If you want to get people started laughing or crying, just start talking about Christmas memories. Everyone has a story.
I remember bringing the Christmas tree home from school the last day of school. We were poor so the school gave us the tree.
I remember walking through Otasco looking at the toys lining the aisles.
I remember looking through the Sears Christmas catalog at all the new toys.
I remember the year my sister and I got transistor radios and brother got a battery-powered police car with lights that flashed and a siren.
I remember buying hair combs for Aunt Leona, handkerchiefs for Daddy and our uncles, pretty handkerchief for Grandmother.
I remember the year we bought Mother a silver-coated serving plate at the jewelry store and learned years later that she had to pay the rest of the cost of the plate since we didnt have enough money.
I remember learning all the words to the Christmas carols at school in October and November so that we could sing them for the Christmas play.
I remember dressing in old sheets to play the shepherds and being jealous of the cute little girl who got to play Mary.
I remember singing O Holy Night and Silent Night and feeling my chest fill up with love for Jesus.
I remember the first Christmas after my son was born wishing I had a home church to go to for Christmas.
I remember the first Christmas after my daughter was born, when she was 6 weeks old, attending the Christmas program in which my 6-year-old son was a king, dressed in the dark blue velvet costume I had made him.
I remember all the years that we spent our shopping days practicing the Christmas cantata and program instead of going to Tulsa to shop in the mall.
Most of all, I think of the loved ones who are spending Christmas in heaven this year and I wonder what it must be like to see Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior face to face.