Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Library Staff Shares Holiday Memories

A Snowy Christmas

by Megan Treseder

I come from Vancouver, Washington, and though everyone thinks otherwise, we don’t get a lot of snow there.  One Christmas, though, it started snowing and didn’t stop.  Our car couldn’t make it out of the driveway, so we were snowbound for several days.  I loved it.  We spent time watching the snow come down, playing games, and cooking.  My brothers and I are spread out across the country now, so I treasure the time we’re able to spend together.  It’s one of the happiest Christmases I can remember.

Megan recommends:

My father reads excerpts from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens every year, and I think it truly captures the spirit of the holiday.  It reminds us to be grateful for second chances and generous with what we have been given.

Peace on Earth

by Kerry McGeath

My family attended the midnight service on Christmas Eve at our church in downtown Indianapolis in 1968. Afterwards we stopped at a tiny café named Dobb’s House – a little place with lots of character.  A heavy wet snow was falling, muting all the sounds as a thick snow will do. The streets were empty and for just one fleeting moment, with a child’s eyes, I thought there really was peace on earth.

Adults know that the world does carry on and 1968 was a fateful year. My third grade teacher was an honorable man, full of life, who genuinely cared about his students. He chose to serve in Vietnam as a Marine and was killed in action days after Christmas. I was devastated – how could such a fine young man be no more?  He was sensitive and caring and went into harms way out of his sense of honor and paid the ultimate price. I refuse to forget this man who taught me through his memory that a man has to be caring and feel no matter how difficult it may be. Christmas changed for me that year, when my child’s eyes were taken forever.

Kerry recommends:

I love Handel’s Messiah. Our church performed

a beautiful rendition each year.

The Gift of a Sister

by Maria Cameron

There was snow on the ground the year we celebrated the holidays in Madras, Oregon.   I would have been five and my sister, Sue, only three. Our visiting grandparents occupied our room, so Mom made up cots in an unfinished part of the upstairs.  We didn’t always get along, but that night we were very happy and comfortable in our cozy room.  Our best gifts were matching dolls; each came with its own suitcase of clothes. Christmas night I felt even more sisterly companionship with Sue as we settled into our comfy space with our new dolls.  BFF!

Maria Recomends

Favorite Holiday Book… I really enjoyed the Christmas celebration in Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Across the Sea

by Elizabeth Beamon

My favorite holiday memory was on December 26th, 1973 when I flew from Dallas to Frankfurt, Germany. I had worked all summer to earn enough money to buy a ticket and go see my boyfriend, Jamie, who was stationed there. When I arrived, he took me on a whirlwind tour of Munich, Germany and Saltzberg, Austria. We were in the Austrian Alps for 4 days and I still have the champagne glasses etched with Edelweiss from that dream holiday.

Elizabeth Recommends

My favorite Christmas movie is: A Charlie Brown Christmas

Baking Together

by Jean Malone

A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote is a story that has stayed with me for the decades since I first read it.  Perhaps it was that his tale of baking Christmas fruitcakes with his older ‘friend’, Sook, reminded me of baking with my grandmother.  The story evokes nostalgia for a simpler time – with scratch baked treats and homemade gifts.

It was published with two other sentimental holiday tales, but A Christmas Memory is the best of the three.

An English Holiday

by Nicola Jesse

In my family we always serve the traditional English Christmas Pudding aflame and with holly on the top. We also enjoy fruitcake and have English party crackers (the popping ones with the toy surprises, not to eat).

My wish :

“God bless us, every one!”

Nicola Recommends

A Christmas Carol, The 1951 version with Alastair Sim.  It embodies my Christmas memories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An image of a family bowling and dining

Photo of a solar eclipse