Remembering Santa Himself & Other Favorite Christmas Things

Do you remember what Christmas meant to you when you were a child? I do; I was worried about what kind of new toys and candy I was going to find under that twinkling Christmas tree. I was always hoping that Santa Himself would bring me a new bike or a special game. But that is in the past I don't think of Christmas like that anymore.

Now I am older and wiser and realize the season itself is much more than that. Christmas is about spending time with family and loved ones. Not the material things that you receive. It’s about giving, not receiving, and it’s about family traditions and being with one another.

To me it is the simple things that make Christmas magical; from picking the Christmas tree, to hanging lights and decorating the house, and cooking that special supper for everybody to enjoy. My favorite childhood memories of the holiday season include the simpler things like children's Letters to Santa Claus and just loving the break from school to enjoy time with friends and family. I remember the cold, wintry days that required piling on layers of clothes to start out warm and dry before joyfully running outside to have snow ball fights with the neighborhood kids, make snow angels and snow men and ride slides down the old hill. Afterward mom would have a mug of hot chocolate waiting to warm me up.

I can remember my brother, sister and I gathering around the kitchen table to write our Authentic Letters to Santa every year. As a kid I worried about writing that traditional letter to Santa; we always focused on telling Santa what we wanted but I remember trying to justify our bad behavior. One particular year I told him how good I was doing in school in the hope that I was still on his nice list – but I anxiously worried if my mom and dad had told him about some of my misbehavior. I remember all of us lining up to send our North Pole Letters off together. Then we would anxiously wait for our letters from Santa to arrive.

Writing the Personalized Christmas Letters became a family tradition that we loved because it brought us closer together. Christmas crafts were always a part of the holiday season at my home. We made snowmen out of Styrofoam balls and decorated them with fabric remnants and buttons. We used craft paper, glitter, and pipe cleaners to create our own ornaments to hang on the tree, and we strung popcorn to hang around the tree. Watching mom and dad put presents under the tree for family and friends always made me feel excited about Christmas and how wonderful it is.
I recall that I loved to help make ginger bread cookies with my mom - they were special cookies for Santa. The fragrant smell of the cookies filled the house making it seem warm and comforting. Knowing that I was baking cookies for Santa Himself made it all the better.

On Christmas Eve the smell of honey glazed ham and apple pie was in the air and everything from sweet potatoes, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, and gravy covered the table top. But before we could eat mom would always give us our Personalized Christmas Letters from Santa. We read them together as a family, and that is a wonderful tradition that we carry on with our children to this day.