Lani's Blog

A Christmas Memory

Write about your most cherished childhood memory.





One of my most cherished childhood memories happened at Christmas. We were told Santa was poor this year. Christmas dinner was the only present we would receive. My father has spent three months in the hospital earlier that year recovering from back surgery and complications. He was just now getting back to work and on his feet financially. No Christmas tree, no presents, it looked like a gloomy holiday season for us.





On December 22, my father dragged in the scraggliest evergreen I had ever seen. He said the priest from our parish told him to bring it home. It was part of the greening of the nativity scene and no one would miss this one tree. God bless him, he was right. The branches were scraggy and the needles were falling faster than we could decorate. It didn’t matter. To me and my brothers and sisters, it was beautiful. We covered the bald spots with as many plastic icicles as we could find. Does anyone else remember aluminum/plastic icicles? They made such a mess but they were cool.





One of my favorite things to do at Christmas is to sit next to the tree with the lights on. And wonder about Santa. What was he doing? Why was he poorer this year? I kind of half way suspected the answer, but I really didn’t want to know.





No one rushed to get up that Christmas morning. And yet Santa came! There were coloring books and crayons, candy canes and nuts and dollies! My sisters and I each received really nice dolls. I don’t remember what my brothers received.





My doll had black wavy hair. She had blue eyes that closed and cherry read lips. She wore a red jumper with a white blouse and she had Mary Jane shoes. I gave her the most beautiful and exotic name I could think of: Dianne. She was my constant companion for many adventures after that Christmas.





I had hope Santa had brought these riches, but I overheard my mother whisper to my dad that “they were generous this year.” I have no idea who “they” are but I suspect “they” were our parish. The Church had helped us out when my dad was ill.





The best part of this memory is the feelings of love and of “enough.” I remembering sitting next to the Christmas tree thinking “I have Dianne, I have coloring books and crayons. I have candy. I have the most beautiful Christmas tree in the world. I have everything.”





Hopefully tomorrow’s prompt won’t be favorite Christmas memory











Lani