Your Christmas story or tradition

Maybe talking about something generaly thought to be uplifting,it might give us renewed energy to deal with less appealing things that cross our paths.
My thread,I'll go first.
About 30 years ago I bought for our 15yo daughter,a caramic figureen music box while on vacation with friends. Our friend aggreed to bring it home in her luggage since I planed to give it to our daughter at Christmas. I found the box special because it played a tune I had never seen before or since on a music box but had sang to her as an infant and preschooler. 7 years later the friend brought the gift wrapped box over on Christmas eve apoligizing for not reminding me of it earlier. The daughter was 16 months into a bad marriage and pregnant that Christmas. About 6 months later the daughter came to our door carrying a 3 month infant and a laundry basket of dirty cloths. Turns out she left him in the apartment having a beer and watching tv while she went to wash cloths. Ever thing she owned was left behind other than the basket of laundry,,,,,,and a little music box hidden inside.
She has been happly married to her secound husband for several years now and only a couple of years ago told me what comfort listening the box had been in those early days. Must I explain the feeling when I see the box in her home now?

Great story- glad she was able to rid herself of "him" and start over, successfully. Thanks for sharing it.

kids were little, had presents hid in outbuilding, around 1am on Christmas morning I go to get them, of course dont turn any lights on so no one knows what Santa is up to. No flashlight, I knew my way, walked around corner of house and spooked 3 deer by side door, they turn an bolt, running over metal trash cans, geesh!!! least I had santas footprints and deer prints to show kids that morning!!

For as long as I remember, and for as long as he was able to handle them, my Dad kept a team of work horses, out of memory of my Grandfather. As long as I can remember, every Christmas eve, after evening milking, he would hitch them up to a big sleigh with a hay rack on it, and we would climb abord, wrap up in heavy blankets, and make a trip around the block (6 miles), christmas caroling. (The back roads had more snow on them in the 60's and 70's) In route we picked up my 2 aunts and uncles and all of the cousins. Eather my mother or one of my aunts was always too sick to go along, and SANTA allways arrived while we were out. In the later years, my resorceful brother equipt a small army surplus generator with a quiet muffler, slung it in a box under the rack and added christmas lights. We all had hot chocolate and cookies at our place before we took them home. That went on every year from as early as I can remember until dad had to part with the team in the late 80's.
Only once did we miss it, and that time we did it a night late. It was the year I was a sienor in high school. we had snow and a neighbor pluged in a tractor to push snow and it started his barn on fire. We got the call as we were finnishing in the barn, and we spent all night, along with our neighbors moving the herd and salvaged barn equptment to an unused barn 3 miles away, as another crew worked to get that barn back in useable condition. before leaving christmas day to go to the relatives for Christmas dinner. Dad, I and my brother delivered a wagon load of silage and 200 bales hay and straw to them. we just added it to the mountian of donated feed growing in the yard. I have many fond christmas memorys, but the year christmas eve came a day late will always be a special on for me

Our oldest daughter (35 now) was about 4 years old when one of our neighbors came by on Christmas Eve about 7:30 in the evening. He walked around the outside of the house jangling some sleigh bells. We all heard them and told her Santa was checking to see if she was asleep yet. She bee-lined it straight to bed and was asleep within 10 minutes, slept all night.
A few years ago, a friend at work was complaining his 4 year old grandson was picking on his little sister. I said, sounds like he needs a call from Santa. He gave me the number and some pertinate information and I called and talked to the boy, asked him if he had been good or not. He said he was, then Santa asked him why he was picking on his little sister, got real quiet for a bit. I told him to be nice to his sister and I would keep an eye on him. Friend said he was a whole new kid after that. Had him call my first grandson a couple of years later. Kids love it!! I have a pair of 3 year old grandsons now, time for another phone call from Santa. Chris

Leg lamp !

A few years ago I decided I wanted to run my jd b in the
Christmas parade in town. Went to wal-fart got an el cheapo
Santa suit was supposed to be a funny thing, turned out to be
a very touching mile drive through town. Can't count how many
times I had to stop because of children running into the street
with there arms stretched out wanting to sit on my lap even got
my pic on the front page of the news paper. To too it off they
had a hired Santa with an expensive suit three floats behind
me everyone ignored him, no pic in paper for him lol

All great stories.
I think, in retrospect the best was 2008. My wife loved to cook and have parties. Always 20 to 40 relatives for Christmas dinner, about 20 that year. The chemo She was getting had pretty much quit working, but She was determined to not let it spoil Her Christmas.
Lost Her July 19th, 2009 after a five and a hgalf year fight.

One of my most memorable Christmas occasions was in 1971. I had arrived in Vietnam in October and was assigned to an artillry unit near up north. By December I had yet to receive any mail from home due to an address mix up. It was hard not hearing from home and no way to communicate because this was way before cell phones and internet and there were no phones. Each day when the mail would come with supplies I would go to mail call but nothing for me. Then, shortly before Christmas, I went to mail call and low and behold mail call was all about me. Letters, cards and even a cake from my little home town. Receiving those cards and letters made that Christmas special because they gave me that much needed touch with home. The letters kept coming until I left Nam in the fall of 72. I have been blessed at Christmas many times since but that one I'll always remember.

Since the late 90's, we have taken a fire truck around the community with somebody dressed as Santa Claus and handed out candy. It has become a popular Christmas eve tradition in our community. There aren't many people here, so we can hit all the roads and houses in an hour or two including stopping to visit. I seem to wind up being Santa Claus even though I'm only 31 because I'm short and round (and nobody else will do it)..

For years growing up Christmas Eve meant spaghetti dinner at my uncles farm. After dinner the men would take the boys outside to look for Santa. Meanwhile, the women did the dishes. Every year for 30 plus years, Santa would sneak in while the men and children were outside looking for him. My Aunt had a set of jingle bells she would ring as the signal that we just missed Santa! When the family had three generations in the same house it was quite the production, and abou the time that it was to big to handle, the other uncle who hadn't spoke to the host uncle in almost 25 years started bringing his multi generations. The next 5 or 6 years were magical for the 60 or so of us there every year. Alas, time marches on. Uncles have passed, Aunts have died, declining health of the others brought an end to this wonderful tradition. Christmas has lost that wonderful glow it had for me those first 35 years of my life. Hard to start new traditions when the originals were so great.

When I was about 10 and my older bro was 15 or so,
we were sitting at the supper table not long
before Christmas listening to Christmas music. The
Night Before Christmas was on and my brother gets
this look on his face and says "why they play that
song? It's so gross". We all looked at him like he
was an elf, finally dad asked him why. He said he
hated the part where the guy tears open the
shutters and pukes up his hash. Apparently you can
get to 16 and not know that old houses had the
shutters on the inside. We still give him a hard
time about that and he's 55 years old now.

For as long as I was at or near home we had Christmas eve
dinner at grandmothers then mothers and Santa came in with
presents or the young kids. Being 6 ft. Tall and weighing 132
lbs I never got to plat Santa. Christmas on the olf farm in
Loomis, CA was always special. We were a large family and
filled Grandmas house to the walls.
Now my wife and I ate content to just sit at home and have a
quiet day.
My kids are all in NE and getting out here would a real trip in
the Winter. My friend Victor and his family are all down in
Southern CA and won't get back till after Christmas then we
celebrate their return.
Walt

The Christmas I was five years old my Grandfather
hand made a small wooden wagon for me that I could pull around,he was killed later that year.Its been my most valued possession all my life.Also have the baby crib he made for me out of a wooden Turkey
Crate.Even though I was young when he was killed I remember him well.

1966 I was in the Navy. Air Station. No money and christmas is here. One Kid. On Christmas eve, got a tree from an office at the last minute. My wife was babysitting and the lady gave her some tree lights. There we sat with wilted Christmas tree and few lights. No ornaments or star or angel or anything else on it. We spent our last ten bucks on a rug from Kmart to keep the baby war on the wood floor. This was world war II barracks rent was a whole 46 dollars a month. Steam heat sometimes. And we we very happy to have what we had and are still together after 46 years. Hard times but happy and thankful.......no credit cards. Dave

Back in the 50's my Grandpa and Great Grandpa were both employed by John Morrell, after the 51 flood the Morrell building which sat along the Kaw in Topeka was unusable so Morrell closed up shop but Great Granddad had worked his way up into management. He went to Des Moines and continued working for Morrell. Grandpa stayed around Topeka but to this day our family always has a spiral cut Morrell ham. The ham is pre cooked then on Christmas eve Grandma and now my mom or aunts fry the slices in an electric skillet with bbq sauce and we have ham sandwiches and everyone brings a side dish.

Everyone in my family gets their Christmas stocking filled, adults included.
I have a rather large family, and there are the normal scheduling conflicts.
So the stockings are filled by a bunch of spirited adults on Christmas eve.
After the kids are dreaming of sugar plums.
Then on Christmas morning all the kids (and adults) who are there can open their
stockings while they wait on everyone else to show up and open the "real" gifts.
It's been a very nice bonding experience for the adults not to mention
it gives the younger ones something to keep them busy while they
wait for everyone to get there from their other engagements.
Pics of a few of the stockings.