Christmas Memories from Years Gone By

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It’s about as nice a day as I can think of. I’m holed up in the mancave, a most excellent song is playing on the laptop (Chris Joss, You’ve Been Spiked!) and I am thinking back about blogs written on Christmases past. Isn’t this time of year different, and special? It’s because of the many anniversaries of good times that this date, December 24, brings up. There have been so many memorable Christmas eves in my day. It’s a rich repository of memories, so I’ve mined my own archives from posts written on Christmas. Here are some highlights.

From Christmas 2008: It’s time for the post Christmas layabout. Time to look at the gadgets and toys and to charge the new devices and digest from the big breakfast by the daytime fire. Outside there is still snow and it’s cold, nice to have a white Christmas once in a while.

I think this year was a model of restraint compared with previous years, reflecting the current tone of moderation, thrift and the possibility of abject poverty. Not really. 

Christmas 2006 Last night after dinner Kate wanted to bring Nathan out to see the Christmas lights. He had been amazed upon seeing them from the backseat of the car, so we bundled him into the stroller and set off in the inky chilly blackness to find some more lights.

It is finally cold here, winter feels like it has finally come, no more 65 degrees I hope. We turned onto Cross Street and beheld a true spectacle of lights. One of our neighbors has set up a yard full of displays, all flood-lit and even cheesy music wafts out from the dark corners.

There are two Santas that slowly come up and then down again into inflated chimneys, there are glittering white lights on all the trees, there are twinking toy trains and twinkling Christmas gifts, it just went on and on. Nathan was astonished, pointing from his stroller “look,” “look,” in that way that only 1 year olds can be amazed.

We kept walking to look for more of these fascinating lights, that to us were crass and overdone, but to his little mind, brilliant, amazing and WOW! We went home and put another log on the fire, and basked in the warmth.

Christmas 2007

I walked into the party which was full of my sisters and many friends from my parent’s neighborhood, and everyone wanted to get me a drink, or shake hands, or say hello. I was beat, that little truck just isn’t made for a 6 hour trip to New Jersey.

But I settled in to talking to my old pal Reed, and to my father Nat, and as the night wore on and I relaxed on the comfy sofas at Jen’s big house, I caught up with everyone and felt great. Today I’ve got my three sisters here and it’s a mellow and slow day at this country estate. We all woke up late today and enjoyed cafe coffee while the dogs played outside. Sister Anne shared tales of horrible dates, and Jen chimed in with her own tales of woe (before she got married) and with no commitments and ample supplies to keep us all sated, it’s a quiet day on vacation.