{"id":1203,"date":"2008-12-18T01:00:37","date_gmt":"2008-12-18T09:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.wordpress.com\/?p=2262"},"modified":"2008-12-18T01:00:37","modified_gmt":"2008-12-18T09:00:37","slug":"favorite-holiday-memory-theme-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/?p=1203","title":{"rendered":"Favorite Holiday Memory ~ Theme Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"

I thought I would have a hard time picking a favorite holiday memory for today’s Theme Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Christmas has always been my favorite time of year, but to pick just one favorite memory? That might be a bit of an impossible task for me.<\/p>\n

I thought that maybe I would write about Christmas Eve. I love the anticipation – the going to midnight mass, coming out after church to softly falling snow, putting out treats for Santa, snuggling into bed with both my brother and sister and waiting for Christmas morning to come.<\/p>\n

And then I thought maybe I would write about the very special Christmas Eve, when J. asked me to marry him – and the Christmas Eve nine years later when he asked me again – definitely ranks as two of the best Christmas gifts on the all-time list.<\/p>\n

But today I opened up my email and my Dad had found, and sent me, a copy of the letter<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. I had tried to write about this Christmas last year, but didn’t do a very good job of re-creating it. When I realized that the letter was attached, I knew there wouldn’t be a photo for today’s Theme Thursday. This memory takes a written form, and I don’t have a photo that captures it nearly as well as this.<\/p>\n

The letter that was under the tree on Christmas morning, 1992.
\n
\nTo All Non-Believers<\/em><\/p>\n

It has come to my attention that a number of you no longer believe
\nin me and the happiness that my efforts can produce.\u00a0 You have been
\nidentified as one who no longer wishes to enjoy the receiving part
\nof my efforts, and in so doing are denying me the pleasure of
\ngiving which is the reason I exist.<\/em><\/p>\n

I am therefore discontinuing my sharing with those who refuse to
\nexperience this truest example of Christmas’ meaning.\u00a0 But I will
\ntake this opportunity to remind you of the Spirit of the Season
\nthat you are forsaking.<\/em><\/p>\n

St. Nicholas and later Santa Claus visited homes at night,
\nespecially poor families, or those with children, to leave gifts.
\nThe purpose of the clandestine visits were to provide gifts to
\nsomeone without them knowing who left them.\u00a0 That way the recipient
\ncould not feel obligated to return the favor.\u00a0 It is much the same
\nway that God provided us with the gift of Eternal Life.\u00a0 He sent
\nHis Son to die for us, even before we knew who He was.\u00a0 Then the
\ngift was completely free without obligation, it is ours for the
\ntaking!<\/em><\/p>\n

Your belief in those Santa presents under the tree are intended to
\nsymbolize the same thing.\u00a0 If you simply accept them, and don’t
\nquestion where they came from, or who pays for them, then the
\npleasure is shared by the giver as well as the recipient.\u00a0 The gift
\ncan then be enjoyed without having to “match it” or return the
\nfavor.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you can agree with this reason for having Santa stay in our
\ncelebration, you can take part in this sharing opportunity by
\nlooking outside the door for gifts. (Just like St. Nicholas).\u00a0 If
\nyou still can’t see the advantage to believing in the need for
\nSanta, your gifts will be shared with someone else.<\/em><\/p>\n

Enjoy the rest of your day, and the time you have with each other.
\n\u2014Santa<\/em><\/p>\n

This piece of paper forever changed the way I look at Christmas.\u00a0 It was a very memorable Christmas indeed. I think of it often, and what a fantastic gift the letter was – back then and again now.<\/p>\n

I think it is just a good little reminder while we are all running around, crazed and trying to get things done.<\/p>\n

Enjoy the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I thought I would have a hard time picking a favorite holiday memory for today’s Theme Thursday. Christmas has always been my favorite time of year, but to pick just one favorite memory? That might be a bit of an … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,153],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-theme-thursday"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/psMOS-jp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/barelycontrolledchaos.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}