Thanks for getting us started Dad! I always enjoy reading about Christmas memories - forgotten or otherwise.

Besides the famous (or infamous) Christmas Memories (ie the Tee-Pee Tent; the one where Christine and I are sad), I try to think of other years and memories that aren't so well-known in the family.

Two of my favorite childhood gifts I received one year (at the 813 house) were from the O'Dells and from Caran and Mark.

The O'Dell's lived next door. As a kid you don't think too much about who the gifts come from. But as I remember that Christmas now, I think how kind and thoughtful of them to give me and Christine Christmas gifts that year. They gave me a ship-in-a-bottle. I loved that ship-in-a-bottle. I remember spending hours looking at the details of it and how cool and ancient it looked. It was almost a magical gift. I also spent hours wondering how the heck they got that ship in there.

Caran and Mark gave me one of the coolest gifts that year ... a remote control car. It only had two directions: forward and reverse, but since it had a 'fifth' wheel (underneath and in the middle of the car) when it went in reverse, it would change directions. The control wasn't radio remote control ... it was sound remote control, so it was just this battery-less device that made a loud clicking sound. It was probably the most basic of basic remote control cars, but I loved it. I still remember the smell of electronic newness of that gift - that smell still gets me excited today! I loved that car long after it stopped working. I dug around my old pictures and actually found a picture of this wonderous childhood gift!


I have lots of memories of Christmases at the 1622 house. Mom would usually decorate the first Saturday after Thanksgiving. That was the same day of the Ontario Winter Wonderland Parade. I remember one year Mom putting the finishing touches on the decorations in the dark evening. All the lights were off except the Christmas lights. On the TV was the Nutcracker ballet.

Another year on a quiet, snowy evening, we were all watching TV when we heard quite a crash. We looked out the window and saw that a car had plowed into our neighbor's fence across the street. I think the passenger got out and started running while the driver was able to slam it in reverse and escape as well. I think they were drunk. We called the cops and if I remember correctly, they caught the guy. The neighbors were very thankful and since they were the owners/managers of the Vale mushroom plant, they gave us a carton of mushrooms!

What other forgotten or untold Christmas memories do ya'll have?

Please share!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

FYI - some of you have been asking when Alysia's return will be....Caran just received this info this week and she asked me to post this:

Please join us if you can!