Blogs

"Look at the size of "Santa's" hands in this pix!! I'm 6 or 7 here. Some family traditions: mom n dad would ring bells during the night to fake us out that the Big Guy had arrived. And I would always wake up w ribbon candy on a plate next to my bed. Again, Santa. My stockings always weighed abt 10 pounds, and our dog Jiggs would eat candy canes off bottom row of the Christmas tree. OH!! and Santa brought me a goldfish one year. Plus Christmas morning we always ate Sara Lee frozen coffee cake for breaky. Ahh the 70's!!"

            Shawn Killinger

"My oldest daughter and my husband tried to convince us to get a dog for a long time. I had never had a dog and didn’t want another responsibility. I was working overnights at the time and trying to take care of two kids and a house. But when my husband found Mike, he was impossible to resist. We secretly arranged to get him home on Christmas Eve. When my daughter walked into the kitchen that night, she saw him on my lap and burst into happy tears. That is my greatest Christmas memory!"

              Sandra Bennett

"My best Christmas memory to date is this last Christmas when Steve and I shared the gender and name of our baby. My family likes to come up with a fun way to announce the gender, so Steve and I decided to make our big announcement by hanging a stocking on the mantle with Bree’s name on it. We kept it covered until the time was right and when we revealed the secret, the room burst with happiness! It was amazing."

          Amy Stran

"One of my favorite Christmas memories was when I was about 6, my sister Mona was 4 and my brother Clint was not quite 3. The Christmas tree was up and the lights were strung on our house, and the houses of most of our neighbors, in the 1960's tract home where we lived.

The three of us, Mona, Clint and I, were in our living room staring at our tree with all the lights and decorations (what little kid doesn’t love doing that?) and talking excitedly about what we wanted for Christmas.

I remember my mother saying, simply, "we celebrate Christmas, because it is Jesus’ birthday". Well, for little kids, when it’s someone’s birthday, the thing to do is to sing "Happy Birthday". And that’s exactly what we wanted to do. So, my mother got a candle, and put it in the center of the coffee table there in the living room and lit it, and my sister and brother and I sang “Happy Birthday To You” to baby Jesus. We were thrilled and I can still remember the tickled look on my parents faces as the three of us belted out that birthday song."

          Leah Williams

"When my daughters were 1 month & 6 months old we spent Christmas at my in-laws with the entire extended family and friends all in town.  Everyone showed up on Christmas & spent the night because we baptized our two daughters the following day. It was such a special time with everyone I love celebrating the birth of the baby Jesus & dedicating my babies to our heavenly father."

          Kerstin Lindquist