Monday, December 12, 2011

My First Christmas Memory




A long time ago, in a land far up North, it snowed like crazy on Christmas Eve. I was five years old. My parents, excited about the new snow, decided to give up some of our presents early, which turned out to be cross country skis for me and my siblings. My brother was 14 and my sister 13. Yes, there is quite an age difference between us. You can say I was a surprise or my mother's mid-life crisis.


It being a quiet day, my parents decide to take us skiing that afternoon in the local woods not far from our home.



We drove the short distance to the trails where I got the short lesson on how to cross country ski. I'd never been in these woods before and assumed my parents had. We followed the new trails made in the deep snow but an hour into our trip it started to snow again.

Still having complete faith in my parents, I concentrated on keeping the tips of my skis straight and did my best not to fall every two minutes. But eventually I got tired and noticed I wasn't the only one. My mother's voice seemed higher than normal and my father kept making stops to gaze far into the forest.

That was when my sister informed me were lost. The snow fall had hidden the tracks and we were going to die on Christmas Eve. (Gotta love older sisters)


Exhausted, I couldn't keep up anymore. My mother pulled me by my long red scarf as I whined about frozen toes and fingers. (Being a mom now, I could imagine the horror my mother must have been feeling at this moment.) The sun had set and we skied in the dark. (Yep, we'd been lost that long.) A light shone in the distance between some trees. We'd found someone's backyard and skied across it to the street light that had been our beacon.

My parents were still lost not recognizing the street name however I did. My school bus passed by here all the time. I didn't know the street names but knew certain land marks that lead us home to everyone's surprise.  LOL

This is my very first Christmas memory, and unfortunately, not the only time I've been lost in the woods.

What are some of your memorable Christmas moments?


 

2 comments:

D L Jackson said...

I remember making a snow woman with my grandmother the Christmas right before she passed. She was too sick to help much, but she'd point out where she needed more curves and provided a girly scarf and hat.

I remember taking my children caroling to a local nursing home and one of the residents and very elderly woman stood up from her wheelchair in front of us and began to conduct, waving her hands everywhere.

Fresh baked cinnamon rolls.

D L Jackson said...
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