Favorite Christmas Memories

I was tagged by this meme by the incredibly talented Karen (check out her etsy store!) and pass it on to anyone who is interested. Yes, I have a complex about memes and telling other people to participate. Sorry, I'm weird like that. The challenge is this: List your favorite childhood Christmas gift, your favorite gift that you received as an adult, and a gift that you would like to receive in the future. The problem is, I really can't think of "favorite gifts." I've been racking my brain for days but am coming up blank. But then again, I'm one of those kinds of people who liked the "Box of Love" idea so obviously presents aren't that big of a deal to me.

I'll tell you my favorite Christmas memories instead.

I'm ten years old and wake up on Christmas morning feeling a bit groggy. Nevertheless, I stumble down to the tree with everyone else and sit on the couch, waiting to open presents. A few minutes later, I realize something terrible is about to happen and run behind the couch. Vomit ensues. My kind mother dashes to the kitchen and gets me a pot. I spend the rest of the morning running behind the couch to purge every few minutes between opening presents. And here's the kicker. I didn't realize that the family video camera was set up behind the couch and got a close up of each of my theatrics the entire morning. That pretty much ruined the family video for Christmas. Terrible when it happened, and freaking hilarious in hindsight.

My favorite Christmas memory as an adult: With nine kids, my poor mother can't be expected to keep all the gifts straight. At 21 years old, I received some awesome flannel Tweety bird p.j.s from "Santa" and instantly put them on. I even got a few photos taken of me posing in my sexy new p.j.s. I had an unreasonable amount of love for them, but love nonetheless. About 20 minutes later my mom looked at me funny. "Hollywood, those aren't for you." Apparently she had meant to give them to my youngest sister. I had to then take off my favorite Christmas present and give it to an apathetic teenager who would rather be caught dead than in Tweety Bird p.j.s. But hey, I also got a sweet pot holder that year. It eased the pain. No, actually it didn't.

And a memory of Christmas that I would like to have in the future:

I'm always the first one up on Christmas morning. I jump out of bed at the first light of dawn and run to all the bedrooms waking everyone up. But invariably, everyone growls at me and tries to go back to bed. For ONCE, on Christmas morning I want everyone to just get the heck up and be excited to open presents with me. None of this sleeping in till ten o'clock, showering, getting dressed, eating breakfast beforehand. It's like nobody even likes Christmas! Did you hear that loud and clear, family? This Christmas there will be no excuses. I want you downstairs at dawn, stinky breath and all.

So that's that. I did a meme. It only hurt a little bit but I'm pretty sure I did it wrong. Apologies where necessary.