It's About the Memories Not the Gifts (Friday Frivolity)

This week the Friday Frivolity hosts are talking about childhood Christmas memories, because there is just something about the season that makes one nostalgic.

I have plenty of nice memories from Christmas past.

• When I caught my parents one Christmas Eve and figured the whole Santa thing out. I didn't tell because I didn't want to spoil their fun. I wasn't upset, I thought it was sweet. My mother insists it was because I was afraid I wouldn't get presents anymore. I just roll my eyes and let her think what she wants.
• Mom reading us the story of a poor widow giving one of her last two coins to the church and then the bells mysteriously began to peal with joy... and the cuckoo clock chimed at that precise moment.
• Once we were old enough, when school was out for break, my brother and I would get on a BART train and ride into the City to visit my Mom at work then she'd leave early so we could have lunch and check out the holiday decorations in the stores.
• The year we got the weight bench and my dad was trying to assemble it after perhaps one too many egg nogs. As we lay in bed and heard the metal bars hit the floor my brother and I both knew what was going to be under the tree that morning.
• Getting a letter a few days before Christmas from that cute guy I had gone on a date with the last night before Winter Break at college. He said I was the kind of woman that was as beautiful on the inside as I was on the outside. Is it any wonder I married him?

Other than the weight bench, most of my happiest memories don't have much to do with the presents. And the weight bench was a great memory not because of the bench itself  but because Dad was in retail so he had been working really long hours for a month and still was determined to take the time to put it together for us on Christmas Eve.

This year my son wants two things from Santa: nature stickers for his walls and slipper socks. That's it. No impossible to find Hatchimals (thank you, Lord!), no expensive gadgets, no video games, nothing. We have asked him a few times what else he wanted so we could tell his grandmothers and aunts, he just keeps repeating the same few things. So, we asked him one last question.

"Instead of getting presents this year, do you want to go to the beach hotel?"

"YES! Can we go now?"

Luckily, my husband and I both understand that it isn't about the gifts themselves, it is about the memories. So, after a long semester for the three of us, we are going to sneak away for some well deserved family time and make some great memories that our son can tell his kids about someday.

And, I do not have to brave the stores two weeks before Christmas. SCORE!

The Hosts:

 

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Audrey is a wonderfully eclectic blogger, who not only can cook up a storm over on That Recipe, but also writes at Munofore - "MUsings NOt FOod RElated." Munofore touches on humor, parenting, crafting, holiday ideas, tutorials, and more! Audrey's got some free printable 2017 calendars for the nature lover in her latest post.

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Sarah Eliza is on a mission to Devastate Boredom by living life with laughter and intention! Her blog is your spot for Capsule Wardrobe how-to's and inspiration, humor, encouragement, life-hacks, Read / DON'T Read book reviews, and more!  Stop by her blog for winter Capsule Wardrobe inspiration -- mix-and-match outfit inspiration in burgundy and olive! 

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Lisa is an awesomely hilarious and authentic writer who marches to her own drum on her blog Syncopated Mama, providing an "un-labelly spot" for all the happily off-beat folks out there who have been wishing to find kindred spirits. She shares her adventures building a natural home, teaching her adorbs daughter, establishing and refining positive communication skills, camping, creating, cooking, and so much more! Lisa reviews The Berenstain Bears Christmas Sticker Activity Book this week.

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Jessica is an amazingly funny and smart blogger from Wales who writes at Babi a Fi on a whole range of topics -- from entertaining vintage nostalgia, to technology tutorials, to book reviews, to raising her adorable munchkin, and so much more! Jessica shares some wonderful Christmas trivia with a giveaway for a book Christmas: A Very Peculiar History.

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