Holiday memories ... through kids' eyes

We asked area elementary school students to share their favorite holiday memories. From cats in the tree to family vacations, here are memories of some very special Christmases.

These students are in Jill Gates' fourth grade class at St. John's Lutheran School in Algonquin.

Did I say that?

My favorite Christmas memory was when I accidentally told my sister, Emily, what I got her! She looked really surprised! I felt humiliated. I felt that I should laugh though. Everyone was laughing. It was just so funny!

Emily was mad, so I told her it was an accident. Then we all started laughing. Everyone was happy that Christmas. Even I felt happy. That was my favorite Christmas memory.

-- Molly Banwart

'You better not cry …'

My favorite Christmas memory is from when I was 2 years old. We went to see Santa at Golf Mill. At Golf Mill I saw Santa eating lunch. I kept staring at him. The next part is odd.

After lunch I went to see Santa. When I got put on Santa's lap by my mom I started to cry. It was really odd. What kind of person cries about going to see Santa? Then we bought a child's 2nd Christmas ornament and went home.

-- Leah Grabowski

Gingerbread houses

My favorite Christmas memory was last year when my family made gingerbread houses. But then we had an idea. It should be a contest! My mom and I versus my dad and my little sister. The judge is my two year old brother. So we got to work.

First we put the base part together with frosting and graham crackers so it looked like a square with a triangle on top. Then we used square pretzels for the windows. For the roof we used small marshmallows. After that we put candy everywhere on it. Except for a path of candy canes leading to the house. Then we were done. My dad's looked like a black house with white snow. So we placed them on the floor. And of course my brother chose mine and then just ate it all up. And that's my favorite Christmas memory.

-- Eric Longo

Fish flips and tinsel wars

When I was 5 I got a fish. He could come out of the water and do a loop-de-loop in the air. I found out my fish was a she. Then there where 2 fish in the bowl. The baby fish though he was a shark.

My dad hit a trip wire and tincel (tinsel) fell all over him. Even before presents were opened a tincel fight happened. My dog played too. Dad, my dog, and I creamed my sister and mom. Then it was time to open presents. My dad got boxers that said "kiss me."

-- Jacob Schendel

Family frolics

About one year ago, I was eight years old. I was getting dressed. We were all dressed and ready when the company came. It was time for dinner. My dad came into the room and spilled milk on my mom's plate! She yelled.

After dinner my sister Marissa sang carols. Next was present time! Marissa throwing wrapping paper and bows everywhere! Then we were taking pictures. Marissa was making silly faces in every one of the photos. My mom said it was dessert time. We had cake and pie. It was delicious. After dessert we had to go to sleep; we didn't. We were throwing toys downstairs. About an hour later we were asleep.

-- Alexia Milligan

Hiding the pickle

My family does a special thing on Christmas. We put the green pickle in our tree. Who ever found the pickle the last year gets to hide it the next year. I think everybody in my family has gotten to hide it. My family is me, Mariah, my brother Brian, my mom and my dad.

We usually hide it in the center of the tree and in the middle of the tree. Oh, by the way we have a fake tree. Except my dog, Cosmo, hasn't hid the pickle in the tree yet. It would probably be pretty hard for him. That is what we, the Kruegers, do with the green pickle for one of our Christmas memories.

-- Mariah Krueger

Welcome to the dollhouse

My favorite Christmas memory was two years ago. I was opening presents with my family. First was my brother who was 5, my brother who was 13, and my sister 15. Then my mom and dad opened their presents. Next, it was my turn to open my presents.

First I opened a medium box filled with Beanie Babies. Next was a small box with earrings inside. Then a medium box with candy inside. Then the last gift the biggest of all. I tried to pick it up but I couldn't. As soon as I picked it up it fell. When I opened it I saw that it was a doll house. Then I started shouting, "Thank you, thank you!" That's my favorite Christmas memory.

-- Christina Soteros

Dog hears Santa

My dog Lucky was barking in the middle of the night. He was standing in his cage when he heard someone in our house. So my mom and I went downstairs to check and all of our gifts were under the tree.

What my dog heard was Santa Claus! I was so excited to open my gifts in the morning! I hope I see Santa Claus this year!

-- Morgan Londo

Chill out, sis

My favorite Christmas memory is when I jumped out of bed and looked under the tree and found a lot of presents. So I went to get my sister and she started hitting herself and saying, "Go get me a glass of water." So I got her a glass of water and dumped it on her. So she got up and we went to get my mom. She was sleep talking and told us to pay the bills.

My mom said go get dad. So I went to get my dad. The TV was on as usual, but we finally got him up. He was really excited to see what Santa left all of us. I know what he always says, the best gift ever is his family.

-- Youssef Bouhafa

Family feast

My favorite Christmas was in 2006 when my family went to my aunt Trish's. We always have a big feast. I always played with my cousins. They are all under 5 years old. My family always had fun. On that day we all played together. All the kids played with the dog "Fred." He chased me all day. I got tired very easily so I took a nap. Then we opened presents. My family had a great time. Then when it was time to go home. At 12:00 midnight when I fell asleep, we said, "Goodbye." When we got home on that day I heard Santa Claus from about a couple of miles from my house. So on Christmas don't just think of presents, think of Jesus and your family.

-- Jacob Halper

Happy birthday, Dad

Every Christmas we open presents first. That's on Christmas Eve. My Dad then opens him birthday presents. His birthday is on Christmas Eve. Then we try to go to sleep.

When we wake up in the morning, my sister and I go to mom and dad's room. After that we wake up our brother by tickling him! We go downstairs to see what we got. Also a week before we do our Christmas card. It's not a normal Christmas card. Once we had to hang it from the ceiling! It's all very fun!

-- Jamie Atkinson

Baby's first Christmas

My favorite Christmas memory is my first Christmas I had. I was just learning how to walk. I wrote in big and sloppy letters, "I want my two front teeth," but since I didn't know my letters it was, as I said, sloppy. My mom said, "you have to wait because they half to grow."

Then I said my first sentence, "but mom why not fake teeth?" Then my mom said, "O, baby, you said your first sentence." Then I said, "what ta!" Then the next morning my mom found my crib on its side. Then she said, "Where's my baby?" She then walks downstairs and finds me with one of my presents. Then I ripped it open. It was a fassafire (pacifier). I said, "me want toy!" By the end of the day I was crying because I didn't get a toy. So they gave me a mache (match) box car.

-- Randy Bazdor

These students are in fifth and sixth grade in Faye Porstner's class at St. John's.

'Catmas' tree

Five years ago on March third my mom found a cat. We named her Cinnamon for her cinnamon colored spots. Two years later when we were putting the tree together she helped by attacking the branches. Sometimes she hides the branches. It took us two days to put the whole tree up.

Every night she knocked down the tree. We tried taking it down but it didn't work. Then she knocked down the ornaments. We held them down by twisting them to the point of breaking. Then she climbed it and hit anyone who came near it and would not come down. Ever since then we called our Christmas tree our Catmas tree.

-- Charles Nicholson

Cleaning the closet

Once when I was 5 years old, my family was all downstairs and we were opening presents and all having a good time. When we were done my dad said to go clean his closet. We all complained and said "it was the worst Christmas ever."

When we got upstairs we just said that since it's Christmas we just won't do it because you should be happy on Christmas. When we finally started to clean, we found a brand new computer with a note that said, "Merry Christmas!" We ran downstairs and laughed and told about it all day.

-- Jacob Kirchhoff

A puzzling day

When I was in California on Christmas break, it was a great time and my family had I went to my cousin's house. Two days before Christmas my cousins and I were finishing up a really big puzzle, and when we had one more piece to put in the puzzle!

Then, we tried to look for that one puzzle piece and it took us about twenty-five minutes to find just that one puzzle piece. Then, when we finally found the puzzle piece, then my cousins and I decided to let our Aunt Pearl put the last piece of the puzzle in.

-- Jakob Howey

Christmas in Florida

The Christmas when I was six years old I thought there was a fat person called Santa Claus. My family went to Florida for Christmas. We were packing Christmas presents and all of our clothes. Finally we got on the road to head to Florida.

When we got to Florida, I ran to hug my Aunt Ann. It was Christmas Eve night. We were putting all of the Christmas lights and ornaments. It was getting very late so I asked if I could sleep by the tree. My parents said ok. I got my blanket and all of my family went to their rooms. I went to sleep at 9 p.m. then I woke up at 9:30 p.m. so I decided to stay up and find out if Santa Claus was real. I stayed up until 9 a.m. the next day and no Santa Claus. I was so upset that I could not stop crying for about one hour and thirty minutes. Finally my parents came up with a lame excuse that Santa Claus got stuck in the chimney. So my grandpa got his Santa Claus suit out. Afterwards he got on the chimney but I found out it was him and that was how I found out that Santa Claus does not exist.

-- Jarrit Cornett

Snowboarding

I was with my friends and we all went to a huge hill. Everyone had a snowboard. There were other people sledding, snowboarding, and skiing. People were just learning or they already knew how. I sort of knew how to snowboard.

I was on the hill that was huge. I went down the hill but not all the way because I fell down hard. I fell down hard because I was going really fast down the hill. It got late so we had to go. The next day my friends and I felt beat up.

-- Bryan Oliveros

Wake up, Mom and Dad!

The Christmas when I was five, I had started to understand what Christmas was about. I believed that there was a fat and jolly man named Santa Claus who had his elves make toys for us.

Very early Christmas morning at about 2 a.m., I woke up, woke my parents up and asked them if Santa had come. They said, "no." I tried to go to sleep but I couldn't. I woke up my parents every 20 minutes to ask them if he had come. Finally, they said Santa had come. I went downstairs to open the presents. It was a great Christmas.

Now that I am older, I realize that Christmas came to be when a king was born in a stable. His name was Jesus. People from all over the world came to worship him. But I still like to hear Christmas stories and sing Christmas carols.

-- Andrew Brown

Cat in the tree

My favorite Christmas was when my cat kept climbing up the tree. My dog must have been bored that Christmas, because she had no one to chase! Another problem was that the cat kept knocking ornaments off of the tree.

I'll bet that my cat spent at least half of her Christmas in that tree. The good thing is that only one of our ornaments was broken. This year we got a pointy tree so that she won't climb it, although it was funny to watch!

-- Cameron Ihrke

Canine capers

One Christmas day when I was four years old, my dog Saddie attacked the Christmas tree. She was very, very hyper that day. Saddie wasn't used to seeing the tree. We were so lucky that the tree didn't fall.

Some of the ornaments fell off, but none of them broke. The funny part was when my dog came down because he jumped off and was kicking her legs so fast in the air. I think that this was the funniest Christmas ever.

-- Kylie Hayden

The delivery elf

My favorite Christmas memory was when my cousin made me elf ears and taped them to my ears. That night I had to deliver at least twenty gifts and only received one or two. At the same time I felt good for giving so many gifts to people, but I felt sad because I only received one or two.

Later we played Trivial Pursuit after opening and giving presents. When we were playing Trivial Pursuit, I just realized that I had a lot of fun that night with my family.

-- Jason Wind

Hi, Grandma!

The Christmas that I remember most was when my parents took my siblings and me to Florida for Christmas. I couldn't wait to get there and get warm! When we got to the airport we saw our grandma waiting for us! So, we went to her house and had dinner before we went to my aunt's house to sleep.

On Christmas morning I came downstairs to find a big green beautiful Christmas tree and my uncle was making breakfast. We ate breakfast all together. Later, we opened our gifts and sang songs. Then, we watched Veggie Tales. That was my favorite and most memorable Christmas ever.

-- Emily Banwart

Aloha, Christmas

When I was nine my grandma came to my house and stayed at our house for about six months. It was about two weeks before Christmas Day and I woke up at about four o'clock in the morning.

As I walked down the stairs, I noticed that everyone in my house was running around paking (packing) for a trip. I asked my daddy where we were going. He said to a warm, sunny place and to bring flip-flops.

We drove to the airport and the moment I saw the gates I almost screamed. It said Hawaii! My whole family boarded the plane, and we spent Christmas in Hawaii together.

-- Gabrielle Salazar

All bark and no bite

One Christmas when my family was all at my vacation house, it was the morning of Christmas and we all brought our dogs. So after we all started opening presents. When I was using my gift, my Aunt Trishe's dog, Fred, started running around and around my mom and I. Then all of a sudden he started barking and going crazy. I started screaming, but nobody got hurt. After all that, it was the sound and vibration of the toy. Finally after all the excitement we had a wonderful Christmas at the Lake House.

-- Amy Halper

Up a tree

It was my cat's first Christmas and my family and I always put up our tree together. We finally had the tree all put up when the tree started shaking.

We looked through the branches and saw my cat making her way to the top. A ton of ornaments started falling to the ground. My dog was trying to jump up at her.

My cat was stuck at the top of the tree. She kept meowing until my dad got her down by standing on a chair.

-- Tarah Temen

A Christmas 'tail'

Last Christmas, my sister woke me up at about 6:30 a.m. We all went downstairs to open presents. Our dog, Rita, came down with us. My sister and I had opened about 2 presents when we heard something fall and break. I turned around and one of our Christmas ornaments had broken.

At first we thought someone had bumped into the tree. Then we heard another one break. This time we saw that it was Rita knocking them over with her tail. When we were by our fireplace, she broke another. It was a very funny Christmas I'll remember!

-- Brooke Killian

Buried in the snow

That Christmas was just last year when my dad and I were shoveling. I decided to make a snow fort out of the pile of snow. I was making a cave inside when all of a sudden the whole thing collapsed on me! It took my dad about 2 minutes to check on me and find out I was screaming under about 100 lbs. of snow.

My dad was pulling me as hard as he could until he could get me out. Only half of my face was freezing because my face was sideways. It was kind of fun, but very, very scary. It was one of the best Christmas Days in my life so far!

-- Corina Jurczyk

Help from the dog

Once, when I was 7, it was the day after Christmas. It was time to take down the Christmas tree. My family and I were ready to take everything down. First we were going to take down the Christmas tree. I took down a branch and set it down, and then my dad, mom and sister. Then something odd happened. My dog walked up to the Christmas tree and took down a branch, then another, and another.

Later, when we were almost done, my dad picked up my dog and let her take down the last three branches. When we were finished, we had some hot cocoa. My mom even poured a little cup in my dog's dish. That was one of the best, and weirdest Christmases I've had.

-- Ryan Lyle

Landing it

One Christmas Eve I went outside in the snow. There was about 1 foot of snow. I went to the hill on the side of my house with my snowboard. I slid to the bottom with no problem whatsoever. Then I decided to challenge myself by building a ramp at the bottom.

I was all set to go off my new ramp. Finally I went down and off the ramp. Through the air I flew and landed in a heap. After I had gotten up I tried it again. Of course, I landed in a heap again. Again and again I tried. Finally for the last time I went down I sped down and jumped. I couldn't believe it. I had landed it.

-- David Atkinson