What special memories do the holidays hold for you?  Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas or Festivus you can probably right a book about your memories around the holidays.

I can remember growing up that my sister Sandy and I would love to snoop at our presents ahead of time.  She was super sly at undoing the tape without any trace.  I, on the other hand would invariably tear the paper or not able to get the item back into the paper wrapping.  One year in particular our mom told us that if she caught us snooping she would get rid of all of our presents.  Even that wasn’t enough to deter us from our annual snoopage.  When we received the package from our grandparents in Pennsylvania we carefully opened up our gifts.  I can’t remember now if it was a bracelet or a necklace, but we both opened it quietly and oohed and awed over what we would be receiving that year.  Well, when it was Christmas morning and I opened my gift I realized that my sister switched the tags since she liked my gift better.  When I started to protest that this wasn’t my present my mom began to question me, I immediately got quiet knowing that I couldn’t tell that my sister pulled one over on me.  So that Christmas I got over snooping through the presents because I knew that if she liked my gift better it would become her gift…oh that sister of mine!

So let me encourage you to transport yourself through the memories of time and remember back to earlier memories, maybe from your childhood or later memories.  Write what you remember, feel the feelings and look for those pictures that will help you trigger some of those memories.