Favorite Christmas

Just because it's December, I've been thinking of Christmas...my favorite Christmas. So many Christmases stand out in my mind, there was the one where we couldn't afford presents. We enjoyed it anyway because my mom really liked Christmas and made it fun. I was a teenager then and I find my favorite Christmas happened in my teen-aged years, too.

I decided one year to spend as much as I pleased. I would buy everyone in my family a present. I bought my grandmother an elephant carved from wood with plastic tusks. For my sister I got a sugar bowl made in the shape of a flower. There were other glass pots shaped like flowers, too. I can't remember what they were all for but they were all held up by a strong, steel wire holder made to look like a flower stem. I got it in an import store in White Rock. It was from Russia and like all crafts from Eastern Europe, it was well-made and beautiful.

For my father I bought a sword. I think it was antique, although it might have been aged deliberately for sale. There were roses on the steel on the sword and although the sales lady didn't know where it was from, my father loved it. He 'knighted' the dog with it!

My brother got records he really liked.

The best part of this Christmas was hearing the feedback from my relatives. My Aunt said the gifts were unique. My grandmothers response will always be my warmest Christmas memory. She said that ever since she was a little girl in England she had wanted a carved elephant. She told me of looking with longing into store windows, staring at the carved elephants, but she never got one then. To think that I made a dream of hers come true will always rank high in my happyland thoughts.

My sister, newly married, said it was just what they needed for their home. They did not have all the little things a couple needs to live in a home.

This favorite Christmas taught me something about myself. I'm much happier when I give something to make somebody happy than to get something, although I'm excited about my presents, too. I guess that's what makes Christmas a great time is that it tells us that we're not so bad, that we aren't just a bunch of rude overworked boors pushing others out of our way. We're more than that, we're the people who can be made happy and satisfied by making others happy and satisfied.

I think that's a good thing to remember.