Christmas Memories

My earliest Christmas memories are pretty blurry. I do remember being fascinated by it all - the sparkle and lights - the colors, vivid and bright; staring at my distorted reflection in the colored glass balls that hung on our tree. I recall touching the lights - feeling the warmth and seeing how my finger tip glowed red.

Santa didn't come to our house, but Mom and Dad made sure we didn't miss him. Mom still made a stocking for me, I guess around the time I was born. Hanging off of it were little felt ornaments accented with sequence. It had my name "Teresa Maria" spelled out in cursive in shiny gold cording. I loved it. Mom and I would sing "Away in a Manger" and I would often crying for little baby Jesus because he had no crib for a bed.

My sister, Jenny and I looked forward to all the Christmas specials on TV. We would sip hot chocolate with loads of marshmallows and cuddle up on the couch together to watch Frosty the Snowman, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Grinch that Stole Christmas and of course Charlie Brown's Christmas. White Christmas with Danny Kay and Bing Crosby was also one of our favorites. Jen and I loved to do the "Sisters" number together.

When we got a bit older, my dad would take us down the street to the tree lot the day after Thanksgiving to hunt for the most beautiful tree would could find. Often we would come home with what mom called a "Charlie Brown Christmas tree", but we still thought is was perfect.

We helped mom decorate the tree while Amy Grant's "A Christmas Album" would spin on the record player. I don't know what crackled more, the fire or the LP. Unwrapping all the ornaments we had collected over the years was like re-discovering lost treasure. We'd search out for the perfect spot to hang each one. A few of them we had made ourselves either at school or church. We carefully draped the shiny silver tinsel over the branches and over each other as the static cling made it stick. When we were done, Jenny and I would lay up under the tree close to the trunk and stare up at it through the branches. We'd lay there for a while, just soaking it all in. The smell was strong and the glow was stunning from that perspective.

I recall spending snow days making Christmas treats for friends and neighbors. Decorating and delivering them was a day long process. Jenny often made intricate gingerbread houses complete with icing icicles and melted blue candy pond. One year we came home and our black lab had gotten a hold of it and ate the whole thing.

Mom and Dad would bundle us up to go for rides around town to see Christmas lights. We sat huddled under blanket and marvel at the displays through the foggy car windows.

The very last Christmas we spent in Tulsa, was also the last Christmas we spent in the house we grew up in. I think it was 1999 and we got snowed in. We were all together and it was the most wonderful Christmas I can remember. I'm so glad I have that memory to hold onto forever.

These days Christmas has taken on a whole new joy. Now that we have children, we are busy creating memories for them to cherish for the rest of their lives. Seeing their excitement takes me back to those early days and rekindles that childlike wonder.

This truly is a special time of year. When else can you hear songs about Jesus coming through the load speakers at the grocery store? That in itself makes it amazing. And while all these other things make the season festive, it doesn't compare to the real glory behind Christmas. Jesus come to earth so that we might be made right with God. When you think about that, it truly is something to celebrate. God with us, in us and for us - as my mother-in-law, Judy, put it so beautifully as we celebrated Christmas Eve tonight with the Lickliters.

As I finish typing this, Christmas day is 8 minutes away. I looked forward to it all year long and it soon will be gone as quickly as it came. The floors will be covered with the tattered, torn discards of Christmas wrap, crumbs from the Christmas cookies will litter the counter tops, embers in the fireplace will burn down low and the warmth of all the memories made will comfort us as we turn out the lights on another Christmas season.