Creating Memories

It's the holiday season and with it comes warm memories of holidays past. Tis the season to be jolly falala! My fondest memories of past holidays seem to all include my mother. She had her issues as she had Tourettes Syndrome, but she did manage to provide me with many a wonderful experience that I still cherish today. We would bake cookies each Christmas and my favorites were always the gingerbread men. We would decorate them with red and green frosting and cinnamon drops. I still have have the gingerbread man cookie cutter that we used packed away for safe keeping. Mom would spend hours making her popular fruit cakes which cost her a lot of money to make, but she never complained about the cost and she love giving them as presents to her special friends. Growing up, we had a huge fireplace that was decorated with festive garland and we always bought a Douglas fir tree to decorate with the most beautiful decorations. I would spend hours looking at myself in the ornaments and make funny faces. Mom would always give my brother and I left over lights and garland to decorate our rooms as well as the house. On Christmas morning mom insisted that we read the story of Christ from the Bible before we could open our Christmas presents. I remember one Christmas when I was very young and we heard a knock at our door. I opened it up to see Santa loaded with gifts for my brother and I. I was awe struck! Santa! Here at my humble home? Many years later my mother told me that it was a church group that had donated all of the gifts. Back in those times, my mother was a single mom struggling to earn a living to support the three of us. My mother always made sure we had something to remember and be grateful for. It is important to build special memories and or rituals that leave an impression upon your child/ren. If a family spends the holidays fighting or squabbling that is what the children will remember. If the holidays are spent in loving kindness giving to others less fortunate or making do with a little less because of the tough times America is now facing, that is okay. It's the memory of being together and doing something positive that counts.

###