A Quick Jog Down Memory Lane

I was thinking back on past Christmases and memories I've held onto over the years. Here are a few:

• The year my parents video taped Santa delivering our gifts. The camera flashed out of focus and the living room reappeared with all our gifts in place. I was amazed. (I later figured out how Auto-focus works when you flash a cloth over the camera lens.)
• When I was in elementary school and sang a solo of Silent Night for our children's Christmas musical. I sang the first verse, but never memorized the second verse because everybody else sang that part while I was walking back to my place on the risers. I memorized it the next year during the Sunday mornings leading up to Christmas just because I felt like I'd gotten left out.
• The year my brother and I thought we'd opened all the gifts, then noticed the last two boxes: Red Ryders. It was just like the movie. My parents swore we peeked.
• A few years after my parents' divorce, mom let dad come over and sleep on the couch so he could be there as we opened gifts Christmas morning, which felt both odd and comforting at the same time.
• The year my uncle Walter died the week before Christmas.
• The first year my dad didn't get me a gift.
• When I was chosen as a reader for our church's Christmas Eve service. It was my freshman year in college and I got to share the opportunity with two close friends I'd graduated with the year before. It felt pretty special.
• Mine and Shannon's first Christmas together.
• Our first year with Noah and looking forward to this year, our first with Ansley.

Anybody out there have a Christmas memory or two you'd like to share?

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