Christmas Memories

This is the first year I will not be home for Christmas! Due the nature of my husband's job we need to be here for Christmas eve as well as Boxing day because it is a Sunday and there are regular services. Leaving us with the option of driving to and from Kelowna on Christmas day... no thanks.

So many people have been asking me if we will be in Kelowna for Christmas, it made me start to think of my favorite memories as a child.

The day my Dad brought home the Christmas tree was always a big deal in the Burke family. So much so that starting December 1st whenever my Dad would come home from work we would all rush to the door, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" we would grab his hands and smell them to see if they smelled of pine. If they didn't we had to wait another day, if they did it meant there was a perfect tree sitting in the carport! When I started to think about it, many of my favorite memories were centered around the Christmas tree. A day or two after the tree came home it was time to decorate. All the boxes of ornaments would be dug out of the storage under the stairs and brought up to the living room. Mom and I would let the boys go at it first, but the special bows and the pearls were our job. Once they were finished we took over moving whichever ones we though were out of place. Then we would place the bows and pearls perfectly, it was always so beautiful. Next came many evenings of gathering around the tree after supper for long games I-spy as we listened to Amy Grants Tennessee Christmas or Nana Mouskouri's Christmas album. I also had my very own mini tree that I took great pride in decorating. Christmas morning our parents would let us open our stockings before waking them up, to get some extra much needed sleep. Every year we would decide whose room to open our stockings in based on how nicely they were decorated. I was the usual host of course! Until we got too big and didn't all fit into my tiny room anymore, so I would help my brothers decorate their rooms to meet my standards. Another memory is coming inside after a long day of playing out in the snow (back in the days Kelowna had snow for Christmas), to my mother having made real hot chocolate and popcorn. To this day I feel like the three all go together. Exhausted and chilled we would pull off all our snow covered things and find places for them to hang to be dry for the next day. Then we would all sit around our big table with a tingling fingers clinging to the mugs of hot chocolate. We would even dip our butter covered popcorn in the steamy hot chocolate, yummy!

I feel very blessed to have had such loving parents who helped to create so many wonderfully warm memories surrounding the Christmas season.

Thanks Mom & Dad!

Merry Christmas, I hope you can take time and reflect on the blessings of God in your life especially the one we have in Jesus Christ.