“I didn’t know the full dimensions of forever, but I knew it was longer than waiting for Christmas to come.”

~ Richard Brautigan

“Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.”

~ Peg Bracken

We talk about this all the time and it’s something I harp on even more now that I don’t have my parents. When I look back at Christmas Past, I do remember a few gifts that I received. I remember my excitement over getting tapes of my favorite musicians and sitting at Grandma’s for dinner listening to them. I remember the year I turned 16 and my sister was evil, wrapping up a set of car keys in a box, and then telling me that my gift was actually hiding in the car. I thought I had gotten a car, because that’s what most 16-year-olds want for Christmas. And then there were all of those tchotchke gifts that my mother would find near the checkouts at Elder-Beerman. But what I remember the most is the family traditions that we had that made all of our Christmases truly our own. And I remember just spending time with my family every year and greatly wish I could do it again. So treasure those gifts of time and love as you make your Christmas memories. Those are more important than the gifts and material items and the false idea everything has to be perfect.

“For centuries men have kept an appointment with Christmas. Christmas means fellowship, feasting, giving and receiving, a time of good cheer, home.”

~ W.J. Tucker

 

“Christmas to a child is the first terrible proof that to travel hopefully is better than to arrive.”

~ Stephen Fry