tradition is a Brunch with Santa at our house on the Saturday before Christmas. We’ve done it for about six years and it has grown to me fixing brunch for 40 or so people. Santa shows up after we eat. I always make a point to take a group photo of all the kids in attendance with Santa. Of course, some of those kids are really kids anymore, but I still make them get in the picture. They’ll thank me someday.

Lovely blog, Liz!

Fascinating stories, everyone!

Prudence said, “And since I became a grandma today for the first time, I’ll be sending a very tiny box up north.”

CONGRATULATIONS!

What a wonderful story!  My favorite Christmas was in 2003 since that was the year I had my first child.  Christmas is so much more special when you have a child.  A special tradition we have is to celebrate Epiphany, which is when the three Kings journeyed to see Jesus in the stable.  We give each other a small gift that costs no more than $10.00 in honor of the occasion.  It stretches out the holiday fun and gives us something to look forward to when Christmas and New Year’s are over.

My favorite Christmas was when I was thirteen. I’d been begging for a horse over six years.

That was the year my parents announced they thought I was serious and took me shopping for my “Christmas horse”. He was delivered on Christmas Eve, and while I didn’t have anything under the tree on Christmas morning, it didn’t matter to me.

My parent made a huge sacrifice to buy and board that horse for me. What a great present for a thirteen year old girl - her very own horse!

We open all of our presents on Christmas Eve.  On Christmas Day, nieces and nephew get their stockings and their big presents from Santa.

Sorry that this is Sooo long Liz but you Did ask...Who else has spent a holiday doing something you normally wouldn’t?

New Years Eve 2001

I am not by nature a quiet woman. So to be honest with you, I had to bite my tongue…Hard...so that the words “What the Hell have you gotten me into now” didn’t spew from my mouth. Dear Lord. Nothing had ever prepared me for this…this Crazy Place. It seemed wild and untamed. Populated with silent, dangerous looking hulks of men dressed in cowboy boots and hats and big belt buckles that boasted of Peterbilts or Caterpillars or of God Blessin’ Somethin’or Other. I closed me eyes and pressed myself further into the booth. Maybe this was just a bad dream…OR Maybe…maybe I had died in that last car accident and I was in …
“Heck…” My eyes flew open. Noooo heck wasn’t quite the word I was thinking of.  “Heck,” my Husband said again. “I think that that lady sitting in the next booth is a Lot lizard! Don’t look.” Don’t look?  Well telling me not to do something is pretty much going to guarantee that I’m Gonna Do it. I glance over at the woman and her “date”.  She stares back at me with a cool look that clearly says “What’s your problem, honey? A girl has gotta make a living somehow…” Dear Lord. Is This how I am going to be spending my New Years Eve from now on? In places like This? LAST YEAR I was at a Company function dressed in a formal black dress and high heels … And now, now I was sitting in one of the wildest truck stops in West Virginia. Surrounded by truckers and ladies of the evening. OMG, four months ago my husband had a white-collar job, with a big expense account and a big car allowance (they paid all of his gas too, my dears…sigh) Unfortunately there were big responsibilities that went along with all of that big “stuff”. After 9 11 my DH decided that life was too short to spend your life as a rat in the corporate rat race…I agreed that a change would do us good. But buying a semi (see Connie Brockway’s blog on the Worst Gift Anyone Ever gave you) was Not what I had in mind. Dear Lord, I Was a Corporate Wife for gosh sakes…not a … I thought that I was hiding my feelings pretty good. But I couldn’t fool the waitress. She saw right through me when I told her that I wasn’t going to eat because I wasn’t hungry. . When my DH was up at the buffet getting food she came over to the booth where I was sitting.  “What’s wrong Sugar?” the waitress asked. How to put it into words what I felt…Without insulting her and everyone else in the joint. What I wanted to say was “I don’t belong here”. But instead I muttered “It’s New Years Eve and this is just not very romantic.” That comment made the Lot Lizard laugh.  The waitress gave the whore a dirty look before she answered me. “Well, aren’t you with your husband tonight? Lots of folks here would like to be with the people that they love. But they can’t.  So don’t you think that you just being able to be with your husband is romantic?” Dear Lord, the woman was right. I gave her a shame faced smile and said “Yes Ma’am. I guess that I am hungry after all. I’ll take the buffet too…” After I sat back down in the booth with my plate piled high with some good ol’ Southern’ cookin’ the waitress hurried over. She set a lit candle on our table. The candle was sitting in a glob of butter that someone had tried, not very successfully, to sculpture into a rose. Then she untwisted the light bulb that hung above our heads. “There,” she drawled “now That’s romantic…” And you know what? It Really was romantic… just sitting there with my DH in that crazy truck stop somewhere in West Virginia. Because I realized that few things in life are more precious than being able to be with someone that you love. Even the woman sitting in the booth next to us was touched by the tender scene. It could have been the candle light reflecting off her eyes…but I swear that ol’ lot Lizard got all teary eyed.

Now Liz, I won’t say that New Years Eve of 2001 was the best holiday I ever enjoyed. But my DH and I Certainly had some of the best…um, well you know what two peple do who love each other and um yah…

Merry Christmas to All of you.  Have a Happy New Year.
Julie

My worst holiday ever was Thanksgiving 1987.  My ex-husband was in Korea (he was in the Air Force) and I was in FL, away from all family, with a 3 year old and a 8 month old.  Everyone else was with family or friends that day, but I sat home alone.  I don’t remember all the details of the day, but I do remember eating a turkey tv dinner.  It didn’t feel like Thanksgiving at all, it felt like just another day to get through. 

--dorothy

Such beautiful stories everyone!

My favorite so far is my last Christmas with my paternal grandfather, Grandaddy, in 1998.  My husband and I got into the giving spirit that year which in itself was a wonderful experience.  I was able to arrange my work schedule so I didn’t have to rush everywhere and all of our families were able to be together at our respective gatherings.  We didn’t receive a lot of gifts and of the ones we did receive none had to be returned.  It was ordinary, perfectly traditional, amazing and wonderful and it was my merriest one yet.

Even though I had to miss some of my family celebrations I have to agree with what Beth W said earlier, working on Christmas Day can be pretty fun and rewarding too.  I’ve worked at a small town radio station for the past 12 years.  The first few years I had to work 10 am to 4 pm on Christmas Day.  It was like getting to be a part of everyone’s Christmas.  We always played all Christmas music all day Christmas Eve and Christmas Day which was fun most of the time.  It was always pretty quiet but when the phone finally did ring it was usually someone being extremely nice and wishing us all a Merry Christmas.

Sorry to say I have no strange Christmas stories, My favorite Christmas, there have been too mant to name. Not because of gifts and such, but because of my Dh and 2 children. I could tell about my first Christmas as a Mom, or the Christmas after my Son was born, but to choose would diminish the wonder I feel every Christmas when I watch my kids under the tree on Christmas.
I am, however, loving all the stories here.

Liz,

One year, my family and I (3 brothers and my parents) decided we’d do something different and we had our Christmas Dinner at Pizza Hut as well.  This Pizza Hut was located 2 towns away from mine (30 min. drive and yes, we lived in a small town....Population 1600) but we enjoyed it.  We were NOT the only family eating there that night and Dad brought all his change so that we could play with the arcade games.  We stopped by Blockbuster to rent movies for our brand new VCR!!!!!!  We were young, gifts were not as extravagant as they are this year, but we spent it as a family, for better or worse.

I’m so glad you remembered your time with your Military Hubby.  I dated a sailor once and flew over to Norfolk, VA during Valentine’s Day weekend.......our meal was delayed by a day (ship got in a day late) and by the time he got off duty, it was really late, so IHOP had to suffice.  It was still memorable though.

Happy Holidays!!

g

I don’t think I have a terribly unconventional Christmas to share, but I do have a wonderful one…

A few years ago, my husband and I FINALLY decided to go to England to visit my third cousins in Nottingham...we’d been e-mail friends with my dad’s cousin’s children (got that?) for years, but had never got up the gumption (or the cash) to go ahead and visit.  We thought we might have a mediocre welcome and get a free meal out of it, at the least, but to our everlasting surprise, we arrived to open arms, invitations to their neighbours’ dinners, beer, brandy, and whatever we wanted--including the blessing of the local priest.  We were treated like absolute royalty as Americans (hee), and I can still remember everyone fawning all over us as if we were benign aliens.

It was incredibly memorable, being treated like gold by long-lost family.

Emily:

My husband has distant relatives in Italy.  His cousin went several years ago on a geneology research trip and was welcomed with open arms by their relatives.

I keep trying to get him over there, but he drags his feet.  Some day I will get there and we will look up his relatives. 

You have given me even more hope that they will be open and welcoming to our visit.  Not to stay with them but to break bread and “catch up”.

Thanks,

I was 12… I had been introduced in Home Ec to this great new invention… The Microwave.  I went home and HAD to show my dad this wonderful tool that my mom absolutely needed!  We went to the appliance store… We blew up marshmallows and cooked hotdogs in 45 seconds… It was pre-teen bliss.  My dad bought one. 

Skip ahead 3 days to Christmas and imagine my mother’s lack of enthusiasm upon opening an appliance. 

My little brother and I got sick melting/exploding/heating everything in the pantry.... My dad learned if it had a plug, it wasn’t a present… and my mom eventually got something small and shiny that fit on her finger…

All in all, a great memory!

This one isn’t shaping up so well.  My sister separated from her evil husband a few weeks ago...and now he wants to COME HERE for Christmas to prove himself to her, because, well, Christmas is at my house this year.

Oy.  He’s such a tremendous a$$hole.

And my mother just gave me her virus that has me going off like Old Faithful....

I know it!--too much information, but you did ask, Liz.

I love your tropical Christmas, Liz.  It reminds of the time we spent Christmas in BVI listening to reggea..reggae...(WHATEVER)..Christimas carols next to the decorated Frangipani tree. 

My best Christmas was probably when I brought home my daughter for the first time(her birthday is today).  Christmas morning, we set her little seat under the tree and snapped a million pictures of the BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT EVER.

Wait a minute....

YOU DIDN"T ASK for the worst x-mas case scenario. 

Ooops.

The second year we were married my husband was stationed in Mississippi and it’s the only holiday I can remember (married 37 yrs.) that I wasn’t home. A bunch of us all got together and all brought a covered dish and it was a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I got all sorts of memories from Xmas time, I guess one of my favorite is from two Christmas ago, this was after my Grandma died and we had had a bit of a rough time getting used to the aftermath.

But that Christmas my mom made the usual food, only that she put too much salt on it and ended up creating a new dish, and then my cousin and aunt came over and my mom got drunk with white wine (she only had, like, a glass but she was foxed) and then we sat and watch Troy FIVE TIMES!!!

It was awesome!

And then we all fell asleep whichever way all over the couches.

And last year, we went up to Texas to visit my uncle and it was lovely even though traditionally we always stayed here in the city for X-mas.

And I remember the year my parents got me a scooter, I was sixteen, I think, but I wanted one so bad, and my dad got me one even though I was probably the only kid my age with one :D

:D

Well, dang, I didn’t mean to be gone all day. I apologize for flying the coop. I took gifts over to my mom that I’d bought for her to give other peopl, then stayed to wrap them, and time just got away from me.

But I’m crying with some of you and smiling with others. Christmas certainly does inspire the gamut of emotions and memories, doesn’t it? Thanks to all of you who’ve shared bits of your own Christmases past. I’ve loved reading every story.

Ana Maria, Puerto Rico truly is like no other place in the world, especially at Christmastime. I remember Epiphany being a big deal there, too. There were even three kings at Plaza las Americas for the kids to talk to. I thought that was the coolest thing. And I miss those coquis…

Prudence, we always got socks and underwear for one of our gifts as kids, and every now and then, I’ll put a gift of those under the tree for my husband and son, just to keep the tradition alive. Congrats to you on being a granma! According to my mom, it’s the best gig there is.

Jackie! We must do lunch and compare Wii war stories. Sounds like you guys REALLY had an experience. And I hear ya on the age thing--except for the woman buying Wiis for her grown sons, I was easily the oldest person in line. So can I, um, come to brunch...?

Avgirltx, I honestly think my husband’s frequent absences that first year are what made us get through that first year with flying colors. His cutter was under way every other week, and even when he was in port, he had duty twice a week. So during our time in PR, I saw him only five days out of every fifteen. Needless to say, those five days were extremely intimate--and not just physically. It may very well be why we’re still so close today. We spent way too much time apart when we were young.

Happy birthday to J’s daughter! How cool! My brother’s b-day is Wednesday, and although he always griped about having a Christmas birthday, I think he secretly loved lording it over the rest of us that he got feted twice this time of year (and still does).

Here’s hoping this Christmas brings a few happy memories for everyone. I’ll be thinking about those of you going through a rough patch. Hugs to you.

That’s a wonderful, romantic memory, Liz.

I don’t recall anything unconventional, but one year my father was in the hospital for Christmas so we celebrated there - bought a small potted tree we decorated and presents, though no goodies for him that night since it was too soon after his operation.

What a great way to start a life together, Liz!

Billie, I know exactly what you will be going through having lost my older brother two years ago and his birthday is on Christmas!  Bouble whammy, that!

Andi - LOVE your non-traditional tradition!  Your secret is safe with us!

My non-traditional tradition pales in comparison, lol!  My husband and I never exchange our gifts on Christmas day.  We wait until the Epiphany or Little Christmas.  It’s a tradition we started when we were dating in college.  We spent the holidays with our individual families but would get together on that date to exchange our presents.  It has never mattered what the gifts were but that we got to be together.

Liz,

Yes, let’s do lunch!  LOTS of news here, the biggest being that my 17-year-old stepdaughter is now living with us. And it’s been...well...different. (Trying to use nice words here...LOL.) I could use a one or two beer lunch with a friend!

Our brunch was this past Saturday and it was so much fun. I gave everyone a heads up when Santa would be arriving in the next five minutes. The little kids all ran to the front door and I had to heard them back to the living room so they wouldn’t see him arrive in his pickup truck.  You and the family are officially invited for next year.  : )