So What Was the Best Part of YOUR Christmas?

Do you keep Christmas memories from year to year? I do. There was the one where our house burned down just days before Christmas. I remember being overwhelmed by the outpouring of love on our family by relatives, friends and strangers. I remember my first Christmas home after being away at college, and insisting we string popcorn and cranberries for our tree like I'd learned to do decorating the tree in the college lobby. There was that Christmas at my mum's when we were first married, when my husband and brother-in-law carried my gram over from her house. So like a little queen she was, her face glowed as they brought her into the livingroom. I also remember that last Christmas with Gram, as we gathered in her livingroom by her wheelchair, and she presented us with gifts she'd chosen from around her house.

Tonight another such memory has lodged itself in my heart forever. After the company had gone (and you didn't hear me say finally), I sat downstairs, finally getting my feet up, reading a book and listening to the CMT Christmas special on TV. Suddenly I heard something upstairs, music to my ears. My dear husband was tackling the pile of dishes in the sink. (No, we don't own a dishwasher!) I turned up the volume on the TV, then thought better of it and headed upstairs to express my gratitude to Mike. I saw the clean dishes piling up so I grabbed a towel and began to dry as he washed, and we just chatted together for a bit about the day. Tonight you couldn't give me a dishwasher. Nothing can compare to the joy of just doing dishes with the one I love. I told him, "This is the best part of my day," and he agreed.

So what about you? Any "keeper" memories made today? I hope so. Tuck them away in your heart and bring them out again next year. They'll never go out of style, like some decorations do, and they'll never wear out either.