Making Christmas Memories ...

with Little or No Money.

I remember the wonder of sleeping under the Christmas tree as a child. It was our night before Christmas eve tradition. There were no DVD movies or pizza delivery. It was very simple...pillows and blankets and p.j.s and three very quiet children each peering up into the branches laden with shiny ornaments and the streaming silver icicles that would catch the colors of the lights with their gentle movement. It was a magical sight, ripe for our imaginations, and mesmerizing to sleepy eyes.

I remember my father making fudge and getting to lick the spoon and I remember wrapping the perfect squares in wax paper to fill tins for gifts. This year my little granddaughter dips pretzels for a gift...an easy task for a little one who wants to feel grown up.

I remember the years when we cut our own tree and I remember the years when we ran through the chill evening air of a tree lot inspecting size and shape. Though our suggestions seldom influenced the final decision, our participation somehow seemed vital and added to the thrill of the tree.

I remember the Christmas that my father built my little sister a miniature kitchen stove and sink and it impressed me so much that a lifetime later, I designed and built one for my first granddaughter.

I designed it so that the all the pieces could be cut from a single sheet of plywood. I will try my best to locate my plans and post them in plenty of time for next year.

It is with such joy and warmth that I remember my mother making decorative candles and the yule log she made and the delightful aromas that drifted from our kitchen day after day and stockings filled only with oranges and apples and nuts and a candy cane. I also remember later years with the living room filled to over-flowing with presents and the stress of budgeting for 5 bicycles, a brass bed and a diamond ring in the same year. Of the differing memories, it's the simple ones that seem the sweetest and this year, it is those memories that I hope to help create.Dream beautiful dreams, little ones!