Christmas Memories - Living In A Winter Wonderland!

I think Christmas time will always be filtered through one’s experiences as a child. I was lucky enough to spend my childhood living in Colorado, where one of the most magical things was the existence of four seasons…four distinct seasons. In San Francisco it can be hard to tell what timeof year it is by the weather, and a change in season can be lost on sunshine or torrential rain.

It seemed that we were always prepped for Christmas by the weather well in advance with snow (this sometimes happened as early as Halloween) so it always “felt” likeChristmas was coming. It seemed that if it didn’t snow at least a little that Christmas wasn’t going to be as good. Besides thesnow, some of my most treasure memories of Christmas were:

An annual Christmas shopping trip with my Grandmother, where she would take me to the Brown Palace Hotel in downtown Denver for lunch,

Going to see the Nutcracker ballet each year with my Mother,

Buying a fresh Noble Fir from our local tree lot,

Seeing the Christmas lights in Denver’s Civic Center,

Helping to decorate and attending midnight mass at our church, St. Luke’s Episcopal,

And of course gifts!

The gift of a cowboy hat from my Godparents in Dallas, Texas.

Merry Christmas, and best wishes to you and yours!

David Hansen

Photos from top:

1) Pine tree photo from Apartment Therapy.

2) Brown Palace Hotel postcard from cardcow.com.

3) Nutcracker photo from The Denver Post web site.

4) Tree photo from GearPatrol.com.

5) Denver Civic Center from flickr.com.

6) Interior of St. Luke’s Church Denver, Co.

7) Statue of St. Michael from St. Luke’s church courtyard.

8) Vintage photo of the author.