A Sutton Family Christmas by Charley Sutton

Two weeks before Christmas, my parents would take us to Kmart. We weren’t looking to take advantage of blue light specials. We were heading to the Christmas tree lot. We would sort through the trees to find one around six foot tall. It had to have enough room between the top and the ceiling for the tree topper to fit. We’d find the perfect tree that was just the right height.

We’d get it home, and Dad would cut the twine that bundled it into a misshapen tube, cut a couple inches off the bottom of the trunk, and put it into the Christmas tree stand. The lights went on first, ornaments next, the topper, and finally the tinsel. Tinsel was a thin silver-colored plastic strip a little over a foot long. They could make the scrawniest Christmas tree look spectacular. The final step was plugging it in.

It was always beautiful no matter what. It meant two weeks off school, seeing family we didn’t get to see very often, and presents. Hopefully, all the doodling and circling of ads in the Christmas catalogs had paid off. You’d think that with a Christmas list of hundreds of things that getting only a few of them would be upsetting, but I don’t ever remember being disappointed on Christmas morning. I never looked at the list after Christmas to see what I didn’t get. I was grateful for the things I did.

The Christmas catalog was taken to grandpa’s house a couple days after Christmas to start fires in the potbelly stove. I listened to many of my grandpa’s stories next to a toasty potbelly stove whose daily fire started with my Christmas list.

I wouldn’t trade my Christmas memories for anything. I’ve heard the saying You can’t go home again dozens of times. What it really means is you can’t relive the childhood memories you had looking through an adult’s eyes. The wonder of a childhood Christmas is dwarfed by the adult realization of how much love your parents poured into making your Christmas special.

Thanks mom and dad from me and my sister. The memories you gave us were the greatest gift of all.

~*~

Charley Sutton, and is a maintenance technician from Peru, Indiana. He's been an avid reader for as long as he can remember. He's always aspired to write and has put pen to paper for almost as long. As he grows older, finding the time to write gets easier. Join him on his blog at  or find him on Facebook.