Even though Christmas is often associated with winter, it meant summer picnics for us (I lived in Australia). When I was a kid, my relatives would gather every year to have a picnic at Centennial Park on Christmas Day. We would just spend the whole day eating, riding bikes on the track, chatting, reading, climbing trees, play on the kids equipment... Then the following day was Boxing Day - which meant we get our presents. :)

Now that we've all grown up, we don't have picnics anymore. And it's a lot harder for everyone to gather since we all have our own things going on (especially now that I'm living in the US). But I'll always look back fondly on those times.

When I was a kid a different kind of fir tree was popular and easy to find, it dropped needles like a bitch, but the smell was amazing. I remember around Christmas time my nana would sing a song when my brother and I went to bed. I can't even remember it now, but she only sang it at Christmas. The lounge would be shut up all night, and when we came down in the morning the smell of pine was so strong and just beautiful. The lights on the tree would already be twinkling. It made Christmas seem so magical. I can still remember the smell of the pine, and am sad that trees that are less likely to drop their needles are popular now.

(I was torn between that story and the one of how my dad tells the story of my birth most years. He stopped a couple of years ago, and it breaks my heart.)

I don't have many happy xmas memories. Actually, my family is pretty much a mess. We are very disunited and have terrible fights pretty often. But I have spent some holidays with my friends and these were really worth to celebrate. ❤

I think one of my favorite memories of christmas was when I was younger, each year my family would go up to a christmas tree farm, hunt around fields for ages, and after /much/ deliberation finally pick out a tree... and then return in a month or two to cut and take home the tree.

But, the best part of all that was getting a cup of warm spiced apple cider that I could take home with me... but wouldn't be cool enough to drink until we were almost home. (about a 40 minute drive... )

When I went back to the states last year my parents told me the place we used to go to closed down a few years back :/

edit - no idea why the photo isn't showing up. here

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My favorite holiday memory is of my older brother (who is now deceased): It was the 24th, I don't remember how old I was exactly but I was still in kindergarten, and it was in the evening. Me and my younger brother were called down because we got a visitor- Santa. So we said hello (me being shy af) and after my brother had told him what he wanted for Christmas it was my turn, I sat on his lap (and I was still scared and suspicious bc there was a stranger at our house) but then I noticed his hand, and since he wasn't wearing gloves I saw the rings on his hand. Then I knew that it was my older brother and tried calling him out on it. Ofc he denied it and stuck with the Santa story and that he was form the North Pole. Then I went to pull off his beard but he must have noticed and kinda adjusted it. Then I felt much safer and kept asking if he's not brother then where was he? X'D

I know this might not sound like a overly happy-go-lucky memory but it makes me happy ;u; (and yes when I was older I asked my parents if the Santa was played by my brother and they confirmed it)

My favorite holiday memory...that's a tough one, haha. The first one that comes to mind is when I was 6 and my sister was 4. We had just moved half-way across the country after my father lost his job, and we had to move into his parents' home. Moving, of course, was stressful, but I loved being with my grandparents. That Christmas morning was pretty magical, and the decorations were awesome. At least, that's how I remember it, haha.

My favorite winter memory is when we had a blizzard here and subsequently lost power to our house. We had to go stay with my grandmother, who passed away a few years ago. She had a tiny two bedroom house and I remember being cramped there with siblings and parents, four of us crowding a bed. My grandmother was a very loving lady, always trying to feed us and asking how we were when we'd come to visit. There is nothing really significant about that memory, but I recall it so fondly. n_n

My favourite christmas memory is probably a picnic my sister, my mum and I went on one year, it was a beautiful day, perfect weather. I'm so used to travelling all over the state on christmas that this relaxed day was a relief.

This image here is WHY I refuse to buy a tree of any sort. I know what my evil monster jerks will do to it.

A memory... When I was younger, mom would wrap gifts and then keep them piled in her and dad's bedroom until Christmas Eve when they would be placed around the tree. Well one year, I was about 12 or so, I got the idea when they weren't home to go INTO the bedroom and slightly lift of the tape to MY gifts to see what I was going to get. Thinking I was being all sneaky like. Well Christmas Eve arrived and I happened to notice several gifts missing (based on the size of what I had peeked at). Finally I was like "Did all of the gifts make it out here?" Mom looked at me and goes "Well I think so unless someone has something they need to confess." BUSTED! Dad just started to laugh and goes "We had 4 before you (I was much younger compared to everyone else). Did you think we didn't know every trick in the book?"

Man I am going to miss them both this year. First holiday since both of them have passed. This is why me being a sneaky brat is a happy memory because now every one is special to me.

My favourite Christmas story is the time when Cathii (and others!) was holding the coolest event to help give to the people of Subeta because she is a giant all around cool woman and an uncontrollable sweetheart. ❤

I have really enjoyed reading these posts. Such touching, wonderful stories!

My... 'historical' happy story (because it happened in the past, as opposed to today) is really just vague memories of trudging through snow through no trails in particular, just full steam ahead!, in the bush to find THE Christmas tree for our family.

I just remember images of deep snowy paths, trees covered in glorious puffy snow, sunlight and open spaces between the trees, and the smell/feel of crisp yummy winter air.

Those were great memories because we were working towards one common goal collectively as a family. Something that happens, well, never anymore in my family as there is too much confrontation. So those memories, or at least as I liked to see them as a young'in are something my psyche has held onto dearly.

The outdoors is something my family has shared a lot of times together in. It makes me feel so good to be in nature. In fact... it is full of negative ions that create a feeling of well being in human beings in general. Look! ----> Ahh, breath that fresh air!

For Christmas today, we still all celebrate together, but I think this year I will invite my family to go for a trek out into the woods! I would never cut down a tree today... maybe just pick a special few to hug :D

One particular trek a few winters ago with my pups:

Winter is my favourite time of year! ❤

Thank you all for doing this ❤ and I really love to bring those memories up again (:

I think one of my favourite memories is from my childhood. When my sisters and I were still kids, we had a couple of days with a lot of snow each year. But every year when the first snow fell down, which was mostly late in the evening, the kids of the neighbours knocked on our door to ask if we wanted to play in the snow. Even when our parents did not want us to go outside when it is dark and wanted us to sleep at 9 PM, they made an exception for days with a lot of snow. They looked out the window seeing us play in the streets and in the meanwhile my dad made us hot chocolate milk for when we got back! :3

My favorite memories are of the joys and wonder on my children's faces on Christmas morning. Precious!

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I actually don't have very many holiday memories. I try to block the cold weather out of my memory! brrr I do remember as a kid at daycare (probably around 10 or 11 years old), we were allowed out in the woods that were part of the property. There was a fence, so we couldn't really go anywhere else. But we found a large patch of frozen water and pretended for an hour or so that it was an enormous frozen lake and we were all ice skaters.

All of the lights! {sparkle}

I watched the City putting up the lights in my neighborhood on Monday night and was pleasantly surprised the next morning to see how bright and vibrant they all looked!

I love the festive mood during December...can't beat it!

One of my favorite holiday memories was a few years ago. I got to celebrate the holidays with my closest friends. I've never really planned a holiday before then. I was able to celebrate Christmas with both my family and friends. We did Secret Santa and got to eat some smores and do some fondue. We also drove around and looked at houses decorated for Christmas.

Not sure why my comment posted 3x

Ignore! :)

Not sure why my comment posted 3x

Ignore! :)

Walken in a winter wonderland ;)

I'm making my favorite memory this year! It's my first christmas in my new home with my hubby <3

it's relaxing. My favorite Christmas memory is from when i was a child and my family was with me. Nothing special really but we had more than 5 people around the Christmas table, a tree and presents. It felt really like something special, something magical. I was waiting for Santa to place the gifts under the tree as in Europe Santa comes in the evening before Christmas morning and not the next day. After a few hours I couldn't wait anymore because I had to go to toilet. I ran as fast I only could to make sure i won't miss Santa. When I was back the pile of presents was placed under a tree and everyone was acting like they didn't even notice. I really thought it HAD to be magic, it was soo many, heavy gifts and nobody even noticed they appeared!

Now I'm lucky if I'm not alone for Christmas, not mentioning any dinners or traditions...