My Top Five Christmas's EVER (Frances Louis)

After reading the previous postings, I thought I'd take a lighter approach and share my top five favorite Christmas memories. Being the romantic that I am, they are all rather sentimental and a tad 'gushy', but that's what makes them worth sharing.



5. Christmas '87: After making many (and I do mean MANY) promises to Santa to be on my best behavior until the ends of time should he deliver a sweet baby sister to our house, my family was blessed with the arrival of a new little girl a month prior to the holiday--which made for a pretty fabulous Christmas. I even delivered on the 'being good' part--for a week, anyway.



4. Christmas '92: Even though my mother did her best to hide one of the best gifts I have ever received, she could not thwart my eighth grade intuitiveness and extra sneaky hands. I found the gift a month before the holiday, but that didn't lessen the surprise. That fated Christmas I received a wooden black piccolo--and was the envy of the school band's flute section.



3. Christmas '95: No gift is ever as sweet as the first time you hear those special 'three little words' uttered--even if they are over the phone. My then boyfriend (who is now my husband--what can I say? I fell hard for the guy) gave his declaration of love---and made the Christmas of '95 the sweetest one ever.



2. Christmas '97: It took a few years (and a high school graduation to boot), but my boyfriend delivered and gave me his grandmother's diamond set in a beautiful gold band that currently resides on my left ring finger. He even got down on one knee--BEST CHRISTMAS EVER.



1. Now, I could go on and on about the Christmas's since '97 and give them all a rank on this list. The first time each of my three boys celebrated the holiday, each time our family shares the festivities with our exchange students, or the first time my husband and I enjoyed our first Christmas together all rate high, but this year, yes, the Christmas of '10 was extra special.



This year our family gathered around one strategically placed web cam and watched the birth of our future puppy--four states away. My boys (including the big one that I'm married to) were glued to the computer screen for a majority of the day--watching the large litter of pups (a whopping ten!) and bonding with their soon-to-be best friend. It is a memory I will treasure for many more Christmases to come.



Who knows what the Christmas of 2011 will bring, but until that time, I'm content with the ones I've been given...and I hope that you are as well. Many Christmas blessings and warm holiday wishes to all of you!