And behind day 24 is me again!
Hi guys – well that was the fastest 24 days ever! I can’t believe tomorrow is Christmas Day!
I hope you had fun following the advent calendar.
COMPETITION TO WIN EBOOKS
For today’s fun I thought I would ask you for one perfect winter/Christmas memory – simply tell me below and 10 commenters will win three ebooks from my backlist.
p.s – ALSO DON’T FORGET – you still have time to get your free copy of Dallas Christmas until tomorrow – you can find it here – https://bookhip.com/PBSTMK
Happy Christmas & much love to you all – stay safe and well,
RJ XXXXX
Getting a bag of nuts and hard candies in the mail from our grandparents every Christmas. Mom continued the tradition for years afterwards.
When I was young – about 55 years ago – we would have Christmas Eve at my baba’s (Ukrainian grandmother) house. My mom was the oldest of 9 and I had 27 cousins. The house was always full, the food was wonderful, and there was lots of singing and laughter. As an adult I went to look at the house that seemed to be so big when I was a child and wondered how we got so many people in such a small house.
Going to my great grandmother’s house for Christmas dinner and going sledding with cousins.
I would go to Christmas Eve mass with my Mom and sister. On the way home we would run through the dark, snowy streets and yell Merry Christmas to everyone and every thing we passed like George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life!
Merry Christmas!! Thank you for this awesome advent calendar this year.
My favorite memory is really our evolving traditions. It started with my father making breakfast for us every year after opening presents. After I had kids, my parents started coming to my house early in the morning before the kids woke up so they could be here when they woke up. Then dad would make breakfast with my husband. Now, I miss my dad more than anything. My husband still makes our special breakfast and mom is still here every Christmas morning.
For many years (as a kid and well into young adulthood) I got a big box of Godiva Chocolates every Christmas – with a special dispensation that I DID NOT HAVE TO SHARE. I doled the chocolates out to myself, one or two a day.
Looking back, I marvel that I had such self restraint….
Coming from Australia, it was an experience spending Christmas in the United Kibgdom where tgete was Snow!
Waking up as a child and going with my siblings to the living room. We’d have to wait outside the shut door together then open it all in one. Every year the sight of the lit up tree with stockings underneath took my breath away with how magical it looked
Getting to go sledding at my grandmother’s house, then coming into the house where there was a fire in the fireplace and cookies to eat while we opened presents.
The last Christmas before my dad passed away. We settled old Hurts and started over new. Thank you for the chance! Merry Christmas!
We live in Australia and we planned our wedding so that we could travel to Europe at the right time of year to do a river cruise and visit all the Christmas Markets. It was the most perfect holiday we have ever had and introduced us to Mulled Wine, Chimney Cake and melted cheese on bread, YUM! We can’t wait to do it again when we can all travel once more.
when i was little my brother got stuck in the christmas tree lights and fell on him, nobody understood how he did it 😊😊🎄🎄
Undoubtedly, for me it was 5 years ago when I took a trip (from South Africa) to Washington DC to be there for the birth of my grandson.
(born Dec 26).
Not only was it wonderful to see my family, but it was so exciting to visit DC and see things I’d only ever seen in movies. Also, it was the first time in my life I’d seen real, real snow. What a magical experience for me!
Staying at home, warm and quiet with a blanket on my legs and a book/e-reader in my hands.
My favorite memory of Christmas is getting my grandpa homemade wooden puzzle boxes as gifts every year 🥰
I still remember how sure I was that I had seen Santa while he was climbing the chimney after leaving the presents. I was 5 and a little high on sugar *laughs* Later, when I was a little older, but my brothers still were little, seen all the troubles my parents would go to make Christmas magic: Dad, carefully lowering the bag of presents from the balcony of one of the bedrooms upstairs to the front door of my house, while Mom put a recording of the doorbell so that we all ran to open the door, it is still one of my dearest Christmas memories. 😀
We wrapped a bunch of snacks for my Dad one year, and after we put them under the tree our black lab right in front of everyone a little while later found those exact boxes and proceeded to start unwrapping them.. my Dad go some slobbery Cheeze Its!!! it was funny.
When I was really small, I was visiting my grandmother just before Christmas. She planned to drive us to my family’s house on Christmas Eve, but a blizzard blew in, and she couldn’t do the drive. I was so afraid Santa wouldn’t find me at her place (and he wouldn’t) but my dad drove to her house in the blizzard to come and get me and bring me home.
Once I had my own kids, I realized that drive wasn’t just for my sake, but for his. There aren’t many Christmas’s to enjoy while the kids are believers.
I used to love that no matter how often we stumbled across hidden presents or tried to sneak peaks, there was always something we somehow missed. There was once we had found the gifts early and knew what to expect. Christmas morning didn’t bring any new gifts so we were so confident we figured it out this year. We were practically gloating. Then as we finished breakfast my mom just sat a wrapped gift besides me and my brother. We didn’t even really wrap gifts anymore. We were so shocked. I can’t even remember the gifts but I do remember the note tucked inside that said. Ha! I bet you don’t find this one. My mom danced around the kitchen pointing and singing Na na na naaaa.
When I was in grade school we had a blizzard once. We got snow up to an adult’s waist overnight. Extreme blizzards here usually mean calf high over two days so this was exciting. A neighbor had a plow blade for his truck and plowed the side street for all of us and left a huge pile. My parents spent the day turning it into a snow slide for us and when that was finished, they built a small igloo from the snow on the patio. The slide was usable for over a week and we had a lot of fun with it.
My family never celebrated Christmas when I was a child but I always enjoyed celebrating it with friends now that I’ve grown up. I love picking out gifts for them and I start shopping after Halloween 🙂 This year has been a tough one but I knew my friend was a regular Grinch so picking out the perfect gift was a hard one. I finally sent a 12 Days of Coffee Sampler to her and she loved it 🙂 Coffee always makes life better and even though I haven’t seen her in more than a year….we’ll see each other again in 2021. I’ll give her a big hug 🙂
Thank you, your question triggered a lot of memories about Christmas! Everything from kitties climbing in the Christmas tree, to finding out who Santa really was (my Mom!), and the family feasts my in-laws put on for 2 days!
I think my perfect Christmas will be this year. My grandson is 3 1/2 and will love presents. We are expecting another grandson and all three of my daughters will be here.
I would say it was my 10th birthday and we spent Christmas in England. My birthday is on the 20th so we combined a christmas and birthday trip. I remember it snowed and it was so much fun.
Merry Christmas! Thank you for doing this advent calendar – it’s been fun looking forward to opening a new window each day.
One of my favorite Christmas memories is the way my mom decorated packages. She would use ribbon, twine, strings of beads, candy canes, tiny ornaments, and other decorations to make each one look special – she loved wrapping presents!
Another favorite memory was waking up early with my siblings to see what was left in our stockings. It was always before sunrise and the only light was from the glow of the Christmas tree. It felt magical. We were allowed to open anything in our stockings before my mom woke up (clever of her!). Then we stayed up late Christmas evening playing games. I fell asleep quite often during long games of Monopoly. LOL
A handful of years at, Mom, my brothers and I recreated our photo in front of the tree from 1992.
*years ago
For me it was always that little bit of anticipation right before you came around the corner into the living room to see what was under the tree (my mom always waited until Christmas eve to put everything out). It was like that little bit of magic no matter how old I was.
As ridiculous as it sounds, my favourite Christmas was when I spent it alone. On Xmas eve I cleaned my flat and watched movies. Xmas say I got up when I wanted, opened gifts, made calls to say thank you, cooked a meal and ate till I was fit to burst. Had a Lord of the Rings marathon. Perfect day
On Christmas Eve, my mom and I always make my Grandmother’s Cranberry Swirl Coffee Cake, which we will eat on Christmas morning. We are currently living in the same household, so even this year we will continue this tradition.
My kids opening their Christmas presents. We’ve always paced it so it’s spread out over the entire day. So open, examine, maybe play with or read, and appreciate each item before moving on to another.
My family moved to Florida from upstate New York 23 years ago and we spent that 1st Florida Christmas in the pool
When I was in high school I went to an all girls boarding school as a day student (didn’t board) , and there were a lot of international students who attended. One year for Christmas we hosted one of my friends named Sachiko for the holidays because it was too expensive for her family to fly her home for the holidays. It was wonderful having her in our home and learning her traditions and teaching her ours, she was from Japan. Her family also sent us some thank-you/Christmas gifts and I still have mine. I have fond memories of her and those times.
Every year going to my mamaw and papaws on Christmas Eve. I got to play with all of my cousins. There would be so many people that you would have to sit on the front porch. It was always full too no matter if it was cold, snowy or raining the porch and house was full. There would be so many presents you would have to walk outside and onto the deck and get into the kitchen that way. My mamaw and papaw would buy EVERYONE one gift and no matter what it was it was always the greatest thing ever. And all of my memories are treasured. I struggle from Nov. until Feb 1st once I make it to Feb I know I will be ok. I miss them and my daddy so much.
The Angel stocking (her skirt has a pocket)from. when I was a baby. We hung it in the Hallway and my mom still expects me to say “there’s something in the angel!” whenever I see it. This year she is hanging in the hallway at my house, with a special little gift in her [ocket care of my mother and I will face time with her tomorrow when I unwrap it.
When I was a kid, getting a stable for my Breyer horses.
I think my favorite Christmas memory could be flying home from Hawaii where I was stationed & surprising my parents the Christmas before I got married. It was great to be home since the previous year I was in Korea. But I loved the Christmases spent in England too
We lived half a block away from a public golf course that was built on a slope. It was the perfect place for sledding and we would spend hours there when it snowed. So much fun!
My favorite memory is probably from the first Christmas after I got married. There was a piece of furniture my hubby and I wanted (a nightstand) and my mother told me there was no way they could afford to get it for us. On Christmas morning, at mom and dad’s house, I opened this square-ish box (definitely not big enough for the nightstand) and inside was a drawer – the drawer to the nightstand that I had asked for. I don’t think I’d ever been so surprised by a gift.
Thank for another wonderful advent season. <3 <3
The year I got a bicycle from “Santa”…at my grandparents’ house in another state! It was pretty magical!
When I was young we had about 35 to 40 guests over for Christmas. My poor mom would cook for days. After supper me and my cousins would put on a show
Back in the stone age( lol) at least that’s what my nieces say is when I was young. We would go to one set of grandparents house in the afternoon and the other set in the evening. So we opened gifts at 3 houses.
Definitely Christmas as a kid, getting to come downstairs to a pile of presents from Santa (Santa didn’t wrap our gifts, so we’d get to dive straight in as soon as wel woke instead of waiting till after breakfast for the wrapped gifts).
Cooking Christmas dinner for my bf at his first small studio flat in central London. The flat was small, cooking was a challenge, but it was a perfect day.
Hmmmmm……… back when I was younger, every year we would go to our local drive through lights place, even though the lights never changed. We loved it. A whole car load for 15 or 20 dollars. Then it began to get bigger, and they got greedy. So instead of cars waiting on the feeder to get in MILES long (had to get there at sunset), and instead of just making a parking lot you park in so traffic is reduced, then going straight to the hayrides, they made kind of like a little santa town, so you had to pay $30 just to walk through (and then if you bought stuff yet more money, but just FORCING you to walk through to GET to the lights, they wanted money even if all you did was walk through), and ANOTHER $30 to go see the lights in a hayride- PER PERSON. That was the end of that Christmas tradition. Been almost a decade. I can still recall almost every single little light section. Cause you had your dolphin and frogs, and your little santas workshop with the naughty list, and the penguins, and the cross surrounded by so many purple lights, and the team spirit section. The airplanes and the tunnel you would shake your head really fast to get dizzy. Riding in the back of the truck and feeling like a law breaker. Standing up through the sunroof. The radio station to tune in to while you drive through. I miss it.