It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas. . .

Not so much with the weather, yet. But we've got our Christmas lights and decorations done outside. I've got my floor decorated at work for my residents and I'm starting to get all of our household decorations up.
It reminds me of a time long ago, when I was a child. I really can't recall the gifts I received as a child. I do remember that they were few and not very expensive because my parents didn't have a lot of money to spend on such things, but that didn't matter much to me. The things I remember most about Christmas, you can't buy in a store.
Looking back on Christmas' past, I remember my mother baking Christmas cookies and how excited us children were to decorate all of them. I remember going out with my dad every year to get the family Christmas tree. Especially one year when we shopped for a tree after dark and didn't realize that the tree had a very crooked tree trunk. My dad had to attach guide lines to the tree and hammer them into our living room walls just to keep the tree from toppling over. I remember going out as a family driving down different streets to see all the beautiful Christmas lights that people put outside.
I remember one Christmas over Grandma's house while we were all watching Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol starring Alastair Sim as Scrooge. I innocently said to my Uncle John that he looked just like Mr. Scrooge on the TV. My father and my Uncle Kenny bursted out laughing. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what they were laughing about or why Uncle John got a sour look on his face after I made my brilliant observation. I remember how much fun I had with my sibblings and my cousins at the "kids table" out in the utility room at Grandma's and thinking how glad I was that I didn't have to set at the main table where I would have to mind my manners and be quiet amongst the adults.
Most of all, I remember walking into Grandma's house with my family on Christmas. The smell of the freshly baked pecan rolls that Grandma had been busy making all morning would be lingering in the air. I would give Grandma a huge hug, tell her Merry Christmas, and then rush out to the utility room where all the pecan rolls would be cooling on the baking racks. I would pick one up and savor the flavor of it as I went back into the kitchen with a big smile on my face. Grandma would then give me the lecture on how I was going to spoil my appetite for the Christmas dinner she was preparing. Of course, she really didn't mind me sneaking the pecan rolls and I knew this because her favorite thing to do in life was to stuff us with food, but it was kind of like a yearly tradition for the two of us.
Ah, such wonderful Christmas memories. You know, I would give up every Christmas present I have ever received in my lifetime and much more than that, if just once more I could be with Grandma on Christmas day, taste her pecan rolls, and go through our "yearly tradition".
Now I am the Grandma and my Grandchildren come to my house for Christmas Dinner every year. And if my grandchildren love me even one tenth as much as I loved my Grandma, I am one very lucky lady.