My favorite Christmas as a child

Well we all have that one great childhood Christmas. Mine was the year after my grandfather passed away.

My mom was a single mom with 2 jobs and no money. We lived with my grandmother, trying to take care of her in her grief. When my grandfather was alive she always made homemade chicken and noodles for Christmas eve. She would roll out the noodles lovingly and I would watch in amazement as my gram made the best meal of the entire year.

The year after he died, gram didn't want to make noodles or anything else. My mom having no money for gifts decided we were going to build our own bikes!!! We went from garage sale to garage sale, the auction, junk part places, until finally we had everything we would need. We then had to sand the bikes down, paint everything clean all the chains, and the spokes, removing all the rust. My mom, brother and I worked for weeks on those bikes in my moms spare time. While working 2 jobs and caring for gram, mom was stretched pretty thin. Well Christmas rolled around and I asked what we were going to have for dinner. Gram just sat there at the table,, chain smoking, looking sad. So my mom and I decided the next day Christmas Eve, we would attempt to make homemade chicken and noodles. Well needless to say there was flour all over the kitchen, my brother was squealing in laughter and my grandma cracked a smile!!

She then shooed us away and took over the monumental task of making our Christmas Eve dinner. The next morning, my mom wheeled in our finished bikes with baskets and name plates (something we didn't know about), and my grandma bought us each a new outfit including cute socks. I also got a pair of roller skates!!!

To this day I remember the Christmas my grandma came back to us. That was in 1981!! She is alive and kicking today at the age of 80. And yes she can still make a mean chicken and noodles.

Merry Christmas to you and your families, and may God bless you every day.