Question Of The Day, Sunday, November 19, 2017

[micknsnicks2mom]

good morning!

with the holidays almost here, i've been thinking about some of my favorite holiday memories.

so for today's Question of the Day......



What is (/are) your favorite holiday memory(ies)? (can be anything: funny, cute, sentimental, cat related, and etc)



i'll start!

i always think of my Mickey and Snick , and some of the happy memories we made together during our holiday season. while i continue to miss them both very much, i'm at the point (after losing them, and then grieving) that i think of the happy memories more and more.

i have two favorite holiday memories that have been on my mind this year.

one is of my Mickey on Christmas Day, his first Christmas with me, when i gave him his stocking filled with toys and treats. he was so very excited that he grabbed the stocking and was trying to take off with it, i'm assuming to be able to enjoy it all to himself! so very cute!!

the second is of my little Snick , during her senior years. i had bought her special gifts, handmade catnip stuffed cat toys from a seller on Etsy. in her younger years, Snick would sometimes bat at/strike at electric cords, which i interpreted as my girl thinking the cords might be snakes -- or at least i liked to think so. so, one of the toys i got her was a crocheted stuffed snake cat toy with catnip in it, about 2 feet in length. that snake toy was just her favorite gift!! she rolled and played and bit and bunny-kicked it again and again! so sweet!!


how about you?

 

[artiemom]

My favorite memories are of my mom baking cookies, pies, and some of our traditional foods..giving them away to the entire family...

Putting up the Christmas tree.. we always had a disagreement, about 'something' stupid, but the end result was beautiful...just sitting there, in the dark, looking at the tree with lights on, listening to Christmas music.. Heaven, to me...

 

[jcat]

When I put up the tree for Jamie's first Christmas (1999), he managed to wreck a string of lights before they were even on the tree. I got replacements, but they didn't last an hour, and fortunately weren't plugged in.

We did without lights on the tree till I found wireless ones.

 

[dahli6]

This will be a long story.
I stopped believing in Santa Claus at around the age of 5. That is one of the key elements of the story.
Another key element is that my Grandfather was a gambler and a con-artist who took his family from place to place leaving a rubble of debt in his wake. He died when my father was 10 years old and the rather large family was reduced nearly overnight from seeming prosperity to the most desolate poverty. My father idolized the father who supported a family of 8 so well and as a result we lived a bit like that ourselves; though as time went on it was harder and harder to just leave piles of debt laying around... such is life.
In 1984 I changed schools 4 times. Twice we had to leave behind every possession we had because we could not afford a moving truck and the need to move was dire. In the fall of 1984, leading into the winter of 1985 my father moved us to a tiny on town along the Columbia River. Not far from a place called Tri-Cities.
We had no furniture or blankets. Our clothing was sparse. I used my alternative clothing as a pillow and my coat for a blanket.
My mom got what little furniture and cooking supplies we had by foraging in the dumpster of the apartments we lived in.
My brother had just turned 6 years old, he was the baby of the family(at the time)and his happiness and innocence made my parents happy and kept life calm. As Christmas approached he was very concerned about our lack of a chimney. Every house we had lived in at Christmas had one but the apartment did not. He was worried that Santa wouldn't be able to get in.
My sister and I already knew that there probably wouldn't be a Christmas. We were rewashing plastic picnic utensils and reusing paper plates when possible. There was no way the adults could afford Christmas...
But, in the interest of keeping things serene so that our parents could work and look for work without worrying about us we told him a story.
We told him not to worry because in houses that had no chimneys Santa magically turned the living room heaters into a fireplace. It eased his fears and things were calm but my sister and I were worried about Christmas day. Our concerns were being realized. There was nothing Christmaslike about our household.
Christmas Eve we coaxed my brother to sleep and I think we were both anticipating a bad Christmas Day.

It was still dark when my brother burst into our room excited that Santa had come. We walked out to the living room to find a Christmas tree decked in glitter, no ornaments just glitter and a string of lights.
In front of the tree were three dressers. On each one was a new pillow, inside of each one was a new blanket and hanging on each one was an ornament.

 

[neely]

One of my fondest memories, cat related, is about a very large long-haired gray cat who I adored. He was my sweet baby boy and as far back as I can remember never did anything mischievous until this one particular holiday when I served dessert which was a French silk chocolate whipped cream pie. He proceeded to jump on the dining room table and exit with whiskers full of whip cream. Needless to say none of our guests would eat the pie. Oh well, it was their loss and only left more for DH and I.

 

[bodester413]

Helping mom mix up sugar cookies and decorate them. Cutting out paper snowflakes to hang in the front porch windows. During the week before Christmas waking up and finding my Christmas stocking filled with lifesavers and butterscotch discs. Once or twice it had a few rolls of quarters mixed in that I could use for video games (Space Invaders and Asteroids) Cat related it would be my first cats first Christmas. We gave her some catnip after all the presents were opened and she was running around jumping on the wrapping paper and crawling in the empty boxes.

 

[kashmir64]

Christmas eve with my grandmother.

 

[Mother Dragon]

I was about seven when the doubt of Santa came. I held out hope one last time, however. Very, very early Christmas morning, or very, very late Christmas Eve night, I was awakened by the loud jingling of sleigh bells passing right in front of the house. I jumped out of bed and woke my mother. She heard them, too. Santa must have come and been on his way again. I dashed into the living room and sure enough, Santa had left beautiful gifts under the tree.

As a adult, I asked my mother about those sleigh bells. She told me she never knew how they came to be there. We both knew there were no bells in the house and it was unlikely there was anyone about at the time, especially jingling bells. I'll never know where they came from, but a little bit of me believes Santa really did come that night.

 

[Winchester]

A cat-related memory (I've posted about this before, so the oldies on the board can pass, if you want): Years ago, when the RugCats were just RugKittens, we had put the Christmas up in the living room, but didn't decorate it yet. The next morning (Saturday), Rick was working OT and I went up to my parents' house for coffee and a chat and to help Mom with some chores. Rick got home around 11:00 or so. When he got out of the truck and walked to the front door, all eight cats were in the bow window in the living room, meowing. He unlocked the front door and opened it....or tried to. The door wouldn't open. He poked his head in and looked around and....there was the Christmas tree. Not only had the cats knocked the tree to the floor, but somehow (and to this day, we've no idea how in the world they managed it) they got that tree pushed down the steps to the foyer at the front door. Rick finally managed to get the tree moved enough that he could get the door open enough so he could get into the house. When he said, "What did you guys do?" all eight cats scattered. They were in trouble and they knew it. And ever since that first Christmas with the RugKittens almost 22 years ago, we have wired our Christmas tree to the wall. (The original RugCats: Hydrox, Whisper, Banshee, and then Spike, BooBoo, Ms. Pepe, Gorby, and Taffy....who were actually RugKittens at the time and were from Whisper's last litter. They were about nine months old that Christmas.)

A family-related memory: Many years ago, when my siblings and I were kids, Dad had just come home from plowing snow at the hospital. It had been snowing all day, one of those old-fashioned snowfalls that never seemed to stop. The Christmas tree was up in the living room. Mom was making chicken and waffles in the kitchen. We three kids were watching an Abbott and Costello movie. It was warm in the house and all you could smell was the aroma of the chicken and the gravy from the kitchen. There's something about that night that stays with me: the snow was flying around the house, the wind was whipping in the yard. But we were warm, we were going to have a good supper. And that night, life was good.

 

[amysuen]

Christmas Eve at my parents' house with the whole family - over 20 people. We don't exchange names or take turns opening gifts - every family gets a gift for everyone and we open them all at the same time. It's a wonderful bedlam of flying wrapping paper, excited squeals, calling "Thank you" across the room, etc. For me there's nothing better than being surrounded by family.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

My favorite memories are of my mom baking cookies, pies, and some of our traditional foods..giving them away to the entire family...

Putting up the Christmas tree.. we always had a disagreement, about 'something' stupid, but the end result was beautiful...just sitting there, in the dark, looking at the tree with lights on, listening to Christmas music.. Heaven, to me...

ahhh, those are lovely and happy memories!!! very nice!!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

When I put up the tree for Jamie's first Christmas (1999), he managed to wreck a string of lights before they were even on the tree. I got replacements, but they didn't last an hour, and fortunately weren't plugged in.

We did without lights on the tree till I found wireless ones.

it sounds like your Jaime had a lot of fun with the Christmas tree and related!!! that's an awesome holiday memory!!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

This will be a long story.
I stopped believing in Santa Claus at around the age of 5. That is one of the key elements of the story.
Another key element is that my Grandfather was a gambler and a con-artist who took his family from place to place leaving a rubble of debt in his wake. He died when my father was 10 years old and the rather large family was reduced nearly overnight from seeming prosperity to the most desolate poverty. My father idolized the father who supported a family of 8 so well and as a result we lived a bit like that ourselves; though as time went on it was harder and harder to just leave piles of debt laying around... such is life.
In 1984 I changed schools 4 times. Twice we had to leave behind every possession we had because we could not afford a moving truck and the need to move was dire. In the fall of 1984, leading into the winter of 1985 my father moved us to a tiny on town along the Columbia River. Not far from a place called Tri-Cities.
We had no furniture or blankets. Our clothing was sparse. I used my alternative clothing as a pillow and my coat for a blanket.
My mom got what little furniture and cooking supplies we had by foraging in the dumpster of the apartments we lived in.
My brother had just turned 6 years old, he was the baby of the family(at the time)and his happiness and innocence made my parents happy and kept life calm. As Christmas approached he was very concerned about our lack of a chimney. Every house we had lived in at Christmas had one but the apartment did not. He was worried that Santa wouldn't be able to get in.
My sister and I already knew that there probably wouldn't be a Christmas. We were rewashing plastic picnic utensils and reusing paper plates when possible. There was no way the adults could afford Christmas...
But, in the interest of keeping things serene so that our parents could work and look for work without worrying about us we told him a story.
We told him not to worry because in houses that had no chimneys Santa magically turned the living room heaters into a fireplace. It eased his fears and things were calm but my sister and I were worried about Christmas day. Our concerns were being realized. There was nothing Christmaslike about our household.
Christmas Eve we coaxed my brother to sleep and I think we were both anticipating a bad Christmas Day.

It was still dark when my brother burst into our room excited that Santa had come. We walked out to the living room to find a Christmas tree decked in glitter, no ornaments just glitter and a string of lights.
In front of the tree were three dressers. On each one was a new pillow, inside of each one was a new blanket and hanging on each one was an ornament.

your 'long story' speaks volumes. your parents made a nice Christmas for their children, though times were quite tough. and you and your sister helped your young brother.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

One of my fondest memories, cat related, is about a very large long-haired gray cat who I adored. He was my sweet baby boy and as far back as I can remember never did anything mischievous until this one particular holiday when I served dessert which was a French silk chocolate whipped cream pie. He proceeded to jump on the dining room table and exit with whiskers full of whip cream. Needless to say none of our guests would eat the pie. Oh well, it was their loss and only left more for DH and I.

that's a great memory!!! your boy was a bit silly that day! and, i would have eaten the pie anyway, too!!

last sunday, when i roasted the turkey, the girls (DeeDee and Punky) had absolutely no interest in the turkey -- from rinsing it, roasting it, through me taking all the meat off the bones. i kept referring to it as 'the bird' -- the girls are avid hunters, and they love watching and stalking birds (through the window screens), so they know the word 'bird'. so i wonder whether they caught sight of it and thought, 'man, that bird's scary. i mean, it's huge. something dreadful must've happened to it, for it to get that big!' now, once i had the meat all in a container and the rest removed from the kitchen, they were both very interested in the turkey in the container.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

Helping mom mix up sugar cookies and decorate them. Cutting out paper snowflakes to hang in the front porch windows. During the week before Christmas waking up and finding my Christmas stocking filled with lifesavers and butterscotch discs. Once or twice it had a few rolls of quarters mixed in that I could use for video games (Space Invaders and Asteroids) Cat related it would be my first cats first Christmas. We gave her some catnip after all the presents were opened and she was running around jumping on the wrapping paper and crawling in the empty boxes.

...helping your mom make and decorate sugar cookies......cutting out paper snowflakes to hang in windows......'special' gifts left in your stocking during the week before Christmas...... those are all wonderful memories!!!

ahhh, a catnip Christmas for your girl's first Christmas!! most excellent!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

Christmas eve with my grandmother.

ahhh, Christmas Eve with your grandmother!!! that's a lovely memory!!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

I was about seven when the doubt of Santa came. I held out hope one last time, however. Very, very early Christmas morning, or very, very late Christmas Eve night, I was awakened by the loud jingling of sleigh bells passing right in front of the house. I jumped out of bed and woke my mother. She heard them, too. Santa must have come and been on his way again. I dashed into the living room and sure enough, Santa had left beautiful gifts under the tree.

As a adult, I asked my mother about those sleigh bells. She told me she never knew how they came to be there. We both knew there were no bells in the house and it was unlikely there was anyone about at the time, especially jingling bells. I'll never know where they came from, but a little bit of me believes Santa really did come that night.

that's an awesome story!!! and a wonderful Christmas memory!! thank you for sharing it with us!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

A cat-related memory (I've posted about this before, so the oldies on the board can pass, if you want): Years ago, when the RugCats were just RugKittens, we had put the Christmas up in the living room, but didn't decorate it yet. The next morning (Saturday), Rick was working OT and I went up to my parents' house for coffee and a chat and to help Mom with some chores. Rick got home around 11:00 or so. When he got out of the truck and walked to the front door, all eight cats were in the bow window in the living room, meowing. He unlocked the front door and opened it....or tried to. The door wouldn't open. He poked his head in and looked around and....there was the Christmas tree. Not only had the cats knocked the tree to the floor, but somehow (and to this day, we've no idea how in the world they managed it) they got that tree pushed down the steps to the foyer at the front door. Rick finally managed to get the tree moved enough that he could get the door open enough so he could get into the house. When he said, "What did you guys do?" all eight cats scattered. They were in trouble and they knew it. And ever since that first Christmas with the RugKittens almost 22 years ago, we have wired our Christmas tree to the wall. (The original RugCats: Hydrox, Whisper, Banshee, and then Spike, BooBoo, Ms. Pepe, Gorby, and Taffy....who were actually RugKittens at the time and were from Whisper's last litter. They were about nine months old that Christmas.)

A family-related memory: Many years ago, when my siblings and I were kids, Dad had just come home from plowing snow at the hospital. It had been snowing all day, one of those old-fashioned snowfalls that never seemed to stop. The Christmas tree was up in the living room. Mom was making chicken and waffles in the kitchen. We three kids were watching an Abbott and Costello movie. It was warm in the house and all you could smell was the aroma of the chicken and the gravy from the kitchen. There's something about that night that stays with me: the snow was flying around the house, the wind was whipping in the yard. But we were warm, we were going to have a good supper. And that night, life was good.

that's a great cat-related holiday memory!!! '...all eight cats were in the bow window in the living room, meowing' -- i can just picture that in my mind! and i could see my three doing that too, if they'd done something silly while i was out.

and a wonderful family-related memory!!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

Christmas Eve at my parents' house with the whole family - over 20 people. We don't exchange names or take turns opening gifts - every family gets a gift for everyone and we open them all at the same time. It's a wonderful bedlam of flying wrapping paper, excited squeals, calling "Thank you" across the room, etc. For me there's nothing better than being surrounded by family.

ahhh, that sounds awesome!!! and a really beautiful memory!!