The Last of the Christmas Memories

Here are a couple last minute additions of Christmas memories and traditions:

Jen Bryant

As a kid, I remember going to Christmas eve service with my family each year.  As soon as we held those candles and sang "Silent Night," I knew it was "officially" Christmas.  I still don't feel quite like it's Christmas unless I get to hold a little candle with that paper circle on it and sign "Silent Night"!  After church, we'd return home where my sister and I would open our special Christmas Eve gift, which was always the same thing - matching Christmas pajamas!  I remember one year we got red flannel nightgowns with matching ruffled sleep caps - I felt just like one of those "children nestled all snug in their beds" from "The Night Before Christmas"!  My sister and I continue the matching Christmas pajama tradition with our children today - such fun!

 

Niki Carbajal

I grew up in a very small country community.  My father was lots of fun and loved creating memories for us.  One year, he decided to abandon driving to "town" to shop for a Christmas tree.  Instead, he thought we might pilfer from the neighboring pasture a small "natural-grown" cedar.  Who needs a store-bought tree anyway?  

He waited until well after our bedtime to load us in the truck.  He actually drove down the rock road with the headlights off as not to alert the farmer of our targeted pasture.  We trouped through the weeds and hay in our pj's and winter coats, climbed between the barbed wire fence, and dodged the cow patties.  All for the perfect cedar tree.  

One flashlight helped illuminate the perfect choice.  My dad, not wanting to wake the farmer, couldn't use a chain saw.  So he began to saw away as we stood shivering and trying not to complain about being scared or embarrassed that we were "stealing" a tree from our neighbor.  All the noise we made alerted a not-so-happy bull.  As my dad made the last cut, the tree fell and the bull CHARGED.  We ran for our lives (or so we thought)!  And dad hung on to that tree with all his might all the while yelling "Run for it!  Run for the truck!  Don't look back!  Who cares about the cow patties!  Run!!!!".  Run we did.  With our tree intact, we raced home giggling and breathless.  

Boy, was that neighbor surprised the next day to find a HUGE tree stump where once stood a cedar BUSH (not a tree).  It was beautiful to us.

 

Merry Christmas sweet women of Frisco Bible Church.  I can't wait to hear how God has touched you over this blessed season.

 

See you in 2012,

Niki Carbajal  

More Christmas Memories

Here are a few more Christmas memories from the women of FBC.  Hope you enjoy them!


Julie Burns

One of my favorite Christmas memories as a kid is baking cookies for days and days, for the Christmas caroling party that we had at our house each year. We had so much fun making dozens and dozens of all kinds of cookies and decorating them. And of course we could not forget the "forgotten cookies" you had to make the night before. Mix them up, put them in the oven, and then turn the oven off and leave them their til morning. So yummy!
Then we would all go Christmas caroling (unheard of in France) in our neighborhood and invite all of the neighbors back for the party. The first couple of years they were always shocked and amazed to be invited into our home for homemade goodies. In France, you only go into some one's home if you know them REALLY well. There was something about the Christmas carols though that broke down the barriers and people would let down their reserve to come and join their neighbors for some fun cookies and apple cider. Now it is a tradition in my parents neighborhood and everyone always asks them when they are going to do it so they can make sure they are home. They have also started contributing to the goodies and we have seen a softening of their hearts toward the Gospel. I sometimes wonder how far off we are in this country to that scenario. It would have been almost unheard of 20 years ago... Do we know our neighbors? Do we have a heart for their Salvation? Would they come to our house for a Christmas gathering? What are some creative ways we can share the message of Jesus, with others this Christmas season? After all, isn't that what it really is all about? The cookies are just an extra added bonus!

Teresa Varela

When I was 5 years old my family lived in Alaska because my dad was in the Army. I remember waking up Christmas morning on the top of my bunk bed I shared with my sister and hanging off the end of my top bed post was a cloth sack with 3 pockets in it.. Inside each pocket was a bear... a mama bear, a daddy bear and a little bitty baby bear... That's right it was the 3 bears... After I played with it for a short while I climbed down from my bunked and crept downstairs.. I only reached the half way point when I looked down into my living room and saw our white aluminum tree all lit up with the room drowning in wrapped and unwrapped gifts from Santa... It was like looking into a Christmas toy store... I always remembered that Christmas morning.....

Years later my mom asked me this same question... I relayed to her my memory of this fantastic Christmas... When she started laughing I couldn't understand. She explained to me that I was only 5 years old and to a 5 year old everything seems larger than life... especially Santa and Christmas morning.. I said that I clearly remembered it right and she reminded me that my father was in the Army... He would never have been able to afford a room full of toys like the one I described, and that it was my imagination that made everything seem like so much..

Rose Wilms

My early childhood in the Philippines, By Dec. 18th, we start Christmas Caroling until Christmas Eve, house to house, we would go and sing in every one's front door, people usually gave us money, bake goods, fruits and what not, all the stuff we collected we bring to church and it is distributed to families who are under privilege. Then it's a must that we go to "Noche Buena" midnight church service. On Christmas day, we always had our own stockings hanging and we get to open it, then we visit all our godfathers and godmothers and they always have gifts for us. 

Random Fruitcake Facts:

• Fruitcakes were buried with the dead in Ancient Egypt.  It's true. Ancient Egyptians used to fill the tombs of the dead with all the supplies that they would need to enjoy the afterlife, including food and water. Fruitcake was often put into the tomb of a deceased person because a fruitcake soaked in a natural preservative like alcohol or fruit juice would last a long time. It was thought that the preserved fruitcake would not spoil on the journey to the afterlife.
• Fruitcakes will last for years without spoiling. It's true. A fruitcake that is properly preserved with an alcohol soaked cheesecloth that is then wrapped in plastic wrap or foil can be kept unrefrigerated for years without spoiling.
• In the early 18th century, fruit cake, then known as plum cake, was outlawed in Europe for being sinfully rich.

We would love to read about your special memory or tradition surrounding Christ's birth.  Send an email to mcarbi@hotmail.com.


Merry Christmas,
Niki 

Christmas Memories

Over the next several weeks, we'll be sharing special Christmas memories.  Take a moment to enjoy getting to know the women of Frisco Bible Church. 

Toni Hahn

Every Christmas Eve we would get to open one present ..picked by my mom of course...i was the oldest of 5, so i always helped the little ones open theirs...even though we knew it was going to be our new pajamas for the year, we were still happy and surprised...and of course had to wear them for our starring role in the Big Super 8 movie camera production with the bright lights in your eyes taken by my Dad!! EVERY year without fail , it was a tradition , and now i watch those movies and can't believe how fast time has gone by.

Chris Goller

21 Christmas Eves ago my boyfriend gave me a toaster oven and I laughed. As I was opening that box he was opening another box...a ring box with the most beautiful engagement ring and the question that changed the course of our lives

Summer Sipes

When I was little, we would always go the day after Thanksgiving to cut down our tree! In Virginia, it was cold, sometimes raining, but we rotated who got to pick the tree! This is a tradition that Andy and I still do with our boys, rain or shine, day after Thanksgiving, we drive out to the Christmas Tree farm and do the hayride, hot cider, etc! My favorite modern day tradition is Christmas morning, when the boys come down, we read the Luke 2 and act it out with our little people nativity:) It is special to us that we start out the day with our Savior!! (and the boys look forward to it!)

Traditions are such a special part of our lives.  Do you have a meaningful moment you can share with us?  Email your thoughts to: mcarbi@hotmail.com.

Random and useless Christmas facts:

1. President Teddy Roosevelt, an environmentalist, banned Christmas trees from the White House in 1912
2. Mistletoe (Viscum album) is from the Anglo-Saxon word misteltan, which means “little dung twig” because the plant spreads though bird droppings (Uh, GROSS!).
3. In Poland, spiders or spider webs are common Christmas trees decorations because according to legend, a spider wove a blanket for Baby Jesus. In fact, Polish people consider spiders to be symbols of goodness and prosperity at Christmas.
4. The Germans made the first artificial Christmas trees out of dyed goose feathers
5. According to the Guinness world records, the tallest Christmas tree ever cut was a 221-foot Douglas fir that was displayed in 1950 at the Northgate Shopping Center in Seattle, Washington

Fact sources: http://facts.randomhistory.com/christmas-facts.html

Merry Christmas!
Niki