Every holiday brings poignant memories: the last Christmas with my mother, the first Christmas with a new baby, or every time we are blessed with a new family member through marriage. But there are some memories that spring to the front of my mind when I am asked to tell a Christmas story. Here are two:
December 24, 1978
Thirty-seven years ago I was prepping to host my grown siblings for Christmas Eve for the first time ever. My parents were taking the youngest three (of nine) to Florida for a rare Christmas vacation treat.
The tree was decorated, the house was clean, the cookies and bars were baked; things were all ready to go. When I woke up Christmas Eve, I realized that I had been experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions but they were a little stronger than I remembered during my first pregnancy. I called my OB and he suggested going to the hospital to be sure.
We had to get dressed, arrange child care and drive to the hospital but I wasn't overly concerned. Upon arrival 90 minutes later, I was informed, "You are going to have that baby today." I knew I wasn't yet 30 weeks along and now I was petrified, especially when my husband was told there wouldn't be room for him in the delivery room. Less than 60 minutes later, just before 11:30 AM, Josh was born. He weighed less than three pounds but was pretty healthy otherwise. The hospital was equipped with a Level 3 nursery so we were quite fortunate that he had the best care.
My aunt generously offered to host the older siblings for Christmas Eve. In these pre-cellphone days, we had no way to contact my parents but when they tried calling, of course there was no answer. My dad then called his brother and was told, "Congratulations, you're grandparents again."
My parents honestly couldn't figure out what he was talking about and asked who had the baby. Since I wasn't due until the first part of March it didn't occur to them that it was me.
Josh was in the hospital exactly 6 weeks and went home with us at the hefty weight of 4 pounds and 8 ounces. By then he seem huge to us, but to others he was tiny indeed. It will always be my most memorable Christmas.
This Christmas will also be memorable: 37 years later, Josh and his wife, Amy, will be bringing their first born, Soren Christopher, to celebrate with us.
Christmas 2005
Whenever I see this picture of my sister-in-law wiping away tears of laughter, I'm reminded of the year my sister, Jill, and her family stayed with me. The downstairs guest room has a gift-wrap table setup in it so that those materials needed are always easily at hand. Jill seemed to really appreciate it as she arrived from Alabama with presents that still needed wrapping.
Jill had mentioned misplacing something in the guest room but I didn't give it a lot of thought. I knew we would find it before it was time for her to return home.
Fast forward to Christmas Eve gift opening. It was my father's turn in our long drawn-out one-at-a-time gift opening tradition. My father is elderly, has macular degeneration and is legally blind. He opened up his gift from my sister's family and was delighted with the sweater inside. But then held up something small and black in shiny fabric and he said, "what's this?"
My niece, sitting next to him, held them up so there was no doubt, for those of us with sight, anyway. And my sister, Jill, exclaimed, "There's my underwear, I've been looking for those!"
My dad was still confused so we had to explain Jill had inadvertently wrapped up her underwear in his present. It makes me laugh to this day just remembering my dad's confusion and Jill's sudden realization as to where her underwear actually ended up. And the picture of my sister-in-law wiping away tears of laughter brings it all back.
"The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history twenty-four different ways during December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.”
