by Tammy Waid McClellan

Did you wake up Christmas morning to find a wish granted? A white Christmas! This year we awoke to a beautiful blanket of white diamonds.

Waking up Christmas morning to a snow is such a magical experience. It’s like being a kid again and waiting for Santa Claus: wanting that most special gift and finding it tucked mysteriously under the Christmas tree.

It takes me back to when I was a child, and me or one of my sisters would get a new bike for Christmas and mom and dad let us ride it in the house. Another time my mom thought we had more gifts to open, and come to find out Santa had left them on the porch. We would be so excited with the anticipation of Santa Claus, we could hardly go to sleep on Christmas Eve. Sometimes we would get up as soon as Santa left (which was usually in the middle of the night) and open our gifts. I never remember my parents complaining or acting tired the next day. I only remember the smiles on their faces as they watched four little girls open all the Christmas packages.

I remember buying my parents gifts and being so excited about my purchase, I could hardly keep the secret until Christmas. Sometimes I had to tell of my purchase in advance. We had lots of homemade ornaments, and the most awesome Christmas trees in the world. You see our Christmas tree didn’t come in a box or pre-lit. We would go out in the woods and pick the greatest cedar tree we could find. One year I think we cut three trees for one season, they kept drying out because we put them up so early. You can’t recreate memories like that with an artificial tree.

When we had big snows like the one we saw this year, everyone in the neighborhood got together and went sledding. We used car hoods, intertubes, and anything else we could find. We even made ramps at the bottom of the hill to sled across. We would stay out what seemed like all day and mom had hot chocolate waiting for us when we came in. I remember once, my cousin and I doubled up on a sled, him in the front and me in the back, and we ran into an animal pen at the bottom of the hill and he got a bloody nose. Blood is not red until you mix it with 6-8 inches of the whitest snow around.

Did I get everything I wanted for Christmas? Yes, I most certainly did. A white Christmas and to share it with the most wonderful family in the world! Merry Christmas!

Tammy Waid McClellan