This Christmas of Covid-19 will be very different for many of us. Please indulge me as I dwell on some Christmas memories that are pleasant to me.

I come from a very large family and Christmas morning was always magical for us. It was the one day we could expect new toys and gifts other than our birthday. Children number 4, 5, and 6, (I am number 6 of 10) are girls, and my first memory of Christmas morning was of walking into the living room and seeing three beautiful dolls up above our stockings on the sofa. I hardly noticed the chaos of gift unwrapping that ensued because I was focused on my pretty, new dolly. Soon there was a sea of wrapping paper and children running off to play with their favorite new toy.

A later childhood memory is of my father who was quite the jokester. He had a rule that we couldn’t wake him until 6:00AM on Christmas morning. I remember staying up all night long with the rest of my siblings in the basement waiting for that magical hour. Every so often, an envoy was sent upstairs to check the time on the kitchen clock. That night seemed endless. When the time finally came, we woke our father and mother up and my father was giggling. It turns out he had set all the clocks back one hour so we really didn’t wake him until 7:00AM. The next Christmas we all asked for wrist watches!

Fast forward to Christmas memories with a husband and children of my own. My husband’s childhood memories were of civilly opening presents one at a time, taking turns for each person. It seemed very strange to me and didn’t feel at all like Christmas morning. He would carefully and slowly open his wrapping paper and I would be screaming to myself, “Just tear it open and throw it on the floor!” And he had a trash bag ready to put the used paper in after each gift was opened! WHAT!! No sea of wrapping paper? No chaos? I must say, over the years he has patiently civilized me about what Christmas morning could look like. My children’s memories are much like his. But I was surprised that our children easily fell asleep on Christmas Eve, and I was the one waking them up on at 6:00AM on Christmas morning. To this day I can’t get to sleep on Christmas Eve.

I hope you enjoy pleasant memories this Christmas, and make some new and innovative memories to give your family in this strange time we are living through. Merry Christmas to all!