Now that we are in the official 12 Days of Christmas, we are grateful that that warmth of the memories we shared last week brought joy to so many of you. Here are a few more trips down memory lane to take us into 2026!
Rosemary Lambert from Shelby writes:
When I was about 5 or 6, my dad was still out milking cows when I would wake up early and creep downstairs into our darkened living room, where the unlit Christmas tree and cardboard manger stood. Hanging on that tree was a little metal bell about 2 inches long, painted a shiny green on the outside. Mom was in the kitchen starting coffee under a bright fluorescent ceiling fixture, which cast a bit of light into the darkened living room.
The challenge was for me to sneak to the bell in the tree without her supposedly knowing I was there. She would play along and exclaim, "Who's ringing that bell?" Then I would jump up laughing and say, "It's me!"
It's one of those sweet memories of more cheerful family times that is all the more precious since in my later teen years we lost Mommie to cancer. Our adventures in that old farmhouse and the closeness our family shared will always live on in memory.
AnnaMae Bush of Pentwater recalls:
My mother grew up on a farm in Minnesota and left home at 19 for nursing school in New Jersey. She married there and raised her family of four children. Most of her family had remained in farming and rarely traveled far. Consequently, over 50 years, she could count on two hands the times she entertained her family members in her home, in New Jersey or in Holland, Michigan, where my parents moved in retirement.
But one Christmas was special. A nephew who was a pastor had taken a call to a church in Traverse City, Michigan, and moved there with his family that included three sons close in age to Mom’s grandchildren. Mom invited them to celebrate Christmas with our whole family in Holland. To make it memorable, my father rented a horse-drawn wagon for a family hayride. We had a great time tossing the straw at one another and visiting in the joy of the occasion. Combined with mom’s great food and a small gift exchange, it was a holiday memory to treasure.
Kevin VanDyke of Shelby shares:
When I was 5 or 6, so back in the early to mid-1960s, my grandmother, Gertrude Walters, would take my brothers and me to Hardy-Herpolsheimer's department store in Muskegon. They also had one in Grand Rapids, which was featured in "The Polar Express." I was amazed at the animatronic elves they had in the store windows busily working away. We got to ride on the escalator from the first floor to the second, and I remember Rudolph was in the basement of the store. We also got to visit with Santa, and right next to him was a chute, where you would push a button and a toy would slide down as a gift to you that day. I remember that my oldest brother received a large badge of some sort that year, and though I don't recall what I got, I remember the magic of it all.
