I'm not feeling into Christmas this year. To say it was a bad year would be an understatement.
There were virtually no good things to come out of this year, so I'd like to look back at more favorite times.
Here are my top ten Christmas moments:
10) The same candy. For as long as I can remember, I have had the same candy in my Christmas stocking: Hersheys, Mr. Goodbar, and Krackel. Oh, and a host of peanuts. I can't possibly eat as much chocolate as I could when I was a kid, but seeing these little treats makes me smile.
9) The last Christmas with my mom. It wasn't so much a moment, as my sister's family was driving me crazy, but I did enjoy having my mom at my house. My last memories of her are at my house for the Christmas season. I remember our conversations, and how excited the grand-kids were for her to be there. I got to tell her that I was happy with the way she raised me and that I didn't hold her responsible for any mistakes. I'm glad she was able to see all of her kids again in the same room.
8) Christmas through my daughter's eyes. I don't know what the better Christmas was for my daughter, her first or her second, but being able to spoil her with her first set of Christmas toys brought a lot of joy to me.
7) Playing Medal of Honor with my brother. I would be on the chair (that the cat scratched up), and my brother would be on the desktop. We'd play various Medal of Honor games for the entire Christmas season. I've never had as much fun as that.
6) Christmas with the Duke. My dad would watch the TBS special "Christmas with the Duke," which aired a plethora of John Wayne movies on Christmas day. I remember watching with him. He gave me the nickname, "Cowboy" when I was a child because I was always watching westerns with him. I would watch John Wayne movies for many Christmas' after, and put many on my wishlist. It has been awhile since I have seen or requested one, but I do miss them.
5) As much as I hated college, I really enjoyed going home for Christmas break. I remember on one occasion, I rode with my brother in his beat up car (which he still owns), and a Christmas tree had fallen out of a trailer and onto the road. All of the cars were swerving fanatically, and when it became our turn to swerve, my brother goes off of the shoulder and drives up a small incline dodging various elements on the way such as rocks, car parts, and other large piles of garbage. He then navigates back onto the road at or near full speed, miraculously unscathed. It was truly a feat of skill.
4) My first bicycle. I remember awaking one Christmas morning and seeing an unwrapped bicycle with a bow on the seat and a tag that just said it was to me from "the Elves." It was one of my most memorable gifts, possibly my favorite, and no one has since received a gift from "the Elves." I don't know whose idea it was to write it that way, but it was either my dad's or my sister's.
3) The Christmas without a toilet. I don't remember if it was Christmas day, or several days preceding Christmas. My oldest brother was redoing my mom's bathroom for Christmas, which conveniently meant that all Christmas guests (which were many) were without use of a restroom. We had to take several trips throughout each day to the local McDonalds to relieve ourselves. This became quite annoying, but in the end became a fun memory.
2) The organized attempt to spy on St. Nick. For years, my brother, sister, and I would come up with a plan to spy on Santa. These plans were very organized, timed well, and executed for many Christmas'. It typically involved my brother and I setting up dummy's under our blankets and crawling under the weight bench (which was draped with a blanket) to begin execution. Each years' plan varied, but some of them involved creating a diversion, one plan may have involved a mirror, others involved the use of remote control, and our most successful attempt utilized an audio recorder hidden behind some books. Our parents and oldest sister caught onto us after a year or two, so at one point my oldest sister was just sitting in a chair in the hall watching our door and telling us to go back to bed every time we'd make a sound.
1) Jingle Bell Rock. The song that I grew up with each Christmas morning was Jingle Bell Rock by Bill Hailey and the Comets. It was off of a True Value CD that someone (my oldest sister or my dad) would play every Christmas morning at 7 or 8 am. It told us all that it was time to come down and eat breakfast. In my family, my dad didn't care if we just ate junk out of our stockings for breakfast, but the playing of the song (and loudly) let us know that it was okay to come out of the shadows and feast upon our candy and have a look at our presents. The song has conditioned me to take a break from the stresses of life and remember the good times.
Honorable Mention: Finding and cutting down a Christmas Tree, shoving it into or on top of (I don't recall) our Ford Aerostar, retrieving it from the vehicle, attempting to prop it up, getting the sap out of our skin/clothes, and cleaning up the mess.
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