My family moved from Texas to Alabama in the middle of my first grade year. Up until that point we had always celebrated Christmas with a huge extended family celebration, but moving so close to Christmas, we weren’t going to be able to “go home” for the holidays. It was hard enough transitioning into a new school mid-year, but missing Christmas? I was so sad every day when I came home and saw the depressingly empty space under the tree that in years previous had been full of family gifts and cards.

Christmas morning was promising to be very sad as I missed my Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles, because I was convinced that they had forgotten all about us, living three states away. I remember waking up on Christmas morning and coming down the stairs. Our entire living room floor was completely covered in wrapped gifts and cards. It seems that Santa had made an extra effort to ease the transition for me by making sure that every single gift from Texas arrived and was placed lovingly under the tree. 

At the time, the mountain of gifts was unbelievable, but over the years I realized that it wasn’t the gifts that made me so happy. It was the love of family members that remembered me and cared enough to make what might have been a very difficult Christmas extra special!

What’s your favorite childhood holiday memory? If you have a picture or two, great! Scan them and include them with your story. But don’t let the lack of a picture slow you down, get your story told. Alternatively, you can do an interview with other family members about their favorite holiday memories.