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Christmas Memories
Making the day special through the years
Many years ago, my mother-in-law, The Grinch, declared that “Christmas is just another day of the year.” She was disappointed that Christmas wasn’t the magical event that Hallmark movies and Normal Rockwell had promised, and decided that the best response to that was just to be cynical about the whole thing.
I remember thinking at the time, “Well, of course, it’s just a day. It’s only filled with warmth and magic, and beauty if you make it that way. Christmas isn’t going to just make itself!” Christmas can be whatever you want it to be, including a day of no particular importance if that’s what suits your religious, cultural, or other preferences.
When I was growing up, we didn’t go hog-wild with presents, although we did always get a couple of nice gifts, that wasn’t really what made it Christmas — at least not after we got out of elementary school. For me, having family traditions is what made this time of year really memorable and special.
We always had something special for dinner on Christmas Eve, and that was something that I looked forward to. We had a small family, so it was nearly always just Mom, Dad, me and my brother. Dinner was often something with seafood, which we didn’t really get to eat much of the rest of the year. I love seafood, and it was fun to put out the special red…
