Merry Christmas to you all, As we prepare for the Holidays, we reflect and remember the Christmases of our past. I remember, my mom baking cookies, helping us write letters to Santa, I remember the smell of the first Christmas Oranges we found in our Shoes/Boots..and the smell of Gingerbread. And when dad came home with the Christmas tree the wonderful scent of the Pine..and how excited we were when the lights were on and lite up....and how cool  with thought it was to decorate  the tree at night....and Ernie and I laying under the tree looking up through the tree at the lights as it reflected on the ceiling...I wonder if my brothers remember the Christmas concert we did for our partents the last sunday before Christmas, and my favorite record with Christmas music...its the one with the ringing of church bells...And as we grew older how we helped to keep the Christmas magic going with your younger Brothers.

   And then when I had my own Children, all the special rituals, traditions we did for them, the magic the excitment the smells, the sounds....I remember purchasing special Santa Claus wrapping paper because it could not be the same as the gifts from mom and dad...And as the children got a bit older, then we used different printing or writing to the name tags from Santa....and I remember the Quiz poor Santa needed to comlete while he ate his milk and cookies, questions like can you name all the reindeer, Mrs.Clauses first name...are you real...do you know the Tooth Fairy and The Easter Bunny? And of course he had to leave his signuture, because the boys checked out ours...and if they had a DNA kit oh my goodness....

One of my best gifts was the colouring book the kids made me..each page, and it came with used crayons..and yes I still have that gift...their dad recieved "City' issued work gloves....I think I scored that day :). Another favorite moment is when I purchased Disney tickets...wrapped the brochures in assorted sized boxes and a family friend played Santa...and they all had to open(my kids know this story well) and the youngest figured out we were spending Christmas with Mickey..Caitlin cried because the day we were leaving was 'show and tell' day.....another great moment when Santa sent a fax to City Hall in Greenwood(dad was the mayor then) and announced that we were coming home for Christmas...As parents we have alot of great special moments...last year it was my grandson's reaction to find 'Reindeer Poop' on the deck....and  you know I know it was chocolate covered Almonds....but I believe..yes I believe.