Christmas memories bring back happy times
“I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.”
— Psalm 77:1 (NLT).
When I was a child, our family received hundreds of Christmas cards each year. My mother did a lot of volunteering in the community, forming lasting friendships and acquaintances at each organization she worked with.
As December rolled around, I enjoyed running to the mailbox daily to retrieve the stack of Christmas cards and bring them in. By the number of cards coming in each day, it was apparent how much she was loved and admired by the people whose lives she touched.
One special year, my niece came by and we started reminiscing over the wall of Christmas cards.
My niece said, “Oh, I loved how Granny Chic used to cover her living room walls with Christmas cards!”
We went on to discuss how the warm sentiments, with their colorful scenes of Santas in their red suits, snowmen with their carrot noses and the sacred manger scenes taped up and down our living room wall, displayed a picturesque appearance of what Christmastime was about: the warmth of family, friends and the Holy Nativity.
As my niece and I talked, I finished setting out my few Christmas cards across the music stand on my piano like I usually did.
As we continued on, we discussed how much we missed my mom’s Christmas Eve dinner table, overloaded with multiple dishes of her favorite recipes. Also, her elaborately decorated tree with many handmade ornaments of sequins and glitter, and the stack of presents wrapped in colorful prints that overflowed from under the tree into the middle of our large living room.
Then something special happened. I wasn’t feeling teary-eyed with grief and pain. I didn’t have to mourn this memory like a loss. Instead, I noticed a bit of joyful childhood nostalgia was surfacing in my soul.
I realized our memories don’t have to bring us sorrow. They can be used to make us grateful for the beautiful Christmas memories enjoyed with our family and friends.
• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author of the book “Letters To A Friend,” speaker, life and writing coach and nurse. She can be contacted at annetteebudzban@aol.com.