Your Best Holiday Moment With Your Spouse/loved One

[singledad2]

I know this is one of those times of year that are the toughest for most of us. I wanted to try to start a thread that would help us to recall happier times.

My best holiday moment was our first Christmas together when my wife and her kids joined me and my two kids and we crammed our new family into my home to be one family. Although the kids surely don't look back fondly on having to share a room with their sibling, Julie and I knew that we had each found that special someone that we were meant to enjoy forever. I remember snuggling by the fire at night and looking into her eyes and knowing that it simply couldn't get any better than that! It's like Santa Claus was real and sent me the best gift I could have ever hoped for! In kid terms, Julie was my 'red rider BB gun, rockem' sockem' robots, electric racecar track, my first guitar, and all of my other 'best gifts ever'---all rolled up into the most wonderful person I could have ever have hoped for. Though I still get down and feel sorry for myself way too often, I recognize how truly lucky I am to have spent over 7 years with one of God's most beautiful creations.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

SD2

[kath]

What a great topic, SD2!

The first thing that came to mind was the year my daughter was born. We came home from the hospital Christmas Eve morning. Then hormones kicked in and I cried all the way to my sister's house so I guess that couldn't have been my best moment!

Then I remembered our first year together. Bob wanted to make a cake to bring to my family's celebration. Mind you, he was not a chef of any sort. Together we could barely make grilled cheese. But he found this recipe in the paper and made this beautiful cake and decorated it with cherries to look like a tree. My grandma fell in love with him! He got so many compliments that night and it was the sweetest thing. Grandma knew best, and yes, he was a keeper!

[MikeC]

For me it would be Christmas, 2005. Janet was diagnosed with late stage ovarian cancer in June of that year and the outlook was grim. I feared I would lose her in a matter of months. If the cancer is not widespread the usual treatment is debulking surgery followed by 6 rounds of chemo. Since Janet's cancer had spread throughout much of her abdomen, the doctor recommended that she have 3 rounds of chemo, then debulking surgery, followed by 3 more rounds of chemo. By Christmas Janet had responded amazingly well to the treatment – the chemo had shrunk the tumors to the point that many had disappeared and the remaining masses were signficantly smaller. She had had the debulking surgery, which was termed “optimal”, and had started the last 3 chemo treatments.

Janet had absolutely no hair, but she was never more full of life, her eyes had never sparkled any brighter, and her smile filled my heart with joy. Simply put, she was beautiful. We were so thankful and hopeful – it was a very special Christmas.

Mike

[Rosemary T]

Thanks for the topic. All of my Christmases with Lou were great ones but if I had to pick a "best" it would be the first one. 6th months earlier I had moved into his apartment with him and was doing my best to make the place festive. We had just found two kittens that had been dumped and since I already had brought my dog into the picture (I told Lou she was part of the deal!) I just knew I had to find a home for those kittens.

One day when I was calling the local humane society Lou began questioning me. It was a few days before Christmas and he wanted to know....what would happen to these kittens (who had now been in the house for only 24 hours)? I told him I hoped someone would adopt them but there really was no telling. "You mean they will be separated? Brothers and sisters belong together! We better keep them!" Now mind you, this was a man not used to having any animals in the house and he now had a new "girl", a small dog, and two new kittens, all in this one 2 bedroom apartment.

So, together we went and bought all the things kittens need and had the vet check them out as well. The dog (who was quite used to cats) took this all in stride. Then Lou helped me get a beautiful blue spruce to decorate. While I baked and cooked he tried in vain to keep the kittens out of the tree. They climbed it several times a day, knocking ornaments to the carpet!

Christmas Eve night, Lou told me why he had not really made any plans for Christmas and was just going along with whatever I wanted. When he was 4 years old, his mother died of breast cancer on Christmas day. He remembered them bringing a wagon and taking her body up the hill. He sat in the back with the body. He and his brother were split up and sent to live with different family members. It was the saddest day for that little 4 year old boy.

How I looked up to that man. Now I understood his reluctance to separate the kittens. I marveled at his willingness to decorate the tree and help me wrap gifts for the cats and dog! We snuggled on the couch, watched those old corny movies (Charlie Brown and Its a Wonderful Life) and ate some of the baked goods I had worked on. We fell asleep holding hands. Not the most exciting Christmas we had together but the BEST since I was betting there would be many more and I felt blessed with the greatest gift I could ever get for Christmas.......My Lou!

[kayc]

I will never forget this Christmas...my son was building a computer for my daughter for Christmas and George and I were going to pay for the parts, and it was supposed to be a surprise. My son had a computer business he operated from our home and as such, it was common to use a tower to rest our coffee cup on or trip over a power supply or see him watching t.v. while downloading windows...we had computer parts everywhere. My daughter's favorite color was purple and he found a tower that color and started building her computer. She came home to help decorate the Christmas tree and...oops!...he still had the computer sitting out in the front room, where he'd been working on it. Normally she wouldn't notice, but with it being purple, we thought, "oh-oh!" Just as her eyes caught sight of the tower, the Christmas tree started falling over and her and my son and George rushed to catch it. It distracted her, and George tied the top of the tree to the wall with fishing line. I quietly moved the computer away and the unplanned distraction worked. She was very surprised on Christmas Day and we caught it all on video. I still have a picture of George and I sitting on the love seat, holding hands, like some smiling old couple, just contented and happy and so in love. My kids will never forget that Christmas either, it stands out in our minds...