Holiday Treats

I wanted to do Amy’s memory #7, holiday treats, where we talk about the memories we have of treats during the holidays. Since we are sisters, it seems we have many of the same memories, so I’m going to write about more current memories of taking treats to our neighbors & friends.

I have few memories of treat taking or receiving from my childhood. I know my mom spent hours making treats, but to me, we just ate them: I don’t remember sharing them until I was in my late teens/early twenties. I can remember my mom making chocolates and taking them to our two neighbors, but I didn’t know the neighbors well, and it wasn’t a family activity, so these gifts didn’t make much of an impression. However, the year I spent at Virginia Tech, I remember vividly. I came home for a month between semesters, and since VT was nowhere near any big airports, I ended up flying into and out of Regan Airport in the heart of DC. When I flew back to school, my flight got in really late and I still had to wait many hours for a Greyhound bus that would take me to school. Luckily, I had made great friends with a girl named Lisa. Lisa had taken me home with her for Thanksgiving, and had a wonderful family. When I needed a ride from the airport to the Greyhound station, her dad John met my airplane, drove me all the way to their home in Fairfax for a yummy dinner of homemade soup, and then drove me back to DC to the Greyhound station. This was seriously the scariest and dirtiest place I’ve even been in, and John stayed with me until my bus left. I was so grateful to him for taking care of me like a daughter! I remember my mom had sent a tin of homemade fudge and caramels and all sorts of treats to thank Lisa’s family for keeping me at Thanksgiving and for taking care of me while I waited for my bus. I was so grateful to be able to give a little bit of my mom and home to them as a thank-you. Now I wish it had been more, but I’m glad we had done a little something to show her family our appreciation

Now, each year I do treat gifts to each of my closest neighbors. I look so forward to the night me, Shane, and the boys tromp out our door and visit them all. It feels so wonderful to give that little treat and thank them for being our neighbors & friends. It has helped us to get to know them so much better, and seems to bring them closer each year. I also look forward to the treats that we receive from them. They become little reminders of how blessed we are to live in such a great neighborhood.

Thanks, Amy, for this opportunity to remember these things that make our Christmases special.