I asked my father and sisters what we did for Christmas Eve when we were young but, oddly enough, none of us remembered the same things.
While my family can’t really agree how we spent Christmas Eve when we were young, I remember that we did have a few Christmas Eve rituals.

We almost always spent the day at home.
There were [...]

I found today’s topic for the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories,  Christmas Sweetheart Memories, a bit difficult to write.
I’ll just say that this gift from a sweetheart of long ago tends to dig up thoughts of the Ghost of Christmas Past.

Written for the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories – Day 23.
Copyright © 2007 by Stephen J. [...]

Living in Albany, New York, I always wished for a White Christmas.
In 1966, though, chances of that happening were looking a bit bleak. We hadn’t received more than a dusting of snow until 3.5 inches fell on December 14. But, even that didn’t last. On December 17 and 18, temperatures crept into the 40s, and all the snow melted.
Finally, Christmas Eve arrived. With [...]

“All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” was written by Donald Yetter Gardner in 1944.
All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth,
My two front teeth, see my two front teeth.
Gee, if I could only have my two front teeth,
Then I could wish you “Merry Christmas.”
“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”, written [...]

My family never talked much about deceased relatives around the holidays.
That changed in 1980 when my mother died.
Christmas 1980 was not a particularly happy occasion for us. I flew back home from Oregon where I attending graduate school. My father, my sisters, and I tried to cook a turkey for Christmas, a task our mother had always handled. Our [...]