I have too many wonderful memories I hold close this time of year. All the kids and men getting in the back of my PapPaw's Studebaker pickup to go looking for the perfect tree out in the country, my uncle taking his sweet time to get dressed before we could go see what Santa brought, dollar bills tied to the tree from my PapPaw for the little kids, sitting at the kids table for dinner, the smell of a new box of 64 crayons and activity books, warm kitchens busy with activity and no question of where we would all be for the holidays....together at home!

We lived on a farm and had no money but what I remember is going out in the woods with my parents to cut down our Christmas tree and my Mom decorating it with walnuts that she painted and her beautiful glass ornaments. I always wanted so much but got very little, if I got a doll it was because my Aunt sent it to my Mom to give to me from Santa, I got doll clothes made by my Grandmother and a doll bed made by my Dad, but you know those are the greatest memories you can have and I always thought I got the best presents from Santa and forgot about all that I wanted. My childhood was wonderful, living on a farm and being poor, so many other experiences made up for it.

I actually have two, One time Santa placed mixed shelled nuts in my stocking and he dropped some of them and they rolled under my bedroom door. The other is when I got my metal flying saucer, I remember rolling it into my parents bedroom at 4 in the morning and my dad said Go back to bed it's to early to get up" So I rolled it back into my bedroom and sat in it until 5 a.m. I never lived that one down.

remember the Quaker Oats round boxes?? we would save them to make a doll cradle for my little sister. We saved scraps of cloth left from making our clothes. And my great aunt in NYC who was a church social worker would assemble a box of scraps of lace, velvets and things the elderly ladies would give her. Odd items left over from a bazaar, I suppose. She was a fairy godmother to us.

I was about 9 yrs old and I got a shooting gallery from my Grandmom and my sister got a Barbie. I was always so tomboyish. But boy did I love that shooting gallery. I still target shoot to this day!

The food smells the tree a new purse with 50 cents or a one dollar piece inside and candy. A new doll and a real tree. I was about 9

My brother and my little sister an I used to make a MAP of the stairs where they creaked so we could sneak down and catch Santa. Naturally we slept thru. This is so warmly remembered now as my brother died last year.
Mary

we lived in a tent in West Dallas,Daddy worked for 50 cents and hour, Our stockings were penned to the wall of the tent, OOOOOOh there was an apple and an orange and some nuts , OMG in the very bottom of the stocking there was a tiny bottle of perfume....... What a great memory the love we all felt for each other.

I was 10 when I received the one thing I wanted - a Patti Playpal doll. I was disappointed at first because she was hidden. All I saw was a tea set. Then my mother told me to open the big box. Out she tumbled with my cousin's outgrown size 3 clothes. I was so excited and happy. My mom was a single mom so I know she saved a long time to buy me that doll.

Chicken Pox!!! But it's Christmas eve and I am in the choir! Hm m m, No fever Mom said. I will never know if my classmates got the Pox. Mother allowed me to go sing anyway.
I spent Christmas Day alone doing a paint by number. I watched a TV program ,"I remember Mama" . The one where the animals could speak on Christmas Eve.