Favorite Christmas memory

[sambo73]

Mine would be this yr when people i dont know other than on a hunting forum helped make Christmas for my kiddos. My goal is to do same thing for someone else next yr. Merry CHRISTmas tbh

[Easyrider]

Mine would be BEAR hunting with my Dad and Uncle in Maine back when I was
10 yrs old..MAN, that was fun..

[sambo73]

Anybody else?

[Mayhem]

1989, me and my brothers got remington 870's for christmas. man that was awesome.

[Texasredneck]

Too many to name, but the best....the year my kids were born.

[sambo73]

Good memories so far guys

[hosskix]

I'm no big philanthropist and I'm not telling this to make myself look good, it's just one of those moments that stand out for me as a child and make me think about Christmas and what it really means...

In the 70's / early 80's, we had huge Christmas's at my Grandma's house.
My mother had 6 brothers and sisters and most of them had 4-6 kids apiece, so I had LOTS of cousins running around!
My Grandmother had cancer and had fought it for many years, so the family always got together for Christmas because you never knew when it would be her last...
Anyway, we always had huge gatherings in Grandma's little bitty house and exchanged our meager little presents with everyone, didn't matter if it was some candy or what-not, everybody got something from what I can remember.

My Mom and Dad had better jobs than most of my aunts and uncles, so I always knew that I'd get the "good stuff" when I got home or the next morning when Santa brought it.
Well, one year, my cousin brought her kids over on Christmas day, her kids were about the same age as my brother and me; the big thing that year was getting a "boom-box".
My cousin's daughter, who was about my age, brought her's in to show me and asked what I'd got.
Well, I'd gotten a brand new stereo, and hers was a used one that my cousin had probably picked up at a pawn shop or bought from a friend.
For some reason, I didn't want to show her mine, but she insisted.
I got it out and spent the next hour or so pointing out things on her's that mine didn't have and making her play my new cassettes as well as her used ones, on her stereo to show her how much better her's sounded.

I didn't really think about it, but I wanted her to feel as proud of her gift as I did of mine...almost to the point of being ashamed of what I had that she didn't.

It was really that year that it all came together for me, it's not what you get as a gift, it is the spirit in which it was given.
Ever since then, it really doesn't matter what I get.
It's the fact that someone thought enough of me to give me SOMETHING that counts.

I have a poker face or at least one of those countenances where I don't show much emotion and it really pains me that I don't show the pure joy I feel when someone gives me a gift.
The truth is, I'm tearing up inside and only show the stoic face to keep from getting all emotional.
Cause a man ain't suppose to do that...right??

Hope y'all have a very Merry Christmas, and don't forget to show those you love that you DO love them, even if you can't show them that their gift means the world to you...

[hosskix]

Dang.
I didn't mean to kill a really good thread..
My second favorite memory is when my wife bought me a new Henry 22 rifle, we made love under the tree and gave her Grandson all his new presents on the next morning!!!
(Is that better? Let's all share now!!)

[Cam-Mac]

^ I'm supposed to follow THAT?!!! Lol...
I dont have one that good! When i was 10, my dad (who didnt hunt but knew i loved to) bought me a breakover .410. I shot lots of birds with that little gun. When i was 12 my dad bought me a Winchester 1300 12 gauge. I thought i was the greatest pheasant hunter to ever live for several years, lol. Killed more ducks & geese with that gun than i ever have with the benelli.

Just always meant a lot to me because i knew he didnt like to hunt, but he did his best to make it possible for me to get to do it. That old winchester is a safe queen now, lol...

[brianlg31]

One year our parents gave my sister and I a pair of bottle baby lambs. Yes Lambs, in a cage under the tree. Still not sure why, but the next year we were old enough to show in the County Fair and started raising lambs for the fair. That grew into me raising, while in High School, club lambs. We didn't have much, and I had to learn to shear my own, which soon lead to me shearing every sheep in the County. Made good high school living as a result of those two bottle baby lambs.

Brian