Sunday, May 18, 2014

Christmas Time Memories

Christmas is always a great time of year.  As a child I remember road trips to go to my grandparents home.  The road trip itself was an adventure.  We would wake up at O'dark-thirty and get into our van in our pajamas.  There was a bed in the back that we would snuggle up in.  I remember one winter when we didn't have heat in the van, so my dad wore a snowsuit while driving and we were in sleeping bags in the back.  Sometimes it was snowing and treacherous conditions.  One time it was so snowy we ended up staying in a hotel along the way instead of making it in one day like we usually did.

My sister and I liked to sing in the car.  We could sing for hours on end.  Now a days kids don't enjoy the trip.  They watch movies or play games on their devices instead of looking out the window.  We would play car bingo, where you have to find car makes and models.  Or we would play the alphabet game.  Mostly we would sing through our list of songs.  Always, when we got to the Columbia river we would sing Roll On Columbia Roll On, and Barges.  I still sing those two songs when we drive by the Columbia.  And I usually sing Mt. St. Helens, Rise Into The Sky when I see Mt. St. Helens.

Christmas was a time of being with family.  We would all gather around the Christmas tree and hear the Christmas story, then open our presents.  And Santa would bring us stockings on Christmas Eve.  We had to stay in our rooms until we heard my parents close their bedroom door, then we could go check our stockings.  Always an orange or tangerine in the toe of the stocking.

This year Micah will get to be with his grandparents on Christmas.  This is the third Christmas he will have had with relatives.  Time to start making the memories!

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