3 Sentence Holiday Memories From Our Readers

I feel so fortunate for the memories I have from Christmas as a little girl. One year, my oldest brother cast the remaining 3 of us sibs in a live performance of the poem by Clement Clarke Moore, T’was the Night Before Christmas . I must have been 4 years old… and it was so exciting to be a part of this production we were putting on for our mother! I don’t remember much more than that special feeling of being included and the sweet smile on our mom’s face as my eldest brother read the poem as we acted it out. I can also remember the glimmering tinsel and bulbs on the tree that gave just enough light to make our living room feel magical.
The year before was the first Christmas after our parents divorced, and we were traveling from Connecticut to Illinois to spend Christmas with our dad. I came down with Chicken Pox and couldn’t fly with my siblings so my mom snuck me (hiding my spotted face under her coat) onto what we called a sleepy train and we rode to Chicago. It was so much fun - a bed that folded out of the wall and beautiful wooden compartments to stow luggage and belongings. It was so well thought out! I remember watching the Christmas lights wiz by outside the window of our train that night as we made our way west. They were so pretty!
I remember my mom telling me to look out the window when the steward came to our room with our food so he wouldn’t see my spots. Years later I figured out that my mom had made that trip and had turned around and had gone right back to Connecticut and realized that she did many things like that for us during our childhood.

---Mary Spalding O'Meara

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I didn't grow up having any Christmas traditions in India.

My first Christmas tree in the USA was from a store. After, I found out from friends that one can go to a farm and cut the tree.

Now, one of our beloved family traditions is to dress in ugly sweaters and cut our own tree.

---Prati Kaufman

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Here are my three sentences about Christmas memories.

My childhood Christmas memories revolve around three Ms, beginning with Midnight Mass and the candle vigil symbolizing the light of Christ coming into the world.

Next was the Meal mom had prepared for our large family on the kitchen table mounded high with food and desserts.

Finally were the early Morning presents from Santa and family members immediately after the meal, since we younger ones were too excited to go back to sleep.

---Chuck Miceli

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On getting walkie talkie's one Christmas to go with our snowmobiles . . .

Said Astro Boy to the President:

Do you hear what I hear?
(Do you hear what I hear?)

Said the North Star to the Arctic Cat:

Can you hear what I say?
(Can you hear what I say?)

I'll Race you home!!

—-Jake Cunningham

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A few of my holiday memories:

—My father and I made snow ice cream. We’d collect the usually abundant snow (this was outside of Syracuse, NY), add milk, cream, and maple syrup, whip it to the right consistency, and voila—snow ice cream!

I remember my best Xmas ever, when I got a three-feet-long Fighting Lady battleship that fired shells and depth charges, AND a battery-operated Nautilus submarine, with a clear plastic top so you could see all of the sailors inside, AND a Slinky, which I walked down the stairs at least a hundred times. What a haul. What a day!

—I fondly remember my relatives (and there were many) gathering on Xmas Day to sample my aunt’s special egg nog and share a many-course turkey dinner (before I became a vegetarian).

—I remember my parents’ ringing in the New Year with fresh jumbo shrimp (not for me, thanks) and a toast.

Hmmm. Seems like many of my holiday memories revolve around food and drink!

---David Kulle

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Every year at Christmastime my mother made Christmas Tree Cookies.
They were green and were in the shape of Christmas trees.
I now make them every year and can't imagine Christmas without them.

---Jean McGavin

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We wouldn't come home for Christmas unless there was snow on the ground.

The snow helped us work up a healthy appetite.

This is my brother attempting to make a snow angel.  He's still practicing.

---Jake Cunningham

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Every year we had a candy wreath, that looked a lot like this, that hung on our mantel. We gobbled up the candies unaware of the love in these wreathes.
When we were a bit older we learned that the wreathes were made by a grateful patient for my father whom she credited with saving her life.

---Anonymous