Christmas Memories

This will be my 9th Christmas without my mother and my 10th without my father. This time of year is the hardest because my parents loved Christmas so much. My mother would start Christmas shopping on December 26th for the following year. Christmas would often last well into February as she would buy something so early, hide it and then forget where it was before Christmas. She would eventually find it months later and then give it to the intended recipient for fear she would forget about it again at the next Christmas.

She would buy extra presents and bring them to family gatherings in case a new person (new significant other or friend with no plans) showed and needed a present. Everyone got to open a present. She would also buy extra toys to donate to needy children. The woman had a heart of gold.

When growing up, my father was always up early due to his body being acclimated to his early work schedule and I was always the first of my siblings to be up on Christmas morning. My father wouldn't let me tear into the presents until everyone was awake. However he would let me open one special present from him and I in turn would let him open the present from me.

Once my brothers and I were older, my father would offer to work Christmas morning at the mill so that people with smaller children could stay home to be with their young families. Even though I was too old to believe in Santa and thus wake up early for the anticipation of mountains or presents, I would still get up at the crack of dawn to see my father off before he left for work that day. We would use that quiet time to exchange our gifts to one another just like the years before. Our gifts tended to be silly little baubles to one another that were usually only funny to us.

My mother who had MS and it really affected her finger dexterity. In my post-santa believing years, I was the one to wrap the presents she purchased for family as my fingers were more nimble. When it came to my own gifts, she had to be inventive as she didn't want to ruin the surprise of Christmas morning. Mine were usually in a bag with tissue paper or she would disguise them in an unknown box to have me wrap them.

Eventually Ziploc came up with a genius idea. They created larger baggies decorated for the holiday. I think they were mostly used for storing holiday goodies, but since they were easier for my mother to work with, she began wrapping presents in them. She could "wrap' 10 presents to my 1 thanks to Ziploc. This is how she wrapped the majority of my presents. I was told not to rip the bags since she would save them for next year.

This Christmas my roommates and I exchanged gifts amongst ourselves. Since we had lived with each other for over a year now, we have grown to know each other pretty well.  Steve got both Kevin and I beers from Elysian’s Apocalypse line, but he dressed mine up a bit.  Having spent time with me at Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel this year, he knows I enjoy German beer and the culture. Sure, he could have just gotten me a German Beer, but that wouldn’t have been as fun. Instead, the beer he chose for me was dressed in Lederhosen. Not only does the Lederhosen fit a 22 oz bottle of beer, but a bottle of wine too. . . .and Iiiiii-ee-Iiiii, will always, love wiiiiine.  I tend to rewrite popular songs and sing them around the house.  If it’s not about my cats Thomas Jay and Spikeford Jones, it’s about wine. My father would have gotten a kick out of the Lederhosen.

Kevin also gave me an awesome present. It wasn't in the gift itself, although I love bourbon, but it was how he wrapped it. The bourbon was in conventional Christmas paper, but it was stuck in an over-sized Ziploc bag. It touched me so much that he remembered the story of my mother and her Ziploc Christmas Baggies.

I am very lucky to have such a great friends.

The Ziploc Christmas Present, beer dressed in Lederhosen and even some special gifts for Spike and Tommy.