Christmas Memories, 2008 - Kay

Merry Christmas to EVERYONE who reads this. I hope you like to read, this will probably end up being a short novel. Christmas is my favorite Holiday. I love the sights, the sounds, even the shopping. I love the excitement from my girls. It warms my heart to see that Christmas means so much to them. I love that they care enough to want to spend it with us.

As a child, the only thing I ever wanted that I never got was a bicycle. Some of my favorites as a child were the ring from George and Marsha, and my dress from Louise and Clyde. My favorite Christmas as a child was when the family started growing, and we were all together on Merrill Street. The gifts were stacked SO high in the living room, and it was so exciting that all of us were together. Two Two the cat was there in the midst of all the paper.

My favorite memories as an adult were the year we all went to a hall, then loaded up and went to surprise Dad. Twenty one of us in a small trailer, but how much fun that was !!

The year that Mom and Dad were at our house on Janet. Having them both with us after all those years made it such a special day. I remember being SO excited, and all of us sharing our favorite Christmas memories. Just the excitement of having all of us together made my Christmas special. That's the way it's suppose to be, and the way I wish it still was, the way I'm hoping some day will be again. My biggest surprise has to be the year that Mike bought me my piano. He had it hid in Megan's room for 10 DAYS !!! He knew I had always wanted one, and loved me enough to make it happen.

We usually spend Christmas Eve at Moms, Mexico Way is a MUST !! I so enjoy seeing the family members that show up. But most of all I love seeing the excitement in Mom's eyes. She loves Christmas and I love her.

For as far back as I can remember, I buy the girls pajamas for Christmas, and would give them to them on Christmas Eve. When they started earning their own money , they started buying pajamas for Mike and me. I still carry on that tradition. We all exchange pajamas after we get back from Mom's, and you HAVE to wear them on Christmas morning. ( I remember the year so clearly that Linda got some for Christmas that looked like what we would now call Capri's.........). For years, every Christmas Eve, the girls would pile into one bed, and sleep together. When they were younger, they would pile their holiday stuffed animals in their bed, and talk til dawn.....

I took pictures of them every year. Now that they're grown, and Myndi has her own house, I'll have to start taking a new kind of picture. We are usually woke up by Miss Megan every Christmas morning. I've gotten them stockings for years, and when they found out that as a child I didn't have my own stocking, they bought one for Mike and me and started filling our stockings. We all grab a nut roll, and go through our stockings, then do our gift exchange. I insist that we take turns opening them, so it makes the time slow down. You prepare for this for so long, and put so much time into it, that I stretch it out as long as I can. We have dinner and the rest of the day we just enjoy each others company. Play games, watch a new movie, play guitar hero.......whatever we choose to do.

My favorite foods..........I was thinking the other day that we need to do a tribute to one part of Christmas that ALL of us enjoy, except for maybe Bethany.......NUT ROLLS !!! They started 40 years ago, and the legacy continues. They're such a huge part of Christmas. Megan get's so excited that she's literally jumping up and down. One of her worst Christmas's was probably the year that Mason ate all of our nut rolls while we were at Mom's............51 of them !!! Christmas morning wouldn't be the same without them.We usually decorate outside , not to the extreme, but enough to give it a holiday glow. I love to decorate the inside, especially the family room. I try to put something in every room. I love getting it out and remembering where some of it came from.

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I pray that God blesses you all with happiness and health. My biggest prayer is that God replaces the hurt and bitterness in this family with renewed hope and the WILL to put this family back together. Our kids and the grandkids especially are missing out on so much. If I had one wish this year, it would be that we would all put our differences aside, and love each other enough to give Mom the chance to see our family mended.

Love to you all, Kay