Blessing #4 - MEMORIES

Oh take me back to long ago

That I may see again,

Wondrous days of carefree play

That surely had no end.

And even though I'm happy

With the soul that I became,

I wonder why the Christmas pie

Will never taste the same.

- T. J. Mills -

Just like the Christmas decorations we store away in our attic, there are Christmas keepsakes stored away inside our hearts. They hold a great treasure - the blessing of MEMORIES.

Perhaps because we put these things away for most of the year, when we bring them out they flood our hearts with light the same way the decorations brighten our homes. When you placed certain decorations on your tree this year, or arranged the pieces in your nativity set, did you mind drift back to happy times and occasions? Did a wave of nostalgia warm your heart when you found yourself thinking about the person who gave you that particular decoration?

The memories of Christmas are many. My favorite childhood memory is of something my mother used to do for me. Santa would bring me a new doll each year, of course, but every Christmas eve my mother would slip into my room and collect my "old" dolls. She would clean them up, freshen the paint on their faces, fix their hair and dress them in new dresses. Christmas morning they would be lined up under the tree looking as pretty as the "new" toys that surrounded them. Mother sewed new doll clothes for me for as many Christmases of my childhood as I can remember. I wonder how she found time to do it!

I guess my MOST special Christmas memories are made up of my three children's laughter, excitement and joy in enjoying their own Christmases. Our son (the middle child and only boy) was always the most awash with holiday excitement of our three children. He could barely sleep on Christmas eve. Year after year, he would wake up when it was still dark outside, slip into the living room to see what Santa had brought, and then run into his sisters' room to wake them up and tell them what Santa had brought them. The girls still tease him about it today.

MEMORIES - they are the heart's treasure forever! What is your most special Christmas memory? Have you taken time to thank God for the blessing of that sweet recollection?