Christmas Memories, (surely not too early a topic?) Options

[Hobbes]

Well, tomorrow is the 1st of December and, what with the amount of snow the UK has been receiving the last few days, I don't think it is too awful to mention Christmas. Plus, I've had a few wintery songs entering my ears today so (right now, at least) I am feeling rather festive.

I think Christmas, for most people, tends to have two opposing feelings about it. Assuming you aren't totally pre-ghosts-Scrooge-esque, and thus hate it, or for religious/personal reasons you do not take part in the holiday, there is a certain amount of excitement that begins to brew up as the 25th approaches.

However, I think there's often some sadness at Christmas, too. Being one of the major events in the year, it is usually when friends and family get together, so it is undoubtedly a time when we recall the people we have lost in our lives.

But I don't want to depress people...

--

I find Christmas terribly nostalgic, and so it'd be nice to focus on some lovely yuletide thoughts.

What I would like you lovely people to do is post some jolly memories about Christmas. They can be from your childhood (those of you that aren't still in it ), from a few years ago, or just last year. And they can feature yourself, or your friends and family, or people that are no longer with us... or your dog, etc.

But... they must be stories that are a source of happiness for you

And if you don't celebrate Christmas, but a different event during this holiday season, then share appropriately

[elphaba2]

Aww!

I don't have a ton of warm fuzzy Christmas memories--we stick to tradition so tightly I think in part because it creates the effect of a continuous warm fuzziness rather than discrete memories. But I thought of one last night--when I was a kid, I got obsessed with making snow taffy, taking warmed-up maple syrup and pouring it over snow. I have no idea where this idea was introduced to me. Maybe some rascally quebecois, or maybe Future Me dropped in all "yo shorty, this stuff's delicious, this tire d'érable stuff". I don't know! But around Christmastime I'd pester and pester and pester my parents to make snow taffy, and they always said no, until one year. We had a huge fluffy blanket of snow outside, and I got to go out with my dad and scoop up two big baking pans of the stuff, and we all stood around in the kitchen nomming delicious maple candy while the snow fell outside.

side note: i don't understand how anyone can dislike snow. snow-related things, like shoveling? yes, I understand. But how can you dislike gorgeous little fairy-dust falling from the sky? i am a very confused elphaba in this regard.

[Hobbes]

side note: i don't understand how anyone can dislike snow. snow-related things, like shoveling? yes, I understand. But how can you dislike gorgeous little fairy-dust falling from the sky?

I wish I could think of a more emphatic way to express this but:

DITTO!