Christmas Memories

This weekend, I attended my PWOC's Christmas Tea.  For our devotional, our worship leader had us share two memories of our favorite Christmases.  It became obvious very quickly that there was a recurring theme to the memories we shared.  We recalled not the best gifts received or given, but the time spent with family, the love shared as we partook of family or church traditions, the gratitude to our families, or our parents for making Christmas a living Holiday, not just trees and lights.

I have to admit, I had a little bit of trouble thinking of my favorite two Christmas memories.  Not because I don't have plenty to draw from, but more so because they occurred every year.  So of the hundreds of things that overflowed in my mind, I shared the two that stuck out to me the most at that moment.  But I forgot one.  And the more I think about it, the more I really want to share it.  Again, its a recurring memory.  More of a tradition really, and something that I can't seem to carry over into my family no matter how hard I try, which makes the tradition even more special to me.

One of my favorite traditions about Christmas-time growing up was the amount of work, and the amount of fun, my Mom had in decorating the house.  Decorating the tree carried over into decorating the entire house, and even the yard.  We were always strapped for cash growing up so presents were never extravagant. More often then not they were items we found ourselves at yard sales and flea markets that we handed over to Mama to wrap up for us.  There were very few presents under the tree that we puzzled over wondering what could be inside the wrapping.  But what we lacked in expensive gifts we made up for in festive decorations and mouth-watering smells.

My Mama is a incredible artist.  She can draw.  She can paint.  Even her handwriting is something beautiful to behold.  And her artistry carried over to the house and even the kitchen.  Every single Christmas, she turned our double-wide mobile home into a Christmas Wonderland that even Santa and his elves would be envious of!  (Too bad we never celebrated the legends of Santa... LOL)  There would be icicles hanging in the windows.  (We rarely saw ice where we lived in Florida)  There would be electric candles on every window sill.  Garland and ornaments found their way not just on the tree but over every walkway.  Hand folded paper stars would dangle over our heads as we walked from the kitchen into the living room or dining room.  Christmas decorations would replace the regular year-round decorations.  Christmas music would replace the Oldies and the Christian tapes.  The Christmas tree lights were on all day until the last person, usually Mama, would go to bed.  In the kitchen, instead of the smell of soups and sausages cooking for our normal dinners, we could smell cheesecakes, pies, cookies, and kisses (an egg-white confection that she would color in all sorts of different colors, and which never lasted more than a few days.)

I remember loving the Christmas season with all its glorious traditions mostly because of the work that my Mama did to transform our living space.  Christmas was never just another Holiday.  Christmas was always an experience.  Always a time to share with family.  Always a time to relax and reflect.  Always a time to reach out to friends.  Always a time to give of oneself to make others happy.

There are many more traditions that were apart of the Christmas that I grew up with.  All of them are just as special as this one. 

What traditions were you apart of?  What traditions do you incorporate into your Christmas now?
I want to have this spread around.  I think reflecting on the REAL reasons why Christmas is so much more than gift-giving or receiving continue to make the Holiday ALIVE to us!  By making Christmas a LIVING Holiday, I believe we truly feel the Joy that Christ would have us feel during our celebration of His Birth.

I am taking a liberty in tagging some of you, but please, even if you have not been tagged, feel free to share as well and then leave the link in my comments so I can come share in your Joy!

The Rules:
Write a Christmas Memories blog.
Include the link to my original blog somewhere in your blog.
Tag five other bloggers.
Then return to this blog's comments and paste the link to your Christmas Memories blog.

1. Kat
2. Christy Rose
3. De'Etta
4. Deborah Ann
5. Kat