My Favorite Christmas Memories

My Favorite Christmas Memories - picture of glass of milk and cookies in front of Christmas tree

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Today, we have teamed up with several different bloggers to share some of our favorite childhood Christmas memories. To enjoy more of these articles, please see the group’s main page at Tackling Our Debt. Happy Holidays!

Christmas Through the Eyes of a Child

Christmas was always a huge holiday in our household.  Since my parents were generally frugal, we didn’t get a lot of toys or gifts throughout the year.  Therefore, my parents went out of their way to make Christmas special for us.
I still remember laying in my bed as a child, anticipating Santa’s arrival.  Would I hear him come into the house?  Would I be able to stay awake long enough to find out?  Fortunately, I always fell asleep and Santa was able to deliver my gifts without being discovered.  The next morning, my sister or brother would rush into my room and wake me up around 6:00 a.m.  In hindsight, I’m sure that my parents had wished we would sleep in a little longer!!!  Regardless, when we entered the living room, we would always see what appeared to be a giant mountain of toys.  I can remember clearly how the huge amount of gifts that we received looked in front of the tree.  I’m not sure if we really did receive a ton of gifts, or if it just seemed that way. It was definitely a special occasion in our household, and I have fond memories of Christmas from throughout my childhood.

 

Christmas Through the Eyes of a Parent

Now that I am a parent, I am seeing Christmas from the other side.  Obviously, I want to buy my daughter everything that her heart desires. Yet, I know that that is a bad deal – both for her and for me.  While my children certainly will be getting some presents and toys this year, it won’t be excessive. Truth be told, we really didn’t spent that much money on them at all.  Since they don’t get toys or gifts thoughout the rest of the year, hopefully they will see the same mountain of toys that I clearly remember as a child.

Since becoming a parent, my favorite Christmas memory is of my (now) 3-year-old daughter during Christmas 2011.  On Christmas Eve, we made cookies for Santa and sat them out with a glass of milk.  On Christmas morning, Santa had eaten the cookies and drank the milk. To our surprise, Santa also had written both of my daughters a letter.  As my husband read the letter to my daughter, her eyes got huge with disbelief.  She simply could not believe that Santa had written her a letter. She thought it was the most amazing thing that she had ever seen!  I will never forget the look of wonder and excitement in her eyes.

I love Christmas – not only because “Santa” visits our home, but also for the religious holiday and the traditions of the season.  Now that I am a parent, I am truly looking forward to seeing my children’s eyes this Christmas as they see the huge mountain of gifts before their eyes.  I can only hope that they will have the same fond memories of Christmas that I do and that – one day – they will realize why Santa didn’t buy them every single thing that they wanted.  Now, I am going to leave you with my favorite Christmas song.  Happy Holidays, everyone!

 

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55 Comments

  1. I used to love Christmas when I was a child, but for all the wrong reasons. I was only interested in the presents and I had no real appreciation of what the day was actually supposed to be about.
    Still, I have plenty of great memories of Christmas as a child and I am sure to enjoy many more with my own child, when he gets old enough to participate in the festivities.

    1. Ohhhhhh…….Christmas is so much funner with kids. This time next year you will have a nearly one year old to spend the holiday with!

  2. I love the idea of the letter from Santa – that seems like a tradition you could do every year that could be so meaningful to keep and look back on =)

    1. Definitely…that is the plan. It was sooooo cute. We are definitely doing it every year!

      1. I visited the Finnish North Pole this summer and there was Santa’s house and mail office. I was able to ask Santa to send a letter to my 2yo niece that will ship shortly before Christmas! I would love to be around to see that, I’ll have to be content with Skype. Such a lovely age, everything is magic!

  3. Josh Groban is a great musician – his Christmas music is top-notch. I can only imagine how much fun it is to make Christmas memories with your children. I do love spoiling my cousins but I have recently tried to restrain myself because they do get SO many gifts…no reason for me to spend $50 on each of them :0

    1. Josh Groban is amazing. I love ALL of his music…even though some of it is cheesy.

  4. Mandy @ MoneyMasterMom says:

    That’s a great Christmas song. I remember not being allowed to go downstairs until 7 am so I would sit on the stairs with my brothers just waiting. We’d each take turns checking the clock every thirty seconds. Such great memories 🙂

    1. Same here. We were so excited to get up on Christmas morning!!!!!!!!

  5. Great song! I remember pestering my parents starting what seems like 5:00 am to get up and go downstairs. Thankfully my parents were pretty gracious.

    1. I hope my kids don’t start getting up that early on Christmas!!!!!!!!!!

  6. I love me some Josh Groban! Christmas really does change throughout the years. I think it’s going to be more amazing as a mom now, I can’t wait!

    1. It is amazing to be a parent on all of the special occasions. Christmas with kids is a blast!

  7. Christmas as a parent is the absolute best.. There is nothing better than seeing a big smile on your little ones’ faces, and on Christmas morning, they light up as big as ever…

    Great writing, Holly.. I remember feeling just like that when I was a kid as well..

    -j-

    1. I totally agree! Lydia LOVES Christmas. She is counting down the days!

  8. I used to love the excitement of Christmas Eve at my grandma’s. I was always there to help get ready and it was always so much fun with the hustle and bustle, then to have everybody arrive. I miss that!

    1. I miss seeing my grandparents at Christmas. They are gone now…it just isn’t the same.

    1. Me too….but now I get to relive it with my children!

  9. When I was a kid I was way more excited about the presents than anything else on Christmas. Now as an adult I love seeing my nieces and nephews go nuts over their presents, it’s a whole different kind of happy.

    1. I totally agree! When my kids are happy, I am happy!

  10. Tackling Our Debt says:

    Your childhood Christmas as well as Christmas with your kids sounds like a lot of fun. I love the idea of the Christmas letter from Santa.

    1. My boss suggested that idea to me. It’s definitely something we will continue doing.

  11. The letter from Santa is so cute and such a great idea! I may have to implement that one next year when my daughter is older 🙂

    1. You should! It was awesome. She couldn’t believe it!

  12. The holidays create a lot of great memeories, particularly with family. My daughter’s birthday coincides (12/26) with the holidays and we generally have a party. It adds to the holiday festivities and memories.

    1. Awwww….that’s cool. So you have a Christmas/birthday party. My birthday is Jan 6th so it also gets lumped with the holidays sometimes. I certainly dont mind!

  13. I love spending Christmas around kids and seeing them light up. This year, my niece and nephews will be with us and I’m so excited to take them to do all the Christmas activities around us. Merry Christmas!

  14. Love the note from Santa. Maybe he will write one to my kids this year. 😉 Merry Christmas!

    1. I think you should try it~! We even recorded my daughter’s face as daddy read her the letter. It was so precious.

  15. At your house does Santa bring all the presents? So, then, is your tree bare before the big day? My parents didn’t want to give Santa all the credit, so he’d bring a few things, but mostly the tags said, “from Mom and Dad”. My sister would line presents up by recipient and squeal with delight over having the most.

    1. Yes, Santa gets all the credit at my house! That’s just the way we have always done it.

    1. Hey, that sounds like an AWESOME idea. Maybe I will implement that at my own home.

  16. I can not wait to experience Christmas through my daughter’s eyes this year since she is old enough to participate. And we are receiving the best gift of all, family coming in from out of state with their baby girl who is nearly my little one’s age. Those two rascals are going to love romping around the christmas tree together!

    1. Awww……they can play together. How cute. Having kids around at Christmas is awesome!

  17. My brother and I woke up one year just after 2 a.m. For some reason my parents gave in and we opened presents at about 2:45 a.m. I still remember that (but have also remembered the mandatory nap time my dad instilled later that day).

    1. I would tell my kids to get back to bed! There is no way I would get up at 2:00 a.m. and let them open presents. Your parents are saints.

  18. Time and age do change experiences. We don’t have kids yet but when we do I am sure we are going to get right back on that Christmas wagon. It should be fun.

    1. It will, definitely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  19. My husband’s family had a great tradition of putting their stockings at the foot of the bed so when they woke up early, it would keep them busy for a little while. The first year we did that with our daughter she was almost 3 and we had to go up to get her. She had everything strewn about, and it’s all little stuff like socks and toothbrushes, and she looks up and says, “Santa brought me this big shoe!” It was the sweetest thing ever.

  20. Christmas as a kid is the best! My kids are grown up but I have a one-year-old grandson and I’d going all out this year! Thanks for sharing your memories with us!

  21. Justin@TheFrugalPath says:

    I remember waking up super early to see what Santa had left us. My parents would actually make us wait until 9:00 before they would wake up, I’m not sure whether or not they were playing some type of cruel joke. Those were fun times though waiting with my brother and sister for our parents to rise out of bed trying to see who got the biggest gifts.

    1. Yes! Exactly! I loved Christmas as a kid. We didn’t get a lot of presents throughout the year so Christmas was always special.

  22. No kids for us yet, but I’m excited to share our Christmas traditions with them when we do have them some day. My dad always joked that we woke them up as the, “butt crack of dawn”. Now my nephews wake us up so I know how they must have felt waking up soo early on Christmas.

  23. I enjoyed participating in this party with you! It sounds like you have some great childhood memories and some great traditions as a parent too!! These are such fun ideas. Love the letter to Santa especially!

  24. I still remember my childhood Christmases. It was just as fun as a parent, but in a different way. I’m looking forward to grand kids someday, and expect it will be equally as fun!

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