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.
See this story in print: Click Here
