Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, I dreamed that I was a princess.

I was 10 years old, and pink and purple were the colors that shimmered and shined for me.

I wanted a bedroom fit for a princess. I wanted pink walls and a full-sized white canopy bed with layers of purple ruffles, white nightstands with small lamps that were fitting, and a white fur rug to place my princess feet upon. This was a Christmas wish.

As the gifts started going under the tree, I would try to figure out which part of my princess room could fit into the box. The day arrived when a very large, but flat, gift appeared. Could it be my princess bed?

My parents asked me if I really thought a big canopy princess bed could fit into such a box. How could it? I knew they were right: No way a bed could fit into that box.

Why should Christmas come to our home when my one and only wish was not coming true?

Christmas morning came anyway. The house was full of soft and glowing lights from the tree and decorations, hot chocolate was in our cups, and beautiful Christmas music was playing throughout the house. Everything was beautiful, and we were all happy and dancing around, enjoying our Christmas Day.

I told my mom that it didn’t matter too much that I would not have a princess room, and that I still liked Christmas Day.

She smiled and winked at me. She told me that I have been a princess since the day I was born, and I didn’t need some silly bed to prove it.

We gathered around the tree, and I was instructed to open the first and largest gift. I opened an end and peeked inside. There was a picture of the most beautiful canopy bed I had ever seen. It was not just white, but trimmed in gold. I was so overwhelmed, I cried.

There was no way that a bed was inside. My parents had convinced me it could not be. The box was opened, and piece-by-piece, it came out to make my complete full-sized princess bed.

Not only that, I had a matching dresser, two bedside stands, white shimmering lamps, and layers upon layers of purple bedding, canopy and curtains.

Within a week, my beautiful pink and purple princess room was complete, right down to the white fur rug. I still remember the way it looked.

But the best present I received that Christmas was not that, it was the memory of those words my mother spoke.

– Carolyn Bennett

Carolyn Bennett joined The Laker/Lutz News in 2004. She is responsible for processing advertising copy for production, and ensures ads are scheduled and running correctly in the paper. She also is the paper’s customer service representative and sales assistant.

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Some of my favorite memories of Christmas are the parties that my mom’s company threw every year for children of struggling families.

My brothers and my sister and I were always eager for the annual event, which included lunch, a movie with popcorn, and a present from Santa. We would get dressed up for Christmas, and would be excited, never knowing what present we would receive.

We lived in Flint, Michigan, the hub of the automobile industry. My mom worked at General Motors and was bringing up four children on her own. She couldn’t afford big Christmas presents, and while we never went hungry, we sure ate a lot of hamburger casserole meals.

We loved mom’s company party. We hardly ever got to go to a movie, and if we did, we never got popcorn. Plus, the gifts were always things we enjoyed.

Those holiday parties made a real difference in my life, and to this day, they have inspired me to want to bring cheer to children who otherwise might not receive Christmas presents.

For years, my family and I have taken angels from our church’s tree to provide presents for one girl and one boy. It’s been our tradition for my two children to go with me to shop for these presents, because we wanted to be sure to select the perfect gifts.

I also wanted to teach my children to be aware that there are others who are less fortunate, and the importance of sharing with them. I want the children who receive presents from our family to have the same happy feelings that my mom’s company party gave to me.

– Terri Williamson

Terri Williamson is a senior account manager. She joined The Laker/Lutz News in 2003, and she establishes, maintains and strengthens relationships with local businesses and helps them with their marketing efforts.

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I have many wonderful Christmas memories, but two in particular stand out.

The first was when I was in college. My family had moved to Florida from Ohio a few years earlier, and when we went back to visit for the holidays, our family had grown too large for all of us to stay at my grandparents’ house.

My parents had this great idea and rented two cabins at Mohican State Park. They drove up early, and since we were only staying there a few days, my mom brought just a handful of small Christmas decorations to make the cabin look a little festive before the rest of the family arrived.

They didn’t have room to bring a tree, so my mom jokingly said that if we saw a tree lying in the road to bring it with us.

My sister, brother and I were driving up to the cabin, and sure enough, there was a beautiful blue spruce tree on the side of the road.

My mom couldn’t believe it.

We put the tree up and hung a few ornaments on its branches. It was such a simple tree, but it meant so much to all of us to have it for our Christmas celebration.

It was a cold winter that year, and the blanket of fresh snow on the ground outside the cabins was absolutely gorgeous.

I will never forget how beautiful it was for our family to be in those cabins in the middle of the woods, as if we had the whole place to ourselves.

There were no stores or restaurants nearby, just our family spending time together creating wonderful memories.

My other favorite Christmas memory is from when my daughter was little. My husband had this terrific idea of having a hayride from our house in Wesley Chapel.

It was a great way to bring lots of family and friends together the week before Christmas to just have some fun.

After we decorated the trailer with garland, the kids had an awesome time breaking the bales apart and spreading hay everywhere. Sometimes it seemed like there was more hay on our driveway than on the trailer, but it was great to see them have so much fun.

We wore Santa hats, rang our jingle bells, and sang Christmas carols while we rode the streets of our neighborhood.

Each year it got bigger, and we even had to add another trailer so everyone could ride. After the hayride, we had a big cookout, and to make it even more special, Santa arrived and handed out gifts to all the children.

It was such a huge success that we had it for several years.

It was a fantastic way to spread holiday cheer. It was intended for the children, but I am pretty sure that the adults had just as much fun.

I know I did.

– Mary Eberhard

Mary Eberhard joined The Laker/Lutz News in 2003. She is the accounting manager and handles invoicing, accounts payable and accounts receivable.

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Anyone remember Christmas Eve 1989 here in Tampa Bay?

My husband Gary and I were married for only two years, and it was the first year in our new home in Lutz.

It was crazy cold that year. As people switched on their electric heaters, plugged in their Christmas lights, and turned on their electric stoves, the resulting power shortage caused rolling blackouts.

The house would be full of light and warmth for about an hour, and then poof — everything was dark. There was no way to know how long we would be without light.

Typically the power would be out for an hour or two, but sometimes it would be out for three.

We were forced to sit and relax by candlelight, and we found ourselves engaged in pleasant conversation. We had no idea when we would receive the glorious gift of electrical power again.

When the power went back on, we would jump up and do as many tasks as we could that required electricity. I ran the vacuum, cranked up the heat, used multiple burners on the stove, and heated the big oven and the toaster oven at the same time.

We didn’t know how much time we had before cold darkness would return. Just as abruptly as lights went on, they’d go out again, and we’d be back in the darkness, fumbling around in a search for lighters, candles and flashlights.

While in the throes of it, it felt like the rolling blackouts during the holidays were a curse. Looking back, however, it’s easy to see that the loss of power was not a burden, but a gift.

It was a blessing to spend those interludes between our frantic bursts of activity savoring the company of each other.

– Suzanne Beauchaine

Suzanne Beauchaine is an account manager with The Laker/Lutz News, joining the paper in 2013. She seeks to listen to customers to ensure their advertising meets their marketing needs.

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