@Shahryar

I think your mother was there in Germany, that she remembered that long ago conversation

Sometimes, you just have to hold onto those memories in the absence of the person themselves. I enjoyed reliving them

You'll understand that I believe in miracles. I think your mother was there in Germany, that she remembered that long ago conversation and that she put in a word with The Weather to bring you that snow...if she didn't create it on her own.

Thanks for this memory.

@riverlover

I like to suspend reality by watching movies, especially old holiday movies where they have all that fake snow that never melts when the actors come inside from out of the snow. Lol

I do, however, remember the winters back east when the snow did melt and was a terrible incumbrance to walk through. But I also remember that living in New York could be very festive during the holidays. I live in Southern California in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains now, where we have giant deodars which line the entire street. Each year volunteers decorate them with hundreds of Christmas tree lights and it is quite fantastic to walk underneath them at night!

Hope you stay warm, riverlover, and stay safe this holiday season.

and it's a bland- to mad-time of year in the Northern Hemisphere. White here today and temperatures dropping through the rest of Sun-Sat week.

We are all okay. Except any who are not. I am feeling okay, not great. I received one gift bag by car yesterday and none today. Christmas postponed. Friday now, nearly New Year's.

@gulfgal98

With our presents under the tree when we were older. But my Mother got wise to us and then deviously left decoys where she'd put old books, wooden thread spools, and a few odd buttons in boxes and wrap them up. Imagine our surprise at opening up those on Christmas Eve! Definitely sympathize with your Sister's lesson!

Thanks for sharing your story

It's funny, but I never thought about Santa Claus being a big lie. Even when we knew the truth, both my sister and I still pretended to believe in Santa Claus. And even though our parents knew we knew, Santa still came to visit. I saw it as fun innocence of childhood that all of us in the family wanted to perpetuate. So even as near adults, every year at least one present under the tree came from Santa.

I know some people think it is wrong to lie about Santa or the tooth fairy or whatever, but I think we all need some fantasy in our lives. It is a relief from the harsh reality of every day living.

I do have a funny story about Christmas presents. My sister loved to try to guess what was in the wrapped gifts that came from our parents. I always wanted to be surprised, so I never would even look at my gifts. One year when we were teenagers, my sister had asked for a skateboard for Christmas. This was something she really wanted.

Then a package from Mom and Dad which was about the size and shape of a skateboard appeared under the tree with my sister's name on it. She got really excited and decided to shake it to confirm what she believed to be her skateboard. When she tilted the package back and forth, we could hear the sound of ball bearings. My sister was ecstatic.

On Christmas morning when she went to open her skateboard, she said how excited she was to get a skateboard. This was before she opened the present. Talk about disappointment. When she opened the skateboard package, inside was a brand new, shiny, study lamp! And a lesson was learned.

@mimi

Of your childhood memories. Especially enjoyed this description:

AFter we were released from singing, a male person played Santa Claus. heh, no way any of us believed in our uncle or our mother speaking in a deep male voice was Santa Claus. No magic there, but ... ok... the bag of presents waiting there in the corner at the side of the Christmas tree made that failed pretending-being-Santa attempt worth to go along with what was expected from us, so we became the faux Santa believers.

You have a wonderful way of capturing the humorous and human moments in those kinds of situations.

one of the hardest thing for me in the US was that there was no Dec. 24th Christmas Day as we had it in Germany. I don't remember anymore, if I ever believed in the Santa Claus as a child, nor do I remember that my mother tried to make us believe in it.

But for us Christmas started the 24th with the Christmas Kaffee around 4:30 pm. It was the so-called "calm down and get into that typical German severely solemn mode you have to have to celebrate Christmas 'politically correct', even if you had not one ounce of relgious christian believes in you. I remember that we didn't talk a lot, my mother was totally exhausted with the Christmas preparations, my father finally got back from his "tour to meet all his employees personally" at their homes to wish them a Merry Christmas" and we were just thinking about the mandatory "sing along the Christmas carols" which we would have afterwards, when my mother ended the Kaffeerunde and went over to the piano. We all couldn't sing very well, or let's say not at all. My father never, ever could keep the right tone, but sang the loudest. My mother never, ever missed the right tone and actually could whistle the carols quite well. She was one kind of a whistler, breathing the air in and not out of her lips. That gave her whistle a certain special sound. We kids squeezed in some timid melodies with words.

AFter we were released from singing, a male person played Santa Claus. heh, no way any of us believed in our uncle or our mother speaking in a deep male voice was Santa Claus. No magic there, but ... ok... the bag of presents waiting there in the corner at the side of the Christmas tree made that failed pretending-being-Santa attempt worth to go along with what was expected from us, so we became the faux Santa believers. It was quite clear to us kids that the real believers in the magic of Santa Claus were all those adults. They got totally carried away and nuts with the idea. Sigh. the whole thingy lasted til around 10 pm when we finally got to eat. After midnight it was just bedtime, cozying up with our best present, usually a book or some music record.

Later in my life as an adult in the US I wanted to have my Kaffeerunde and get my son used to that tradition. It didn't work. My son's Dad never was willing to be on time for that Kafferunde. He remembered instead that it was time to go to church from his own childhood memories. So we went outside and looked for churches to go into. There were tons of churches in Washington DC, but we never could decide into which one we should go. I was not used to go to church as a child. My son's dad never went to church either as an adult, but by Christmas Eve his childhood memories just came up nagging his conscience again and he HAD to search for the church. Absolutely we HAD to find a church, each year again on Dec. 24th.

He actually was searching for the Christma songs, he remembered. (which all were sung in his own African dialect, though only around 30 000 people spoke that dialect. It was not a written language, just the bible and the songs got translated. I have heard these songs in his village church being sung by his extended family clan - and it was the most beautiful singing I ever heard - honestly).

Most of the Christmas Eve days in the US, I remember as being a frustrating affair for us. We never found the church to fit our mood. And of course, our moods were never the same.

The Christmas traditions all got wiped out in my little family while we lived here. One day I will find my church. The only 'religious' man I could listen to would be Chris Hedges. Most preachers I had heard were ok, but didn't touch my mind for more than the length of the sermon was. When I was at a church I remember always being nervous to find a preacher that I couldn't stand listening to. So I avoided going.

Zoebear, I am happy for you to have such fond memories and wish you that they will continue to give you much joy for the rest of your life. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

@Mark from Queens

Well, truth is, we got lucky because the snow was pretty sticky. I also had a little practice in the art of snowball fighting when I used to skate at Wollman Rink in Central Park. Marvelous venue during the winter. Always brought my own special hot chocolate, if you know what I mean

I do like the idea of something magical for the kids.

I think you can make Christmas for your children in what ever way you feel is appropriate. With or without gifts. My Mother never had enough money for a lot of gifts. What she did have was a great sense of play and imagination. For her, the holiday was about closing off all the noise of the world and creating a world of make believe. This came easy for my Mother having grown up in post war Germany where watching American movies was an appealing way to block out the reality of everyday life. She was, in the most pure sense, always at her best when she was at play, and you could definitely feel that during the holidays. Now that she's gone, it's much more comforting to remember those things about her. Especially this time of year.

Hope you and your family have a lovely holiday!

Have been thinking of this lately, since now the Boy is just past two. Both Christmas's have been without any fanfare and at this moment I see it continuing that way.

Loved the scene of the California girls giddily pummeling each other with snowballs (you learned fast!), thinking of your mother's promise. And your mom's setting is indeed wondrous too. We do need moments of that kind of "magic." But my memories, while fond also, I now realize were mostly just the expectations of spoiled kids who couldn't wait to pounce on their bounty. Looking back now, I see just piles of savagely ripped wrapping paper and big dumb plastic toys (many times war-related garbage, i.e. GI Joes, war board games, army men, etc), and I'm kind of disgusted by the propaganda of advertising that worked on all of us.

When I got a little older I stopped buying Xmas presents completely, and my family followed suit (except for my Mom still wanting to give a thing here and there). I resent the commodification of the entire holiday season, from the stupid songs while we dutifully do our Pavlovian duty of shopping, to the ugly rush of consumerism. Haven't got stuck in that hellish scene for at least 25 years now.

So yeah, am debating how I'll proceed with these two kids. My gut tells me it ain't gonna happen, especially not remotely the way we've been conditioned to do.

I do like the idea of something magical for the kids. In my own little way I've been doing that with my son since before he turned two earlier this month. Started calling attention to the moon at night. And whenever possible clutch him in my arms and take him up to the roof of my apartment to look for it. He now asks for the moon at various points during the day. He just started singing along to the song I've been singing to him too:

@janis b

Love the picture post card. Reminds me of the advent calendars my Grandparents used to send us. Hope you a have a beautiful holiday, surrounded by people who love and appreciate you

I really enjoyed your Christmas story of childhood memories and the sense of innocence they reflect.

Wishing us all a touch of childhood innocence in our adult realities.