Lets all share some of our greatest Christmas memories, be they childhood memories or otherwise, lets hear them!:D I will start with a few!;)

Christmas eve at my house as a boy were the best and my favorite part of Christmas! After dinner my family would gather in the living room by the tree and exchange Christmas gifts.:) My older sister would pass all the gifts out from under the tree and once they were all passed out, we would take turns going around the room and each would open a gift while we all watched and could see what the gifts were! This would take sometimes 3-4 hours and it was alot of fun. Especially when the gifts from my Aunt were opened....my Aunt Dottie (bless her memory) had a knack for giving some pretty, shall we say unusual gifts.:laughs: For example, one Christmas I got a pair of dress socks from her, I was about 12? Anyway, the ankle part of the sock was about 6 inches long and the foot part was about 12 inches long and we all laughed about that because they looked just like one of those plastic hockey stick blades you would put on your stick (you know the ones?).:laughs: Christmas music would be playing softly in the background, there would be a fire burning warmly in the fireplace and we would have fun balling up the wrapping paper and trying to hit the basket with it from across the room:laughs: and all the while we would be remembering moments from Christmas past......just really memorable and special times at my house at Christmas time. We have all of the old home movies and I had them put on a video tape quite a few years ago for my Dad as a Christmas gift....it was one of the most enjoyable gifts I think he ever recieved....he really enjoyed that every year until he passed away. It is a little hard to watch it now for my family but I watch it because they were such happy times and my folks were so very good to us growing up. We were truely blessed and I try very hard to give my sons the same love and tradition at Christmas time as I had.

Side Note- The thing we always laugh hardest about is the old 8mm Bell and Howell movie camera my Dad had (some of you know where I am going with this:laughs: ) and the blinding light bar that you had to use with it....it had 4 lights on it that were about 500,000,000 candlepower on it (I swear they threw off so much heat that the wallpaper would start curling on the walls) and all you see is everyone squinting Christmas morning as we stumbled down the stairs to find out whether Santa had come or not......he always did!:D He was always so good to us.

Enjoy your holiday folks, I hope they are special and the memories you make last you a lifetime.;)

Boy, you guys must have had some unhappy childhoods!:laughs:

Come on give some up!:D

Getting a full set of Steelers apparell:D

ok ill bite;)

my favorite christmas memory, is my grandmothers house, (i lived with my grandparents growing up) but every year she would decorate to the hilts, animated figures, twinkling lights every where, and christmas country music playing all the time, i remember my grandmother baking in the kitchen and smelling the peanut butter cookies and her letting me help her....i think because of the wonderful memories she gave me christmas is my most favorite time of the year...christmas eve was always fantastic too, my grandmother would have a party, and friends and family would come over, and talk and laugh..it was great...ill never forget the one year our cat got caught in the christmas tree and it was an artifical spinning tree, all you saw where the cats eyes spinning around in the tree:laughs:

the best memory is just being with family on christmas...i love being wiht my family on the holidays...

now that my grandmom is older she decorates less, but i still get the feeling of warmth and love and the smell of cookies when i go over with my kids...

Thanks for sharing Mrs.SF.....and a very Happy Holidays to you and Steve and the rest of your family.;) Nice to see you, you have been missed. Tell Steve I said hello.:D

same to you and yours, mr bigfish:D

Well like Big Fish's house my extended family will gather at someone's house each Christmas Eve. We eat a nice ham dinner and after that we pass out the gifts. We always do a grab so everyone got something. Then everyone will sing those goofy Christmas Carols till around midnight.

I think they are all my favorite. I get to see some family members only once a year, so the little time we have with each other it is great.

Actually last years Cristmas was my favorite. It was my Boys first Christmas. He was 10mos. but could open presents it was awesome.

Tynan...you will have a ball with your son this year. Try and keep him from opening any gift he sees!:laughs: Enjoy!;)

Thanks Larry, It will be like birthdays. Everyone we go to he thinks it is his turn to blow out the candles on the cake. Merry Christmas to everyone.

They are all fun when you're a kid but better when you have kids.

A couple years ago, we were getting snow on Christmas Eve. I made up a batch of Reindeer food (oatmeal and glitter confetti) and got a bunch of carrots with greens. I took my 2 oldest kids (3 & 5 at the time) out in the front yard and told them to scatter it on the lawn so that Santa would land there.

After they were sleeping and it stopped snowing, I put one ski on and made sleigh tracks and "hoof" marks across the front yard. No other tracks or footprints. Tossed the carrot tops in there for a little extra.

The next morning, we got the kids up and pointed out the bedroom window. They went absolutely crazy.

I hope it snows this year. My youngest is 4 and needs the same treatment.

:laughs: Good one...I did kind of the same thing with the milk, cookies and carrots in the yard!:laughs:

well alot could come to mind ( if I could remember ) but in 1978 I was in Germany. I was a young pup having been away from my family before but not at Christmas . The Military had this program where Gi's could meet a host family and spend Christmas with them . I was fortunate to spend time with a very nice family . unfortunately the father had a heart attack shortly before Christmas and we spent Christmas day at the Hospital . The guy had a good sense of humor and introduced me to everyone as his long lost son from America . I have to say I had a great time and a lasting memory that I have shared with my own girls . I sure wish I got their address , the things we dont do as unthinking youngsters . But I still have the Christmas present they gave me proudly displayed in my house .

One of my memories when I was between the ages of 6 till about 10 my family and 2 other families went out caroling on Christmas eve all around our neighborhood, it was always so cold
people would give us hot chocolate and cookies .we would look
skyward to watch for Santa's sleigh someone in the group would always spot him and we would wonder which part of the world he was off to.
I would wake up in the middle of the night hearing Santa's sleigh on our roof top and get out of bed to peek down stairs being careful not to wake anyone else in the house ,then get back to bed and lay there waiting till morning to open gifts.
I still hear the sleigh bells and hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas
Link Sr.

As a joke, my brother used to hang a pair of panty hose over his
> fireplace before Christmas. He said all he wanted was for Santa to
fill
> them. What they say about Santa checking the list twice must be true
> because every Christmas morning, although Jay's kids' stockings were
> overflowed, his poor pantyhose hung sadly empty.
>
> One year I decided to make his dream come true. I put on sunglasses
and
> went in search of an inflatable love doll. They don't sell those
things
> at Walmart. I had to go to an adult bookstore downtown.
>
> If you've never been in an X-rated store, don't go. You'll only
confuse
> yourself. I was there an hour saying things like, "What does this do?
> You're kidding me! Who would buy that?" Finally, I made it to the
> inflatable doll section.
>
> I wanted to buy a standard, uncomplicated doll that could also
> substitute as a passenger in my truck so I could use the car pool lane
> during rush hour.
>
> Finding what I wanted was difficult. Love Dolls come in many
different
> models. The top of the line, according to the side of the box, could
do
> things I'd only seen in a book on animal husbandry.
>
> I settled for Lovable Louise. She was at the bottom of the price
scale.
> To call Louise a doll took a huge leap of imagination.
>
> On Christmas Eve and with the help of an old bicycle pump, Louise came
> to life.
>
> My sister-in-law was in on the plan and let me in during the wee
morning
> hours. Long after Santa had come and gone, I filled the dangling
> pantyhose with Louise's pliant legs and bottom. I also ate some
cookies
> and drank what remained of a glass of milk on a nearby tray. I went
> home, and giggled for a couple of hours.
>
> The next morning my brother called to say that Santa had been to his
> house and left a present that had made him VERY happy but had left the
> dog confused. She would bark, start to walk away, then come back and
> bark some more.
>
> We all agreed that Louise should remain in her panty hose so the rest
of
> the family could admire her when they came over for the traditional
> Christmas dinner.
>
> My grandmother noticed Louise the moment she walked in the door. "What
> the hell is that?" she asked.
>
> My brother quickly explained, "It's a doll."
>
> "Who would play with something like that?" Granny snapped.
>
> I had several candidates in mind, but kept my mouth shut.
>
> "Where are her clothes?" Granny continued.
>
> "Boy, that turkey sure smells nice Gran" Jay said, to steer her into
the
> dining room.
>
> But Granny was relentless. "Why doesn't she have any teeth?"
>
> Again, I could have answered, but why would I? It was Christmas and
no
> one wanted to ride in the back of the ambulance saying, "Hang on
Granny,
> hang on!"
>
> My grandfather, a delightful old man with poor eyesight, sidled up to
me
> and said, "Hey, who's the naked gal by the fireplace?"
>
> I told him she was Jay's friend.
>
> A few minutes later I noticed Grandpa by the mantel, talking to
Louise.
> Not just talking, but actually flirting. It was then that we realized
> this might be Grandpa's last Christmas at home.
>
> The dinner went well. We made the usual small talk about who had
died,
> who was dying, and who should be killed, when suddenly Louise made a>
> noise like my father in the bathroom in the morning.
>
> Then she lurched from the panty hose, flew around the room twice, and
> fell in a heap in front of the sofa.
>
> The cat screamed. I passed cranberry sauce through my nose, and
Grandpa ran across the room, fell to his knees, and began administering
> mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. My brother fell back over his chair and
> wet his pants.
>
> Granny threw down her napkin, stomped out of the room, and sat in the
> car.
>
> It was indeed a Christmas to treasure and remember.
>
> Later in my brother's garage, we conducted a thorough examination to
> decide the cause of Louise's collapse. We discovered that Louise had
> suffered from a hot ember to the back of her right thigh.
>
> Fortunately, thanks to a wonder drug called duct tape, we restored her
> to perfect health!

^:laughs: :laughs:

Larry, your Chritmas memories are a clone of mine albeit mine were 20 years older:D The difference was we opened our presents on Christmas morning and i had 3 maiden aunts who gave us presents:) They all had good jobs in the city and were able to fill in where my Mom and Dad didn't have all that much money. They were cool,though,along with the socks and underwear they always had some neat toys.

My fondest memory was walking to the candle light service at church on Christmas Eve, then coming home and helping my Dad put the trains around the tree as my Mom cooked dinner. They were magic times that grow brighter as time goes on.One of the advantages of getting older:D
I can honestly say that "The Christmas Story" from Farkas, to gettin your tounge stuck on metal,my Dad swearin at the furnance and everyhing in betwen was my childhood . What a blessing to be able to see it all before your eyes again every Christmas.:hihi:

You still got those choo-choo's Dave?;)

Yes i do Larry:) Lionel HO guage. My Dad used to buy a new RR car every year for the set.When my Mom and Dad passed away we split the set up between my brother,sister and i.
They stayed at my Dad's house all the time he was alive where he would take great joy in taking his 6 grandkids down the cellar to "run the trains". They loved it:D Both he and my Mom had the best influence there could ever be on our kids, now all in their 30's with their own children. I hope i can give my Grandchildren half the great memories they gave them:)

BF & MOOSE,,Both great stories..Moose you had me laughing so hard..I had a blow up doll like that once a friend gave to me and her leg blew up...I tried to duct tape it but it was to late..Poor Sophia..I can still see her face..:eek: ..
I had the same memories as a kid everybody else had..But the best ones are of when my 2 kids were young..We always got up early and woke the kids up..We taped every xmas..The look on their faces was priceless when they saw all the gifts and as they opened them one by one..Cherish the memories..
Happy Holidays Everyone

Dave,
I would be willing to bet that you are giving your grandkids some amazing memories, I know you must be a "Great" Gramps :kewl: