Christmas Memories

My husband and I were talking last night about what our favorite Christmas gift had been when we were kids. Mine, without a doubt, was a microscope when I was 10 years old. I had wanted one so badly but it wasn’t a good year for my dad, who had his own carpentry business, so I just knew it wasn’t going to happen. Christmas morning I was trying to be cheerful and happy as gifts were opened even though I KNEW there wouldn’t be a microscope under the tree. Boy was I excited when I opened that special gift! Half of my bedroom closet became a ‘lab’ where I set up the microscope, slides, and everything else that came with it. Kind of dark in there but I didn’t care.

But I have to tell you about my most wonderful Christmas memory when Santa really came to our house. Our son was 15 and our then recently adopted daughter was 7. We had finished what little Christmas shopping we were able to do that year and found out that our daughter REALLY wanted one of those foot scooters that were so popular that year. We felt sad that we couldn’t get it for her but it just wasn’t in the cards for that Christmas. Christmas morning, bright and early, I got up to let the dogs out and went to the front porch to get the newspaper. When I opened our front door, much to my surprise there was a girly pink and purple scooter sitting there with handlebar streamers, a horn, and even a little license tag on the front with her name on it. I just stood there with my mouth open! My first thought was where did my husband hide that? I went to the bedroom, woke him up and asked “When did you get the scooter?” He just looked at me like I was crazy and said “What are you talking about?” He got out of bed, went to the front door and we BOTH stood there looking with our mouths open. Needless to say it was the hit gift of that Christmas. We debated many times over who put that scooter on the porch and came to the conclusion that it had to be our son. You see he had just gotten his first job at a frozen yogurt store a few months earlier. And even though he treated our daughter as any typical big brother would, you could see the love there. To this day he won’t admit it and he’s now 37. But we know who the real Santa was that year!

Untie a ribbon in your life – you might find an adventure!