Unusual Holidays

When Dad got back to our room, Mom had our Christmas Eve meal ready – hot cocoa and boiled ham sandwiches. Later we sang Christmas carols and listened as Dad read the Christmas Story from Luke 2. Then we opened our Christmas gifts. I was 8 years old, and I got exactly what I wanted – a heart pendant necklace and a small New Testament. 

My Christmas celebration was complete, and it’s one I’ve always cherished. We didn’t make it to Grandma’s house until late Christmas night, after everyone had left, but Mom, Dad, my sister and I had spent Christmas together, and that’s all that really mattered. 

Doris - Hutchinson, Kansas 

Sunny Season’s Greetings 

When I was growing up, holidays were spent together as a family at home, and my sisters and I were happy with this arrangement. In fact, had we been approached to spend a holiday away from home and our family, we would have turned down the invitation in nothing flat. 

Many years later, however, I agreed to spend a Christmas holiday in Mexico. It was 1966, and my husband and I, along with our 9-year-old son, boarded a bus in Buffalo, New York, and headed 2,800 miles away from home. 

We enjoyed the beautiful scenery along the way, but as Christmas Eve neared, I began feeling homesick. We arrived in Mexico City on Christmas Eve morning, and we were disappointed because nothing looked festive. That evening, though, we were met with myriad bright lights and decorations inviting us to celebrate the season in Mexico. 

We ate dinner at an informal place, and while I enjoyed pork tacos and a bowl of popcorn soup, I couldn’t help thinking about my mom’s wonderful traditional Christmas Eve dinner.  

Elinor - Niagara Falls, New York 

Thanksgiving Day Meal was Deliciously Different

My husband and I have four children, and each year for Thanksgiving, they all try to make it home with their families to celebrate and give thanks with us. One year, though, none of them were able to make it. 

While talking to our friends, James and Virginia, we told them about the children not being able to come home for Thanksgiving, and said it would just be the two of us celebrating the holiday. Virginia told us that not all of their children could make it either, and that their oldest child was the only one who was going to be able to make it to their place that year.