Favorite Christmas Memory as a Child

Cherokeekid88

Cherokeekid88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
High Point, NC
When I was a child, of coarse Christmas was a special time for me and my brother. I remember on Christmas eve, we all would go over to my Grandparents house, eat dinner and sit around in the living room and exchange gifts. It was always so exciting because I knew that when we left, there would be a car ride home with Christmas music and my brother and I talking about what we hoped Santa would bring us. We would get home and watch TV for a bit and then Mom and Dad would run us off to bed. I remember one year in particular when I tried to stay up as late as I could. My brother and I laid in front of the TV and watched Taxi. We ended up falling asleep and woke up in the same spot we fell asleep in only to notice presents everywhere. We both yelled and went in to wake up our parents. I think that year my brother and I got a playstaion (the original one) and some games and I remember my parents fixing a big breakfast and I think my brother and I stayed inside that whole day playing that thing.
Then it wasn't till many years later when I realized that the magic of Christmas had left me and I didn't even realize it. Now every year, I try and try to replicate the feeling that I had as a child and I have yet to succeed. My wife and I talk about how we can't wait to make Christmas magical for our kids and really hope that they hold it near and dear to their heart.
My wife and I still try make it magical for each other...she grew up in a household that was big on making Christmas magical and she has instilled that into me.

What is a favorite Christmas memory of yours as a child?
 
When I was about 5/6 I woke up Christmas morning to my step dad pulling the back seat out of moms 66 Impala cause "santa" had accidently put my presents,and the car keys, in the trunk.That was the beginning of the end for Santa.
 
Growing up as a kid we had the best Christmas holiday Village you could ask for as a kid.

Every year in my town they had a place they would convert into a Christmas Village and you got to visit with Santa, Mrs Claus and see the elf's building toys and then you got to outside and see real reindeer and other live animals out back.. As a kid it was awesome and I would love to build or do they same thing here around my town..

Every kid got a small present from Santa if you waited in line to talk to him. The line was always long but well worth it..

and to my surprise it is still open and going on:
Free Toys for Good Girls and Boys at Christmas Village in Connecticut
 
This was will sound a bit dark and I dont mean it to. When I was 6 I lived with this foster family that I HATED. I had several foster families most were cool, though awkward. These jokers were evil but wealthy. My mom had come back around and had been trying to get me back but they had been telling me how she was "sick" and they needed to keep me because "they couldnt have children"..Christmas eve they did this craptastic over the top fake Santa stuff. One would walk out of the room and shake bells, not sleigh bells mind you real normal bells...and say "Hear that? Santa is near"..this went on for hours. Even at 6 I knew it was fake. Besides Santa didnt know where I was how was he going to bring presents to a foster home I had only been in a few weeks.

They had 3 Christmas trees. Big ones. And lots of red and blue lights. Not sure why but I remember red and blue lights not red and green. These were the big lights.
Anyway we went to "church" for mid night service and came home to see fire trucks everywhere. Their Christmas tree caught on fire and burned the house down.

They were so mad about their stuff. I remember dude screaming about his new golf clubs. No shit. They dropped me off that night at my Mom's. The guardian ad lidem came the next week and they moved me to my grandma's. I remembered I had prayed at Church to go back to my "real" family for Christmas. For years I thought I caused their house to burn down.

Funny thing I still see that family to this day occasionally. They always speak to me and ask me if I remember the Christmas Eve fire..like how could you forget THAT.
 
Getting dragged to midnight mass when I was a kid and being forced to listen to and sing the classical episcopalian music choices for mass. While I hated it as a kid, that tradition and celebration has stayed with me even to this day.

To this day, Cannon in D is by far my favorite musical ballard (along with others of that era) and I attribute it to midnight mass as a kid.

Of all the "present" related memories that I should have, the only one that really sticks out is spending Christmas at Keystone years ago and waking up with a brand new pair of skis and boots in the condo in Colorado. To this day I have no idea how my parents pulled that one off. :)
 
I remember growing up as a kid in PA and we didn't have a chimney, so I was worried about how Santa would get in the house. My dad said he just parked the sleigh in the back yard and came in the back door. I was a little questioning over this, but the next morning my dad had gone out and made fake hoofprints and sleigh tracks in the snow in the backyard and boot prints up to the back door. It was awesome.
 
Blaze said:
I remember growing up as a kid in PA and we didn't have a chimney, so I was worried about how Santa would get in the house. My dad said he just parked the sleigh in the back yard and came in the back door. I was a little questioning over this, but the next morning my dad had gone out and made fake hoofprints and sleigh tracks in the snow in the backyard and boot prints up to the back door. It was awesome.
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THAT is awesome! I want to do stuff like that for my kids!
 
Another year that sticks out in my mind is the year my Dad lost his job in November. He was back on his feet within a week working 2 jobs. can't remember what his day job was but his night job was cleaning a couple offices at night. I would always go with him and help out and he always told me he would pay me but I never took it. I remember me and him going Christmas shopping after we got through cleaning the offices and I just remember it really feeling like Christmas that year, even though I know my dad was stressed. That year, I knew that money was really tight and didn't expect to get much for Christmas, but somehow someway, I got just about everything I asked for. I think that year, I just had fun going with my dad to clean those offices.
 
Ron said:
This was will sound a bit dark and I dont mean it to. When I was 6 I lived with this foster family that I HATED. I had several foster families most were cool, though awkward. These jokers were evil but wealthy. My mom had come back around and had been trying to get me back but they had been telling me how she was "sick" and they needed to keep me because "they couldnt have children"..Christmas eve they did this craptastic over the top fake Santa stuff. One would walk out of the room and shake bells, not sleigh bells mind you real normal bells...and say "Hear that? Santa is near"..this went on for hours. Even at 6 I knew it was fake. Besides Santa didnt know where I was how was he going to bring presents to a foster home I had only been in a few weeks.

They had 3 Christmas trees. Big ones. And lots of red and blue lights. Not sure why but I remember red and blue lights not red and green. These were the big lights.
Anyway we went to "church" for mid night service and came home to see fire trucks everywhere. Their Christmas tree caught on fire and burned the house down.

They were so mad about their stuff. I remember dude screaming about his new golf clubs. No shit. They dropped me off that night at my Mom's. The guardian ad lidem came the next week and they moved me to my grandma's. I remembered I had prayed at Church to go back to my "real" family for Christmas. For years I thought I caused their house to burn down.

Funny thing I still see that family to this day occasionally. They always speak to me and ask me if I remember the Christmas Eve fire..like how could you forget THAT.
Click to expand...

The foster care system can be rough. Our younger daughter, Lyla, was brought to us by DSS two years ago yesterday. She was 6 1/2 years old at the time. I hope she remembers how special we tried to make that Christmas, even though we didn’t even know about her until a few days before Christmas. And thankfully there was a teacher of her older brother that knew of her and sent a bike and other Christmas gifts. We were the 9th family she was place with. The adoption was finalized last year. She also has 2 brothers, the younger was placed with a family that adopted him a couple months before we got Lyla. Her older brother bounced around to a total of 15 homes before he was finally adopted. We do our best to make sure she still gets to see her brothers.
 
You are doing the Lord's work, sir.
Most foster parents are good. A few are turds. I wanted to be a foster parent but a few indiscretions aso a youth make me ineligible. Despite the fact that I'd give a foster kid the greatest childhood they could ever imagine.

Good for you.
 
Got my first 'real' bike in 4th/5th grade. Was just a cheap flat black Huffy with lime green stickers...but it was a 12spd mountain bike. We had created our own 'track' through the yard and in to the woods. The track is probably 2, maybe 3ft wide at its widest point, with trees and thick brush on either side. Going in to the woods we created probably a 3' ramp from dirt...we were dumb, I know...also foreshadowing (served as better paint ball/air soft course). So now I have this new bike and really have to try this bad boy out. On the maiden voyage, I tear ass down from the house and head straight for the ramp. Not sure what went wrong, but next thing I know, the bike goes one way, I go another. Luckily a tree stopped my shoulder, so I get up to make sure the bike was ok so my dad wouldn't whoop my ass...I bent the rim...and broke my collar bone. Dad wasn't happy, but luckily I was hurt, so he took it easy on me. Didn't get the rim fixed until my birthday 2 months later.

Not sure if that's the best memory I have, but it's the one that sticks out the most.
 
I had an aunt that was less than two years older than me that lived across the road from me growing up.My sister was seven years younger than me so my aunt and I were like brother and sister.One Christmas she talked me in to telling her what she had and in return she'd tell me.She lied!!
 
The town i grew up in, Santa would ride around town on fire truck on Christmas Eve waving, on occasion he would stop at peoples houses. He stopped at ours, i almost wet myself i was so excited. As time went on i realized who Santa was and why they stopped at our house ( Mom was town police and Fire dispatcher at that time, hotline in the house with radio base station, you don't put that together when you're 5-6yrs old)
As i grew up, it was always cool to see every year, then i was old enough to be on the fire dept. The current Chief saw the whole thing as a waste of community resources ( he was a real uptight guy ) and said it wasn't going to happen this year.
Well... Those of us that grew up with this "Tradition" decided the fire trucks needed to be excersized that night, there just happened to be some guy in a red suit and beard riding up top while we did this. Chief was at the station when we got back, yeah he was mad, but there wasn't a lot to be said with the Mayor standing there thanking us for the show.
I gotta say, 10° midwest winter nights are a LOT colder at 15 mph on top of a big red truck !
 
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One of my favorite memories was bike related too. Woke up Christmas morning and found that Santa had left a shiny new red bike in front of the Christmas tree. I was excited. But wait, where are the handlebars? Look! Santa left me a letter. The letter said his elves forgot the handlebars and when they found them they would bring them to my Dad and he could put them on.
Damn sorry ass elves!
 
My favorite memories were trouncing through the farm, picking out a real tree, always in the worse thickets.

But more than all, just hanging out with my grandparents, helping out (mostly in the way) with breakfast & later supper.

I still have my grandmothers, thankfully, but miss my grandfathers a little more than usual this time of year.

BTW, those who foster/adopt children, my hat's off to you. It takes a lot to open your home for a child in need of a family.
 
Getting my first shotty @11 (a NEF single shot 20ga) from Santa and then going down into the woods to try it out......HOLY COW!!! That thing knocked my dickstring in a knot!! I guess it was just the fact that my dad thought I was ready for it and it made me feel grown. I can still see it leaning on that plaid armchair stock on the floor, broke open with a box of Remington #5 high brass sitting beside it. Still have it and it is still the hardest kicking gun I have ever shot.
 
The memories spending time with both of my Pappaws over the Christmas break from school. I would stay with my grandparents on my Moms side for a few days then a few days with my grandparents on my dads side. I have lost both of my Pappaws years ago but am lucky enough to still have both of my Mammaws but it's not the same. I lost my Dad 18 years ago next month and still have a hell of a time throughout the holidays missing him.
 
Blkvoodoo said:
The town i grew up in, Santa would ride around town on fire truck on Christmas Eve waving, on occasion he would stop at peoples houses. He stopped at ours, i almost wet myself i was so excited. As time went on i realized who Santa was and why they stopped at our house ( Mom was town police and Fire dispatcher at that time, hotline in the house with radio base station, you don't put that together when you're 5-6yrs old)
As i grew up, it was always cool to see every year, then i was old enough to be on the fire dept. The current Chief saw the whole thing as a waste of community resources ( he was a real uptight guy ) and said it wasn't going to happen this year.
Well... Those of us that grew up with this "Tradition" decided the fire trucks needed to be excersized that night, there just happened to be some guy in a red suit and beard riding up top while we did this. Chief was at the station when we got back, yeah he was mad, but there wasn't a lot to be said with the Mayor standing there thanking us for the show.
I gotta say, 10° midwest winter nights are a LOT colder at 15 mph on top of a big red truck !
Click to expand...

And the tradition continues to this day !


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