Christmas Memories by Theresa Stillwagon

Christmas Memories

Christmas is just around the corner, so I've decided to share some of my memories of Christmas. The season was always a joyful thing in my family, with lots of good food and cheer.



My fondest memory is eating. We had to place two tables together in our long, narrow living room for Christmas dinner. We needed both tables because I came (come) from a large, Catholic family--eleven total. Dad and Mom, Charlie, Paul, me, Mary, Ann, David, Rose, Bernadette, and Ruth in order of age. We were a pretty close family, even though we did have normal everyday fights. My mom would start cooking the turkey the night before and it'd be finished by one or two pm when we'd eat. And we always went to Christmas Mass, either at Midnight or in the morning. My dad would have to go to two different Masses every Sunday because all of us wouldn't fit into one car.

A decorated tree

If I remember correctly, Dad and my brothers would go out to the woods and chop down a Christmas tree after Thanksgiving. All of us would decorate it while listening to my dad play the guitar and my sister, Ann, the piano. She was good on it. On Christmas morning, we'd be up and ready early to open all those presents. The living room was a colorful mess by the time we tore all the wrapping away. I don't think my parents placed them under the tree until a few days before Christmas. We always got some nice presents.

A little help with gift wrapping

Mom would wrap them at night in her bedroom downstairs. She'd keep the door closed and chase us away if got too curious. She would also wrap them in the living room, late at night. I remember we used to sneak down the stairs and go down the hallway toward her room. She always knew we were there somehow, and chased us back to bed.

Now things are not that way anymore. My parents are both with the Lord and my brothers and sisters are spread all around the globe. The large old home were grew up with isn't a home anymore -- it's a dry cleaners. And the area isn't rural anymore. Two blocks away there's a grade school.


Thank the Lord, I still have my memories.

Hope everyone has a joyful and wonderful Christmas.


And a merry New Year.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Theresa Stillwagon engrossed in her work

Theresa Stillwagon has been writing most of her life. Since one of her teachers praised a poem she wrote for a class assignment, she’s been putting words together in the hopes of seeing them in print. Not caring if anyone other than herself ever read them. Her dream came to reality in 2008 when she signed her first writing contract. She’s now just signed her fourth one and isn’t looking back.

From Whispers Press

A former resident of the state of Ohio, Theresa now lives in her RV in the sunny city of Savannah, Georgia with her husband of twenty-seven years, Mike, and her two cats, Fred and Barney. She’s currently searching for a job while still hard at work on her next romance.

Readers can find her at http://theresastillwagon.webs.com/



Buy link for THE GIFT is http://www.whispershome.com/book_pages/the_gift.html

 

Another book, A BETRAYAL OF FRIENDSHIP, is available from Whispers Publishing at
http://whispershome.com/book_pages/a_betrayal_of_friendship.html



From The Wild Rose Press

 Theresa is also an author for The Wild Rose Press. The buy link for ONE AND THE SAME is http://thewildrosepress.com/theresa-stillwagon-m-527.html



Theresa has sold to a third publisher, Desert Breeze Publishing, for what she hopes will be the first of a trilogy.
Congratulations, Theresa, and thanks for being a guest here today.

 
Unabashed plug for my own books is that they are available from www.thewildrosepress.com/caroline-clemmons-m-638.html