My memory, is when my mother would make christmas cookies and my 2 sisters and I would each decorate them. We made one special for Santa Claus. We put them on a plate, along with a glass of milk and carrot for the reindeer.
In the morning, we would look at the christmas tree with it's lights and packages wrapped so neatly, but, first, we wanted to see which Christmas cookie santa chose to eat.
Well, each year Santa had eaten them all, but, each year we do the same

The year I go my doll, I still have her. Her eyes don't move anymore and she is a bit "aged" but she is mine!

1973 - Opening my gift from Mom & Dad - a Singer Featherweight sewing machine. I was 13 years old, learning to sew, and as they say, the rest is history :) I still have the old girl, sews as well today as the first day I got her.

I got ice skates and my parents had flooded our side yard so I could use them right away and learn at home. What an awesome day that was.

The year my dad convinced us to leave a beer for Santa instead of the milk. I was so surprised that Santa actually drank the beer with his cookies.

Daddy had been hurt in a farming accident so there wasn't a lot of extra money. Mom and Dad had always told us that they had to pay Santa so that he could afford to have all the hay and oats shipped in to feed the reindeer. Being farm kids we understood that. Mom told us that she could only afford to spend $5 on each of us so we should pick something that cost $5 or less. OH NO! The little stuffed dalmation I wanted was $7! When the store owner asked me if I was going to have Santa bring me "Freckles" (I'd already named him) for Christmas, I explained the whole story. He listened intently and just nodded as though he understood completely. Imagine my surprize on Christmas morning when Freckles was waiting for me under the tree! Not only did I get the dog but a neighbor had given mom a large teenage doll that her daughter didn't want and mom had made lots of clothes for her. I don't remember what my younger brothers had asked for but the neighbor had also given mom some like-new toy tractors and farm equipment that her boys had outgrown. Even though money was tight and we thought we weren't going to have a very big Christmas it was one of the best ever.

One year Santa had gone way overboard the entire living room covered in presents my mom was a single mom and all I remember is the unwrapped sleeping bags and her love!

Haveing a live tree ! And we would throw tinsel on it and after we went to bed they would pull it and drape it and Christmas morning was when the lights were turned on the 1st time and the tinsel made the color lites spectacular ! And of course the smell of the tree ! Thanks this was a gift in and of itself to recall that. Warm hugs

Going with my Dad to pick out the tree, I felt so important! And getting my ice skates, daddy flooded our driveway so I could skate in a safe spot. And seeing my big dsis ccome throiugh the front door dressed to the nines yelling Merry Kiss My a__. she had been living in New York at the time, and we didn't know she was coming. That became our special greeting to each other until she died.

The first Christmas Eve after my divorce, I was all alone, my daughter had went to her dads. The house was soo empty and cold ( living on very tight budget). I had gotten out her presents to put under the tree. That year I had got her pantys, bras and sox along with a few other presents for Christmas. I had started crying when I was putting out her gifts, then I kinda just loss it and started hanging all the pantys ( yes there was a thong ) bras and sox on the tree. She was so astonished when she came home Christmas day!to find a tree covered in underware lol. This has become a Tradition that we continue to this day! Merry Christmas.
oops, suppose to be childhood memory, but we really did not have Christmas when II was a child, family to strick.

Probably the Christmases that all of the cousins were together were the best. Other than that there really weren't any spectacular or memorable gifts in my childhood.

Love your story, I can just see your sis coming through that door.

2007 All of our kids and grandkids were home. We only get that every 3 to 5 years so it is special when they do come home. One family is missionaries in the Philippines.

the first year I lived with my grandparents away from my brothers and sisters in a tiny village (24 families) in rural Maine.

The school Christmas pagent was held in the only church in town -- My grandfather was the minister. The pagent was a series of vignets (sp??) using I'm dreaming of a white christmas with the Bing Crosby record in the background. There was a mildly retarded girl who wasn't able to memorize lines or actions. The teacher had her play the "most important" part. She sat at a desk and "fell asleep" and the pagent was her dream. I have never forgotten this kindness.

It was a warmer/more loving time where everyone was included. Even the man from WW One who had been gassed and was taken care of by his elderly parents.

What a wonderful heartfelt story that is. Thank you for sharing that.

I love your greeting, never heard that before, will have to remember it. Merry Christmas.

If I have to choose just one... this is it. All of my childhood, we went as a family to a nearby Christmas tree lot to find a tree. I watched as my parents would look at all the trees and hear their criticisms: this one is too short, this one is too tall, this one not full enough, this one has a "hole" that ornaments wouldn't hide. I considered myself the expert on finding the perfect tree. So along comes the year... I was probably around 11 or 12... and I think Daddy took me alone to find the tree (at least I don't remember anyone else being with us) and Daddy let ME pick out the tree! Well, I did! It must have been 12 or 13 feet tall (I guess since I was taller, it altered my perception), but my DD didn't say a word, just purchased the tree and we hauled it home. The trunk of that tree must have been 12 inches wide. We couldn't find a tree stand anywhere to hold it. So, out comes an apple crate and we searched the yard for huge rocks to fill in around the tree. I don't know how many branches had to be cut off the bottom to accomplish this, but they made a nice mantle decoration. 2 or more feet cut out of the top, and it still touched the ceiling! We had to buy extra lights and ornaments just to fill out that tree! It was HUGE! Good thing we had a large living room! lol. I'm sure my mother wondered why my father hadn't been the voice of reason at the tree lot. The only picture I got of it was too dark and is basically a silhouette of the tree against the windows. It's a great memory. Thanks for this thread and making me stop to think about it! DD passed away this year and DM has been gone for 3 1/2 years, so it's heartwarming to remember those long ago Christmases when we were all together.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I was just talking to mom about this earlier!!! My memory is of when I was 4 or 5 yrs. old. I remember my grandparents being at our house and all the wrapping all over the place. My grandmother asked my brother (he was 6 or 7) if he had been on the back porch to see if anything had been left there.........he went out the door in a shot. Next thing we knew, he was riding a new bike THRU the living room!!! He was wearing a Lone Ranger hat and mak, too! That was about the same time I was opening MY favorite toy --- my "Suzie" doll. She WALKED!!!!! I named her Suzie because my grandparents always called me Suzie -- they wanted me named Suzie. I still have her -- in my toy crib in the guest room!!!!

going to the grandparents house on Christmas Eve. Dinner and all the fixins, and then the presents...all my brothers, sisters, cousins would get so excited over my grandmother calling out our name when she passed out the presents.

We still reminisce about that today...we loved to hear our grandmother call out our name in that special accent of a voice.

I can still see her too. spike heels, mink coat, big earrings and oh, she had the greatest smile. Janet was 18 years older than me, and she spoiled me rotten. She had the best sense of humor , loved to tell jokes and laugh. Janet and I had so much fun together , always. I always told her she was the vainest person I knew, and she would laugh and say, Yeah, but you think I am beautiful! Lol And I always thought she was. I've lost all my three sisters and two brothers, but I think she is the one I miss the most. she just made everyone feel good when she was around. So friends, I can be proper and wish you all a Merry Christmas, but I hope yoiu will also let me say , "Merry Kiss MY A**!! and know it's becuse I love you all. Carol

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.

I remember a Christmas when I was about 12. We had guests so I had to sleep on the sofa in the living room. We had received paint-by-number sets and had been playing with them. My painting, with red paint on it, was sitting on the dining room table as the paint was still wet. During the night our cat got on the table, walked through my painting, then got down and up on the sofa, curling up on my chest. When my mother got up she looked at me sleeping on the sofa with red all over my neck and thought we'd had burglars who'd cut my throat. I never got another paint-by-number set.

Here in Texas, even when it was cold (relatively for those of you up north), my grandfather would add benches to his work sled and hook it to the back of his tractor and give anyone who wanted to a ride to the river. (Now this sled was designed to slide over grass, not snow, since we live on the Gulf Coast.) There were usually ten or twelve of us, with cousins, and other extended family. During the rest of the year, the sled was used to haul tools, barbed wire etc around the homeplace. This year my husband hooked up his cart to the back of his lawn mower and gave my grandchildren a ride. They loved it and so did I. His kind act brought back many wonderful child hood memories.

My fondest memory was the year I got a sewing kit. Beautiful colored threads, thimble, fabric etc....all except a scissors.
My dad had a beautiful small one, ideal for my set. Little did I know that he had removed the scissors from my set. He let me borrow my own scissors under supervision. Happy memories.

When I was 4 years old WW2 was just ending. I was born on Pearl Harbor day. I had never tasted an orange or a Hershey bar. Neighbor Santa came with a huge sack on Christmas eve and gave me one of each. I remember licking the wrapper after the chocolate was eaten to see if it tasted as good as it smelled.

I was raised on a hard scrabble farm during the depression. But I didn't know we were poor because everyone was in the same boat. Don't remember much about decorating, but on Christmas I was declared big enough to make the snow ice cream all by myself. I had to choose a big bowl and spoon, go out and dig in a clean high place and fill the bowl tightly with pure new snow. Then I could put in a cup of cream from our cow, sugar and vanilla. Then mix like crazy and then run and get the bowls that were chilling on the outside steps and fill them quickly and serve them.
That ice cream tasted like nectar!! And I'd made it all by myself! As for presents, at about age 10 I wanted desperately to get a 22 so I could go hunting with my aunt, but all I got was a stupid doll, while my boy cousin got the 22. Don't know what happened to that doll, never wanted to look at it again.

I remember being thrilled to get a bicycle about 7 or 8. It was too big so I had seen pictures of myself concentrating so hard because falling meant pain! It was a used bike, but my folks had to be really careful with money. Unfortunately, the bike didn't last very long as it was stolen from in front of our garage sometime the next summer. I didn't get another bike until after I was married!

My parents were European so we celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. They were poor so we didn't get a lot of presents but my father had a knack making it 'magical'. My sister and I would be playing and we would hear the jingle of bells so we would run to our parents and Dad (bells were hidden) would tell us that Santa had just been. We would either get a new dress or a pair of shoes and maybe a toy but that was all. This was in the 1950s so times were different to now but they are nice memories.

I remember 6 years ago when my mother was diagnosed with cancer just before Thanksgiving. My sister and I felt that this would be the last Christmas for us to enjoy Mom and celebrate with her and Dad. We got all of our siblings (total of 8) to agree to come to Fl for a family Christmas. This was not an easy to accompish since we lived in 5 different states at the time. We all got together on Dec. 26 for the first time in over 30 yrs. For 2 days, my family laughed, cried, cheered and played. My Mom and Dad were so joyful that we totally forgot why were we together. The house was filled with more love than I can ever recall. As each sibling was leaving, Mom's smile seemed to get brighter. She was so happy with this totally surprise Christmas present. I sit here with tears in my eyes just recalling these 2 days. Such a joyful remembrance. Mom did pass away that following Jan. but her love that day brought my siblings much closer. Susan in FL

One is when my aunt, whose house we were visiting that year overnight on Christmas eve, told me there was no Santa Claus...it was my Mom and Dad...because I was worried he wouldn't find me....I was heart broken...I was probably about 8...I was so disappointed, but when we returned home late Christmas day...Santa had left me a bike! I still believed after that for a few more years!

going to bed at night after leaving cookies and milk for santa and getting up the next morning thinking santa had eaten the cookies and left so many nice presents i remember trying to figure out how he got in the house and no one heard or saw him !!