Childhood Memories

I've been thinking a lot about what Christmas meant to me as a small child and a lot of wonderful memories emerged. They were helped along by a tape of our childhood that my sister sent me, complete with me lisping Rudolf the Red Nothed Raindeer and Book of Mormon Thtorieth with wide eyes. I was a ham as a child... I'm not sure much has changed.

One of my favorite things about Christmas was eating. Sounds funny, but let me explain. My Dad being a physician and careful about his own weight meant that our house was not decked out with treats usually. We're grape-nuts people... But at Christmas time there was this magical transformation -- our house got dumped on with goodies, some from doctors from work, some from neighbors and friends. The result was our counters were loaded up with nuts, and chocolates that we could cut open and peek at what was inside, and all sorts of other goodies. The best part was my Dad, who normally avoided all that stuff, joined in the fun. Treats used to be somewhat magical in my youth. Now, though I like them, they're not nearly as fascinating, so that's one memory I like from my childhood that I can't really go back to. It was the setting that made them magical.

I grew up in a mountain home community and lived at the top of the right fork. Our house had plenty of snow to play in, build tunnels through and all we had to do to go sledding was hike up the back yard a bit. I have fond memories of playing outside until it became too dark, then coming in to have mugs of hot chocolate my Mom would have ready for us. Another really fun thing about playing in the snow was sliding off our roof. The second garage was an A frame and touched the ground on one side. We usually had a snow pack of about 2 feet, and you could just walk right up to the top of the roof and create a small avalanche as you slid down. It was best to be the first, because after a while it got bumpy and super slick. If you wanted additional speed, you could always sit on a garbage sack.

My Mom was an avid Christmas caroler. She would make banana bread or her whole wheat bread and bundle us up to go sing to our neighbors and deliver the loot. She also was an avid fan of the Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and I remember watching that often as a family. That is a fond Christmas memory.

My Mom also loves puzzles, and I have many memories of working on puzzles with my siblings and her in the library with the warmth of the stove heating us. Sometimes my Dad read books aloud to us and one year I read Pride and Prejudice around. There was a mirth at being able to be inside whilst it was a white blizzard-y wonderland outside. The crackling and popping of the logs in the stove was also wonderful and added to the general ambiance.

My Dad often had to work on Christmas, or would get back late Christmas Eve. My Mom wanted to start a tradition where we opened one gift on Christmas Eve and then the rest Christmas morning. The idea was to let Dad take part in us opening the presents. But what inevitably happened was my Dad would egg us on to open all the gifts so he either wouldn't miss anything, or so he could sleep in Christmas morning. Then Christmas morning he'd make a pancake breakfast for us.

I am grateful for the time we spend with our families at Christmas and the wonder and glee of my childhood. I'm grateful for my parents teaching me the gospel so that we can treasure Christ's birth not only at Christmas, but all year long as well. I don't know that we did extra studying at Christmas, other than reading Luke, but it was very much a habit for the rest of the year that I think I was able to understand somewhat what Christmas was supposed to be celebrating. I'm sure as a kid though I thought more about presents. I love Christmases now too and love being able to establish Christmas traditions with my best friend and sweet husband, Ryan. I hope we can create wonderful memories for our children as well.