Christmas Memories Throwback

Let's do a little throwback to a few years ago when we had a few of our sales guys share a Christmas memory from their childhood. We came across the memory David highlighted and wanted to share it again today!

Okay, back to sharing one of my most vivid Christmas memories. I tried to think of the most elaborate Christmas, the best trip, or the year that I got the entire GI JOE collection, but none of those are as memorable as the one I want to share with you today...
Okay, back to my memory, I think I got a little side track setting the stage, I hope my intro wasn't too dramatic....
It was one of those years Dad didn't do as well as he had in the past - he was actually in between jobs during the holidays. We lived in the Northwest part of the country and my Dad took a job installing cable TV to try and make a little extra money. As a kid I just thought it was cool that I had a COX cable van parked in front of the house. My dad worked very hard to keep the family in a warm house and to put food on the table, but there wasn't much left for Christmas.
When I look back, I refer to this Christmas as our "Montana Christmas". My grandparents had a humble little cabin in Whitefish, Montana. It seemed to take all day to drive to the cabin, and needless to say, my two brothers, sister and I were not cheerful children by the time we arrived. The cabin was a one bedroom, with a little loft above the garage where the kids would sleep. (We would all run from one side of the loft to the other, at the same time, and we could actually feel the garage lean from side to side. I can only imagine what would have happened to our back-sides if Grandpa would have seen us in action.)
This one year in particular, my parents did a great job of taking our less than ideal financial situation and telling us we were going to have a “Back to Basics” Christmas. As kids, we complained about how boring it was going to be...you know, boring stuff like cutting down our own tree to decorate, building a fire each day to keep the cabin warm! We were told to make of the gifts we wanted to give to each other. Some of us drew pictures, others made things out of paper, and we tried to whittle things out of wood. There was only one rule: It all had to be handmade, by yourself. (I am sure the "Montana Christmas" is where I began my love for this industry and realized a handmade gift means so much more than a store bought one.)
love the story, thanks for this sharing, truly a throwback!!
ReplyDeletewhat a beautiful story and gift, loved reading, thank you for sharing!
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