Whats your favorite holiday memory

one year when i was three years old, my grand father was so afraid to disappoint me so i was told by my mom that my grand father had to work on thanksgiving day and that we would have to wait until 5pm to have our thanksgiving dinner as this was the time when my grand father was scheduled to arrive home. well, my grand father need not have worried. not only was i so excited to have a real 5pm “american”  thanksgiving dinner with the rest of america but it also showed our love and respect for my grand father. now that he has been gone for many years, i think back to that time and i am so utterly grateful- on thanksgiving day, go figure!!!- that my parents and i could create that special memory and experience for not just ourselves but for my grand father as well. :heart: love you, nonno!!!:heart: happy thanksgiving to one and all!!! gobble, gobble…. oh, sigh… xoxo:heart:

Congratulations to our $500 shopping spree winner, @Jamie616!!!  Hope you have fun shopping with your prize!!!

my favorite holiday memory will be when I win that 500.00 prize, LOL quite generous Borghese family!  I was thrilled when a scratch off lottery ticket I gave my brother won 50.00!!! 

My favorite Christmas memory is of Christmas Eve when my younger brother and sister would want to sleep in my room because we were all so excited we couldn’t sleep.  When we got old enough to sort of figure out “Santa” but not quite sure, we used to try to peek under the door or open it just enough to hear what was going on in the house. 

The noise was my mom furiously wrapping gifts in the living room all night while my dad stood guard on us kids!  Every time we opened the door a crack to try to peek he’d know and tell us to go back to sleep.  We’d spend the whole night giggling and daring each other to open the door as quietly as possible to try and catch “Santa” in the act! 

My favorite is Thanksgiving Day.

I was raised in foster homes most of my life and I really didn’t understand what Thanksgiving Day should feel like.  I didn’t understand why the different families I lived with on & off made such a big deal out of eating.  I just knew what I was told & that was to be thankful for what God gave me?   So I went along with it but wondered what did God give me that I should be so grateful for on this day?

It wasn’t until I had my 3 wonderful children & a husband that loved me that I truly understood what Thanksgiving Day meant & why it should be celebrated.  Not just because the pilgrims & the Indians got together & ate turkey?  But, to really “thank God” for picking me up & carrying me through all those years when I didn’t even know He was there.  God finally put me down, brushed me off & gave me my “own” family.

I’m so grateful for what I finally have & I never think about what I didn’t have.  I finally understood what the “big deal” was on this day.  Getting family & friends together eating, maybe fighting (?), but most of all sharing their love for one another.  52 years later & I’m still giving thanks on this wonderful day!  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

My most favorable memory was in 1956, my sister was 6 and she was crying because someone told her there was no Santa. I told her if she believes with all her heart see may even see him.  She then said to me she would sleep on the couch, and I laughed and told her Santa comes when you’re fast asleep.  Well she said,  drying her eyes with her hand, I’ll  put out the cookies and milk he can be fast and ill be asleep. Well as she was lying there as always every Christmas Eve I read her the story. The Night Before Christmas and sure enough she fell asleep.  Mom and I finished wrapping the presents and had a few cookies and milk while we were waiting for my Dad to come home from work, he worked night shift on the docks.  We watched by the window so we would catch him so he would not wake her up. When we told him what happened he was a quiet as a mouse.  While she slept, we put all the presents under the tree.  It’s was around 12:30 a.m. when I heard her talking. I went in the room and she was sitting up and said you were right, Santa was here, I repeated what she said, she was so excited and holding a present.  She said Santa gave her that.  We opened it and there was a doll she had seen in a store when she was with me and no one else new about it but me.  Where ii came from no one knows, and to this day I still put up a tree I’m 74 now.  I lost my sister on my fiftieth birthday, and every time I sit by the tree I think of that night and how happy she was. So remember the song from one to ninety two Merry Christmas to All, and Believe with all your hearts and child was born that night and a little girl was made very happy.  Mom and Dad are gone too the mystery still in my heart.    Merry Christmas to All. He is the reason for the season.

Making struffoli during the holidays brings back wonderful childhood memories. It was a holiday tradition where the entire family was involved. From my mom rolling the dough, my brother and I cutting it into pieces while my dad fried them up. We topped these delicious treats with honey and sprinkles then brought it to Grandma’s house. I have enjoyed many of Perlier’s products and I love how wonderful it makes my skin feel. The honey scents are my favorite and for me, is reminiscent of the sweet honey balls and happy childhood memories I enjoyed with my family. Thank you Skip & Amanda for bringing a new family tradition into my home. I share Perlier with all my neighbors and friends as they make such great gifts. Congratulations on your 20 year anniversary with HSN. Buona Natale! 

I know everyone is talking about Christmas  but that isn’t my favorite holiday. Mine is Easter time. My grandmother would come for 2 weeks. When I was 10 years old she started teaching me how to cook. I was her favorite grandchild. She taught me how to cook holiday dinners  &  bake all the family’s favorite treats. I am the only person in the family who got to learn all the special receipts..She didn’t only teach me how to cook. She taught me how to take care of my body. At 10 years old she took me to the department store to learn how to take care of my skin. I have her to thank &  your products for my nice skin. She died 3 years ago at 101 years old. Thank you for having me remembering all those wonderful memories.

Happy Holidays

A few come to mind. One is sleeping with my step brothers in the hallway trying to catch “santa”. Only to fall asleep and my mom somehow sneaking ask the presents past us into the living room and setting them up so nice. Or the year me and my mom stayed at my nana’s and then having to leave on the middle of the night because she was in labor with my sister. I remember just waiting and waiting to hear back that my baby sister was born. (Yes she was born in Christmas day). Also, as I grew into an adult, any memory with my mom, especially surprising her with awesome gifts that she never expected. This year is going to be especially hard because it will be the first my sister and I (and her kids) will be without my mom. We lost her in January (she was only 55). This has been a hard year. But we are getting thru it one day at a time. Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

I am not sure that my Christmas memory could be stated as a FAVORITE memory, but it can be considered my most memorable Christmas holiday. If you’ve ever seen the movie “The Out of Towners”, then this holiday could be compared to that movie. I happen to be one of the blessed people with a Christmas birthday. Several days before Christmas of 2013, I developed a sore throat and mild hoarseness and promptly went to convenient care for a coctail shot and z-pack. I kept going as Christmas was near and I was very busy. My sore throat quickly turned into a bad cold and a mild case of pneumonia. My temperature escalated and doctors informed me that since I had taken antibiotics for the sore throat, that I could not take any more. I was stuck. Unbeknownst to me, I had picked up a stomach bug and after I ate one night that hit. So there I was, late on my Christmas shopping, and deathly ill with two illnesses. The next day was the Christmas party at my mother’s nursing home with gifts and Santa. I could not miss that. I managed to get my temperature down and I drug myself out of bed and went to the nursing home party. I was very glad that I did. I got to take pictures of my mother and my aunt, who came to visit. The next day was December 23rd and with no shopping completed, I had to wrap up, still ill, and shop. Christmas Eve, still ill, my father awakened to a severe pain in his abdomen and I had to rush him to the local community emergency room. It took the local hospital several hours to determine the problem, but when they did, it was a very serious issue where he needed emergency surgery, at 91 years young. On the way to a much larger hospital, three doctors called me on my cell phone urging me to hurry and stating the graveness of his condition. There I was, Christmas Eve in a hospital room waiting while he was in surgery not knowing if he would survive. I had my ipad and I began to read my bible in Luke, the Christmas Story. After a three hour surgery, my dad survived, and I spent the night with him. The next morning was a gloriously sunny morning, Christmas and my birthday. I had no nearby family and had not cooked, so what would I do on my birthday? Well, I left the hospital to come home and check on my mother in the nursing home. I spent the rest of my Christmas Day and birthday with her and came home for much needed shower and rest. New Year’s Eve, my father took a turn for the worse and he was placed in ICU. So there I was, on another holiday eve back in the hospital. My father survived and recouperated and rehabed in the same nursing home as my mother. He stayed a couple months and got to see her every day for extended periods of time and I recouperated from my illnesses. The reason I say it was the most memorable holiday is because the Christmas season of 2013 was not about tangible gifts. It was about the gift of God’s mercy and grace, the gift of life, and the gift of family. I was so glad that I made myself go to the nursing home for my mother’s Christmas party and take pictures as that was the last Christmas spent with her as she passed away in June of 2014. I was equally as glad that my Dad could stay in the nursing home with her a couple months as that would be the last meaningful time they would spend together after 56 years. My father is still alive and is 94 years young. When I visited my primary care physician a couple months after Christmas and explained my illnesses, he stated that I should have been hospitalized myself for a few days. I have had many wonderful Christmases as a child and adult, but this particular Christmas was not commercialized. It was definitely “the reason for the season”–hope, love, and faith. I have purchased Borghese products now for about 10 years. Throughout those holidays and still today, taking showers and baths in Perlier takes you away, helps you to forget your concerns, helps you to rest better, and conditions your skin, which I definitely needed that holiday season.

My favorite holiday memories are with my Mom,3 brothers and 3 sisters, we did not have much growing up. Our Dad left my Mom with seven kids and seven cents in her pocketbook. We went through rough and hard times from being homeless for several years meaning living in our station wagon and then on the back porch of my grand parents home. No matter what we endured my mom made every holiday for us kids the best she could, She kept us together as a family and taught her kids how to love and care for one another and always have faith. Every year right after Thanksgiving we would all start our Christmas wish list, my brothers always wished for BB guns, Bikes, Hot Wheels, and the normal boy stuff. The four girls had dreams and wishes for Barbies, Easy Bake Oven, Rock Tumblers, Boots,Games, and every year I would wish and pray to have Our Own Home again. Our wonderful church family helped my Mom so much with our wish lists every year and yes we moved into Our Own Home right before Christmas one year. We kids went wild with the decorations for our new home we had lights and tinsel everywhere, making most of our decorations was the best part and then to top it off getting a real Christmas tree was the best thing ever. I remember my Mom that glorious Christmas morning  watching us kids opening gifts with tears in her eyes and whispering to me ” I’ve been blessed with the best Christmas gift ever, my seven kids and Our New Home.” I miss my Mom everyday, and I know I’m the Wife and Mother of a seven year son (that we adopted)  today because of YOU MOM!!! Love and Miss You. XOXOX Thanks Skip and Amanda for letting everyone share their memories.. Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to your family from ***

**EDITED BY HSN:  Names removed to comply with Community Guidelines***

  Just about my most favorite Christmas memory would have to be the time I shopped for a certain gift for my mother. She had previously been at a dept. store and had seen a blouse that she really liked. She described it to me. I’m sure she did not buy it because of the cost. It was not outrageously expensive, but she was not in the habit of spending on herself. On Christmas Eve, I went to the store. Actually shopping on Christmas Eve (afternoon) felt special to me. I PRAYED that the blouse was still there. I described it to the clerk & she took me right to it. “Paisley ??!!” “…she doesn’t like paisly !”–but it had to be the one. I got it & had the store wrap it. I wanted Mom to open it away from all the hub-bub of the family get together. We were in her bedroom. She opened the box & just a small corner of the fabric was peeking out from the tissue paper. She screamed & laughed & kicked her legs as she rolled backwards on her bed. Her reaction was the best present I could have EVER gotten. She sewed a skirt just to make the outfit complete. It really was a lovely blouse & I feel sure she thought of me each time she wore it.  She has now passed, but I still have that blouse & I still get a kick evertime I see it. 

I was 5 and the youngest and it was 1974. Me and 3 brothers and my sister were opening Christmas presents. I was giving this big box and in the box their was another box and another and another it seemed to go on forever then their was newpaper a lot of it. In the newspaper their was a lot of toilet paper. Went on for ever and then a toilet paper roll and inside of the roll was. A pair of nail clippers and a tube of red lipstick and that’s what I asked for Christmas. I also got A lot of toys that day. But I wanted my own nail clippers and wanted red lipstick like my mom. With a house of 7 it was impossible to find anything. I loved painting my nails and wanted them perfect and loved to wear lipstick. I also asked for a motorcycle. I didn’t get that I was to little.

I think my favorite holiday memory has to be the year my daughter was 5 yrs old and it was just 2 or 3 days before Christmas. I had hidden all her presents in the trunk of my car, so she wouldn’t see them. Well, somehow she got up early in the morning and went out to the car and opened the trunk and saw all her presents. Luckily, she told her 11 yr old cousin, who told my Sister (her Mom) and she told me. That left me Christmas Eve to switch all the presents I had gotten her with my Mom and Sister’s presents. Then on Christmas morning she was very surprised that Santa nor I got her the things she thought she was going to get. I was so grateful for my wonderful family who came to my rescue and switched their presents with mine, so my daughter could still believe in Santa for quite a few more years. I was just amazed at how smart she was to get up so early and get my keys and sneak into the trunk to see the presents. She almost got away with it too. Thank goodness she told her cousin and I had time to fix things. Never underestimate the mind and willpower of a child. I will never forget that Christmas as long as I live.She has 3 children of her own now and we laugh about it together now. Especially, when they do something similar.

Connie