Christmas Memories

I have so many good Christmas memories. As a child I would get so excited that I couldn’t hardly sleep on Christmas Eve night. Finally, morning would come and I would wake my sister and together we would stampede down the steps to the living room to see if Santa had come. He always had and it was so magical to see all of the presents around the tree, the stockings filled with goodies, and the Santa’s plate of goodies gone. Then we had to wait for everyone to get up before opening our presents. That wait seemed to take forever but looking back, the anticipation was just as fun as when we finally opened the gifts.

Probably my favorite Christmas memory is sitting by the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve with my dad. Mom would send us to bed a bit early and then wake us to get ready for Midnight Mass. I remember coming into the darkened living room and seeing my dad sitting on the couch looking at our beautifully lit Christmas tree. He had genuine smile on his face as he sat their singing Christmas songs along with the radio which was playing softly in the background. He had me sit on his lap and I gazed at the twinkling lights. I could have sat there forever. Everything was so still and peaceful. Christmas was here.