Friday, December 14, 2012
Holiday Memory
Every holiday season, I often find myself thinking back to my childhood memories of Christmas. My mother died two days after Christmas (30 years ago), and sometimes it feels like it was yesterday. Unfortunately, my most vivid Christmas was a tragic moment in my life that I will never forget.....presents that remained under my tree for months and so much more that will be forever etched in my memory. Please share your most memorable holiday tradition or memory. Explain its significance to you.
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Christmas is always a special time of year becuase my family is able to escape from their hectic, and neverending busy schedules and take the day to relax. Most of my family is located in Florida so we usually only spend Christmas with my cousins in Port Jeff. Every year we exchange presents and cook a lavish meal. I value Christmas time because my dad and uncle tell so many funny stories about their childhood and we all laugh together. The only bad thing about Christmas time is when everyone is fighting and yelling about going to church. Other than that the holidays are a great memory for me.
My most memorable holiday tradition would have to be going to my aunt’s house every Christmas eve and watching the Christmas Story with my dad, cousins, and my uncle. This if my favorite tradition because it’s such a classic movie and it reminds me when I was a little kid watching it at my grandma’s house with my entire family. Other than this, the holiday for my family and is a fun experience full of laughter and great food.
When I was little, I’ll never forget this one Christmas. It wasn’t tragic or really anything special but the day had a special aura to it and is a day that sticks out more than any other. For years I wanted a bathrobe, I know it sounds stupid but for some reason, in third grade I insisted on getting a bathrobe for Christmas. My mom, who played Santa very well, said that I probably wouldn’t get a bathrobe because Santa doesn’t make bathrobes. My mom only did this because she knew how happy I’d be on Christmas if there was a bathrobe under the tree. So that Christmas morning, I woke up and to my surprise I found a bathrobe at the end of my bed. It had a note that read: “Zack, I made this bathrobe just for you, Love Santa.” If Christmas ended there with no other gifts I would have been contempt. The bathrobe and that note made my Christmas and I was glowing for the whole day, telling everyone how Santa made a present just for me.
For some reason I cannot think of any fantastic memory from Christmas right now, so a tradition/memory we used to have in my family was that I woke up really early and went and tried my hardest to wake everyone up! It usually did not work and I would sit down stairs and wait and stare at the presents waiting forever for my family to wake up. I’m sure everyone has this memory of waiting to open presents. So as I got older, I would still wake up first out of my family but now as I waited for everyone I started making it a tradition to make my family breakfast while I waited. It works out for everyone and everyone is happy, they get food and I waste time.
I believe that childhood memories of Christmas are significant to everyone. Because of the changes people go through in becoming adults, childhood Christmas' remind of innocent times as children. This special time that comes once a year was such an important part of my life as a child. Every Christmas Eve I would go to Brooklyn to spend time with my family where every year someone would dress up as santa and hand out presents. Then after that, late every Christmas Eve we would go to my Nanny and Poppy's to get more gifts. Then we would take the hour trip back home with my Nanny and Poppy who always spent Christmas day with us. This has alaways been a special memory of mine, when my Nanny and Poppy would watch us open gifts and then make us a delicious breakfast. Especially since my Poppy is no longer with us, memories of Christmas day have changed significantly over the past few years. Although this time of year is still a great time for family bonding and is always enjoyable, it is not the same without these special people to spend it with. Currently my family has Christmas with my Brooklyn family a couple days before Christmas. On Christmas Eve we go to my cousins house in Seaford, then to my other cousins in Commack. After a long day me and my sister attend Midnight Mass as a tradition we have followed for the past 3 years. Christmas day is a great day for my family to bond and we have family over to celebrate. As the years pass, memories of Christmas change, sometimes negatively because of missing members but also positively because we know they are looking down on us.
Growing up, every Christmas Eve was spent in Jersey with my dad's side of the family. Every Christmas Eve we wake up, get ready, and are off on our road trip no later than 11:30am. While my favorite tradition is spending every Christmas Eve at my Nani and Poppi's house, there is one thing I cherish a little more than that- visiting my Pop Pop. We never have to be at my great grandparent's house until later on Christmas Eve, but we leave so early so we give ourselves enough time to get to the cemetary. My first six years of life, I was basically my Pop Pop's shadow. I followed him everywhere and looked up to him as someone I could always rely on for a good laugh. Stopping at the cemetary in queens gives me time to talk to him and fill him in on all the things happening in my life. Of course, tears always pool down my face before we leave and I have to redo my makeup in the car, but out of all the things around Christmas time, this is by far my favorite. Bigger traditions that my family shares are also important but something about this small gesture, and this short period of time with my Pop Pop makes me the happiest girl on Christmas Eve. Spending the holiday at my great grandparent's house that night always lets me appreciate the family I havve surrounding me. I feel so blessed and I know that this is what Christmas is about.
It may not seem to be in the spirit of the holdiay, but my favorite holdiay memory occurred about 4 years ago. Two of my cousins got into a small arguement early in the night, adn were told several times to sotp arguing and to shut up. The confrontations continued all through the night, until around 7:30 pm. All of the guests had gotten up to make their plate and then we noticed that two of the cousins were not in the room, and it is unlike the two of them to pass up the opppurtunity to cover their plate with food. Then we noticed the two of them, fighting each other in an all out brawl on the front lawn. There were fists flying and bruises forming. Our neighbors from across the street were doing the same thnig that we were and just enjoying the fight behind the safety of a dining room window. The fighting, however, was broken up relatively quickly, as my uncle ran outside and seperated the two of them, and brought them into my garage. Its important to mention that my aunt, their mom, is a very tall woman, and my uncle, was not so fortunate ni the altitude department. SO, it was quite a scene when he started to yell at my two cousins, who stand at a hefty 6 foot 3 inches and 6 foot 4 inches. Watching him look up at the two of them, as they looked down upon him made everybody feel that they were jsut going to start fighting my uncle.
No further altercations occurred that evening and the two cousins remained in relative silence. Nw, the joke every year is who is going to the two nutjobs that go out onto the front lawn to beat each other up. Since then, no other fights have happened, but I think that this just might be the year for another one!
Two years ago, two days before Christmas my two year old puppy became very ill. Molly was born with an underdeveloped kidney so we knew that she was going to have a shorter life, but nobody knew it would come this soon. We took her to the veterinarian on the 23rd and they told us that her kidneys were failing her. She was going to die. That night I prayed and prayed that I could just spend Christmas with her. Molly was all I wanted for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we woke up extra early to go to the veterinarian. When we got there they told us that Molly was going to die, but we could bring her home for one more night. That to me was a miracle. I spent all night lying by her side because she couldn’t do much else. The next morning I raced downstairs, but not to see the presents under the tree, to spend every last second with Molly. Around 12 o’clock noon we took her back to the veterinarian and she died right there in the waiting room. God gave her the strength to spend that last night with me and that was the best gift that I have ever received.
Every year my family and cousins always go to my grandmas house for christmas. One family tradition that my family always does, no matter how old we get, is to go on the computer and track Santa. Tracking Santa Claus is something that I have done since I was a little girl. My sister and I were always so fascinated by how many cookies Santa had eaten so far and seeing where Santa was in the world. Even though we have grown older and learned that Santa doesn't exist, that still has not stopped us from tracking him. No matter how old we get, we will always get that same excitement we recieved 12 years ago, when we saw Santa. I will always believe in my heart that Santa is real, even though in my mind I know he is not. Tracking Santa is a tradition that I love to do because it makes me feel like that six year old girl waiting for Santa to land on her roof.
Coming from such a large family compared to the rest of my generation, Christmas has always been a loud, hectic and crazy fun holiday. Every year all five of the siblings would wake up super early due to my youngest brother jumping on everyone’s beds in the morning. The night before my mom and dad would always be up super late wrapping tons and tons of gifts. We would all un-wrap gifts and each year we would all get a new pair of pajamas and a movie each. The whole day of Christmas we watch the new movies in our new pajamas and just hang out and relax after a busy morning of unwrapping and being excited about our new gifts. Then at night we all go over to my aunt’s house and exchange gifts with my cousin’s and eat a huge meal.
My most memorable holiday tradition is the watching of the Christmas story with my family. Every Christmas Eve all day on multiple stations this classic Christmas movie plays over and over again till the end of Christmas. So I’ve watched this movie every Christmas since I was born. I can describe the whole movie to you and can even recite most of the lines. This is my most lasting memory of the holiday season and I enjoy doing this every year. It’s a time where the whole family gets together and enjoys time just to relax and watch a classic movie. I hope to continue this with my children.
One of my favorite holiday traditions is going to my grandma and grandpas house on Christmas Eve. I find that this is one of my favorite traditions because I get to see a lot of my extended family that I don't normally get to see. My grandparents house gets filled with about 40 people and we all have a great time hanging out together. I also look forward to the fish dinner that we have every year. There's always tons of food and we spend lots of time eating. I think Christmas Eve for me may actually be more exciting than Christmas is.
Growing up, my papa (my mom's dad) was always a big jokester. He was one of the funniest people I ever met, and around Christmas time, it felt as if he would bring his funniness to a new level. That was probably because he was surrounded by the people he loved the most and wanted to make them as happy as possible. Every year my nana and papa would come up about two weeks before Christmas, right around his birthday and together we would celebrate our birthdays together. During this time they would sleep at our house because we had a quest bedroom in our basement. I loved when he would stay with us because any moment with him was one to cherish. I specifically remember one Christmas, however, that will always remain a great memory of mine. I was only about 5 years old at the time when an old man in a red suit and white beard came knocking on my door. Of course, being the smart child I was, I said gee Santa came early for us!! I opened up the door to see this nice old man standing there saying “Hello Little Boy, and Hello Little Girl”. He came inside, sat down on the couch and put my sister on one leg and me on the other and asked us how we had been this year, if we were good or bad, and what we wanted for Christmas. Filled with joy I told him everything as a smiled from ear to ear. After about 15 minutes he left and said he would see us on Christmas Eve. Shortly after, my papa walked in the house. I said “OHH Papa! You missed it!! You missed it!! Santa was here!!” and he answered back “Oh Man! I wish I was here to see him!” I never was able to put it together until a few years later but even after I found out, I still smile and laugh just as hard when I think about it.
To me, Christmas time is the best time of the year. Not only are we constantly receiving presents for days on end, but it's a time where families can come together as one and share cherished memories. My Christmas consists of the same thing every year and to be honest I wouldn't want it any other way. It always starts with waking up at the crack of dawn because of the overload of excitment and anxiety. My brothers and I aren't allowed to leave our bedrooms until my parents are entirely ready, coffee and all. Once their ready we open all of the presents under the tree and sift through our stockings. Once we've finished opening everything we head to the kitchen table for homemade chocolate chip muffins and hot chocolate. After all of the excitment has settled a little and we've quadrouple checked everything we got, we get ready for church. I love going to church Christmas morning because it allows families to all come together and celebrate their beliefs. Christmas will forever be my favorite time of year.
My favorite holiday tradition is when my mom, dad, two sisters, and I go to Manhattan and walk around Times Square, Rockefeller center and Saks Fifth Avenue windows. This is my favorite tradition because we have been doing that since I was 2 years old and I have always remembered it as a time when we would hop on the train together and laugh, tell jokes and other people in the seats near us would giggle at the things that my sister and I would say or do. We were always friendly kids and we would say hi to people from in between the seats. I remember one time my sister and I were being a little too loud and we got in trouble. We still had a great time though. Sometimes we would even get out picture taken with Santa at Saks.
My favorite Christmas tradtiton is going to my grandmas in the morning. After opening gifts at my house we go there and open even more together. I love seeing my little cousins open gifts and get excited over what they got. But most important is seeing my family all together which is rare. i love seeing everyone talking and catching up with people they havent seen in years. I also get to talk to my grandpa who lives in Florida who i don't talk to at all. All these things are my favorite traditions and there something i look forward more to than just the presents.
My most significant holiday memory has to be when my entire family was together at my grandparents’ house for Christmas roughly 10 years. That was probably the last time the entire family was together. My grandma and my aunt both passed away from cancer soon after and the family went downhill from there. I remember hanging out with all of my cousins and playing tons of games. We would run and scream around until we feasted at dinner. Then we did it all again after. I loved hanging out with every single family member from aunts and uncles, to cousins and relatives I’ve only met once. It was a blast and every Christmas I still think about how it would be if half of my family didn’t split up and move to Arizona and other parts of the country, and how great it would be if my grandma and Aunt Joanne were still alive. Since those Christmases, the house we would party in has been sold and the family is without life and motivation to meet back up. To this very day I wish that I can experience one giant family Christmas, one more time.
Every year my Christmas is the same, to be completely honest. Because I only live with my mom and have lived with my mom for my entire life, Christmas is pretty uneventful. We go to my grandparents’ house to open presents, but they're not really a surprise. Being an only child, you know that 80%v of the presents are for you. Also I have a general idea of what each present is. Every year the one present I really want, I never get. I never liked cookies or Christmas music or any other nonsense. People say Christmas is a time for joy, giving, and love but I’m pretty sure all I see is people fighting over the last Barbie doll and stuffing their faces while others are starving. I know this seems like a deb downer but I just don’t really like Christmas and the memories are always the same. Although they are monotonous, they’re usually happy. This is always nice even if it is only 4 people sitting around the tree Christmas morning.
I come from a pretty big sized family and around the holidays there are normally around 40 to 50 of us. Each year the number varies between who’s on vacation, a new addition to the family, etc. Every year my entire family comes to my house for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. At around 6ish on Christmas Eve, everyone shows up at my house to eat dinner. We talk, laugh, and tell jokes throughout dinner and wait impatiently to open presents at midnight. At around 11pm, “Santa,” a.k.a. my dad (who’s the clown of the family), comes through the front door with gifts for all the cousins. One of my favorite memories was last year when the “Santa” pretended to slip and fall down the basement stairs. He scared my baby cousin, Jason, so much that he started to cry and to this day, Jason mentions how Santa falls down the steps and not down the chimney. I love spending the holidays with my family and we always know how to have a great time and enjoy ourselves.
I think that every Christmas has good, bad, and even funny memories. The one Christmas that was memorable to me was when I was 5 years old. I remember I always got at least 6 presents every year. That year when I was 5, it was actually 5. I remember unwrapping the presents one by one; counting each present. I saw 6 gifts and I was up to my last final gift. As I unwrapped it I saw the toy I got and it was a Spiderman figure. I noticed it looked the same as the one I had upstairs and it had the same scratch marks in the same place the one I originally had. As my parents are watching me unwrap it, I told them I already have this and I brought up how it’s exactly the same Spiderman I had upstairs. They were shocked that they realized I found out they took my old toy and wrapped it up after I checked to see my old toy wasn’t there. I caught my parents thinking that I was too young to realize it’s the same toy. They ended up buying me 2 extra presents and felt guilty.
Ever since I could remember, December had always been my favorite month. I would look forward to the holiday season all year, and still do to this day. My father who is Jewish, and my mother being Catholic, my family and I celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas. So not only did my sister and I light the menorah and get a present every night, but woke up on Christmas morning with a pile of gifts waiting to be unwrapped. For Hanukkah, we would always celebrate by sleeping over my Grandpa Al and Grandma Syl’s house. We would always make homemade potato latkas which were absolutely delicious, and eat my grandma's famous kasha and matzo ball soup. The menorah that we lit was a Noah’s Ark menorah. My sister and I would take turns each night lighting the candles. After we opened gifts, my dad would always give us chocolate coins which I thought were true treasures, and we would attempt to spin dreidels, (which I never did well). My Christmas on the other hand would be celebrated at my Grandma Rie and Grandpa G.G.’s house. We would always go over their house on December 1st and decorate the house and the tree. My sister always set up the Manger and I would always set up the Church and village decorations. On Christmas day, we would spend the entire day at their house, opening gifts, listening to Christmas carols, playing with our new toys, and feasting on delicious meals. I remember looking out the window one Christmas and watching it snow! These childhood memories were definitely some of the best.
What I love the most about Christmas is the buildup to the actual day. I love the movies, the music, my Christmas tree, and the lights around town. I love the cozy feeling you get in your house when you’re putting all the decorations up while the holiday songs are playing on WALK 97.5 in the other room. One of the best Christmas memories I have of when I was a child is in first grade when I wished for a doll house. I remember making a Christmas wish list, and the doll house was the only thing that I wished for. When I woke up on Christmas morning, there was a huge box wrapped in red and green paper. When I opened the box, there it was! I remember playing with those dolls for hours that Christmas, and I’ll never forget it.
Christmas has always been a memorable time; I have some many great memories that are surrounded by this time of year. Ever since I could remember I have been going to my aunt’s house on Christmas Eve and we celebrate there with everyone in the family. It is a great time and so many people show up and we share so many great memories. When I was little my great grandpa would put on a Santa out fit and walk through the front door shaking his sleigh bells and holding a huge sack filled with presents for my cousins and me. That was a great time because when I was little I never knew who it was I always thought it was the real Santa Claus. Even though my great grandpa passed away the job has been passed on to my uncle and it is great to see my little cousins mesmerized because the real Santa is sitting in the same room as them. These are the memories I will never forget.
Every Christmas for me growing up was exactly the same. On Christmas Eve, my dad, sister and I would go to my grandma Mary's house. We would open presents and have dinner with my dad's side of the family. Then, on Christmas, my mom, sister and I would go to my Grandma evelyn's house and see all of my aunts and cousins there. I spent most of the holiday there, but the most memorable thing was how my grandpa would hold together the whole entire hoiday. He loved having people over and wrapping gifts, and seeing our reactions when we opened them. He held the whole day together and always found a way to be the center of attention. During the summer between my sophomore and junior year, my grandpa passed away. From then on my family would fight a lot and I was afraid that we weren't going to celebrate the holidays the same way we used to. They had sold my grandpa's house and moved my grandma to the city with my aunt. Everyone was kind of a mess during that holiday time, but the best memory I have of Christmas was when my aunt finally decided to put aside the differences and invite us to her tiny apartment in the city. It wasn't the same without my grandpa or being in their old house, but the fact that my family put aside their differences to enjoy the day, because that's what my grandpa would've wanted us to do, gave me hope.
It has been a Christmas tradition for all of my family to come over our house on christmas eve and then have dinner. After we would all go to a late christmas eve mass at the church. On christmas day we would all gather for an early dinner at my aunts house. Of course I can think back to my childhood memories of wearing velvet christmas dresses and velvet bows to match, but I have never thought to cherish the things that were there. My grandma always stayed christmas eve over my house and we would all wake up together and have a really nice breakfast and listen to music on christmas day. This chrismas will most definitely be different and rather difficult do to our recent loss of my grandma.Sharing our most cherished memories of her will hopefully become a new tradition.
I actually have a feeling my favorite holiday memory will be this year. My brothers, all of my cousins, and I all hadn't been together at the same time for about six years due to some family feuds. But, over Thanksgiving break, we all secretly got together to set up a surprise for our parents and nana. When we were little, our parents would always dress us up in stupid costumes and get our picture taken and have it put on a mug or t-shirt for my nana. They were all framed, and they all hang on a beautiful wall of shame in her house. So, we took one of those pictures, in which we all sported (badumchhhh) athletic gear as a Christmas gift in 1998, got almost identical outfits just a few sizes bigger, and re-did the picture 14 years later. We got them blown up and made in a huge frame next to each other side-by-side for Nana, and smaller copies for our parents.
What will make this year extra special and memorable is the fact that we will all finally be together for Christmas again and it will also be my Nana's first Christmas with pancreatic cancer. She hasn't smiled a genuine smile in a while, but something tells me this Christmas she just might.
Holiday traditions are what continue to help flourish my Christmas spirit every year. Every year on Christmas Eve, my family and I travel to Garden city to visit my dad’s side of the family. I rarely see this side of the family, so whenever I do I appreciate every moment I have with them. In all honestly, I usually am more excited for Christmas Eve then the actual Christmas day. I love my dad’s side of the family, for they are all so entertaining and amusing. Now that I am older, I am realizing how I’m not as excited for presents under the tree anymore. I am now truly excited for being with my loved ones and enjoying the holidays together.
(I was absent Friday :0)
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