Holiday Memories... What Do YOU Remember Most Vividly?

As the holidays approach, I often find my mind "time traveling" back to earlier days in my life.

Without doubt, my feelings for the holidays have been colored by the fact that I spent 15 years as proprietor of a gift store/gallery (from 1985-1999), where the holidays meant 70-hour work weeks and exhaustion... and now I, once again, am in the sales and retail store business.

Last time the kids were still at home for Christmas...

When you are surrounded by "holiday commercialism" on a daily basis, it's easy to lose some of your sense of joy for the season.

But that doesn't stop me from occasionally drifting back to old memories.

All About the FOOD!

Perhaps we all have different memories of what seemed "important" about the holiday season.

For a lot of my friends, I know it was all about "getting presents" and they can even tell me — in quite vivid detail — what great presents they got from whom, and what year it was.

Maybe I'm a little weird, but for me the presents were never a particularly big deal. Even when I was little.

Baking gingerbread cookies with my Auntie, circa 1965

For me, it was all about the FOOD!

Starting with cookie baking in mid-December, the holidays were filled with smells and tastes. Our family loved good food and eating a LOT.

December 23rd would typically mark the beginning of a literal explosion of fabulous eats, continuing every day until about December 28th when the last iteration of leftovers were finally gone. Big lunches, big dinners, roasts, pies, amazing sandwiches, cookies, sweets...

I suppose it has left me with such strong memories because we otherwise ate pretty boring food.

In between, we'd go outside and "walk it off." Or so the adults would say! I used to hope for snow, but white Christmases were remarkably rare.

Going for a walk on a snowy day

To this day, though, my favorite part of the holidays remains giant meals that often leave us at the table for several hours... along with the scent of holiday foods, drifting through the house for several days.

How about YOU? What are your strongest holiday memories? Food, presents, family, something else? Are your holidays today very different from when you were little, or pretty much in the same tradition? Or do you not observe the holiday season, at all? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

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Created at 181212 01:15 PDT