Christmas memories

Through the many years of my life I have seen Christmas come and go with different speeds. When I was a little girl I thought Christmas Day would never come. I longed for the last day of school before Christmas because we always went half a day and the only thing we did was have a party. I can still (yes, even now) remember the thrill in the air as we would enter the classroom filled with the smell of icing, cupcakes, sugar cookies and peppermint. Best friends would exchange simple gifts secretly as to not hurt the feelings of those you didn't bring a gift for. The teacher would give instructions to mothers that helped out for such events. We always brought a gift to exchange and sometimes we would bring goodies or candies to share with the class. There was always a few that you could count on thier mom's bringing enough homemade cupcakes or brownies for everyone to get one and staying to help with the party.The girls brought a $5 gift for a girl and the boys brought a $5 gift for a boy. Everyone ate too much sugar and played games or did Christmas crossword puzzles and word searches until the bell rang to go home. I remember most years it snowed at least a little or there was some leftover snow from a day or two ago. We always look forward to laziness and fun as we awaited the big day that we would wake earlier than school days to see what Santa had left for us. We would play all day long, rarely wanting to stop even for a meal.
There was a few years that I remember going to my Grandparents' house in Maryland for Christmas. That was always fun because we would play with our cousins and explore everyone's house for fun things to play with. Grandparents can have the coolest stuff, they don't want you to play with it, but it's all so interesting.
As I got older Christmas became a drag. We always had to clean the house and going to grandparents' house wasn't as much fun because you were too old to play and too young to go anywhere by yourself. Everyone was cooking, cleaning or watching the news (and you were never allowed to change the chanel or make too much noise while the television was on) and sitting at the table and talking about people you never heard of before. Everything was boring or stupid, no one would let you have any fun. The music you liked was considered noise and you always played it too loud. Everyone was mad at you for something.
Then when I became a mother Christmas was exciting again. Then it became overwhelming and tiresome. Now that my children are growing up Christmas is changing again. Who knows what memories lie ahead.
One thing for certain is that this year's Christmas memories will be remembered for many years to come. I usually have an idea what to expect for Christmas, but this year I would have never imagined what would transpire over the Holiday break. Last year I was sick and watched the Disney Christmas Parade from my bed, this year I watched the Holiday Wishes over Cinderella's Castle in person on the eve of New Year's Eve. WOW! That was an awesome sight as was the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. I took lots of pictures to cherish these memories as the years will fly by with unimaginable speed.