Page 50 2024 Home For The Holidays Lincoln Daily News This was such a special time with each parent, secretly planning out our gifts for our parents and siblings and learning the gift of giving and appreciation. But in looking back now, it wasn’t about the town I picked, or the restaurant that we ate it, or the gifts that we bought……it was that special feeling of letting me orchestrate the evening knowing all along, that my sisters were going to experience the same feeling of gratitude for my parents and the power of true love. Angela Reiners When it comes to Christmas, one of my favorite parts is that we always have someone read the story of Jesus’ birth from Luke 1 before we open gifts. My favorite Christmas memory is the year when our family went to my aunt and uncle’s house in Northern Wisconsin for the holiday. It was snowy there and I recall doing some cross country skiing. My dad also cut down a big Christmas tree for their living room. Between the fun activities and the time with family, it was a very special Christmas. Nila Smith Like many others, I have a lot of Christmas memories, and I will readily admit that some are better than others, but that is part of the life we live. When I look at the best of the collection though, a lot of them revolve around family whether it be the huge family gatherings we had at grandma’s house when I was a kid, or the year that my sister (we were adults by the way) toppled the Christmas tree over on top of me while our husbands and my mom rolled on the fl oor cracking up over it, or the fi rst Christmas I had with my step-kids after Rich and I were married, they are all wonderfully warm and sometimes funny. That is why, one of my favorite memories involves my family, but it also involves a very good friend, Kathie Williams, and it didn’t happen on Christmas. It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Small Business Saturday, and our kids and grandkids were all visiting us! This in itself was quite a treat for Rich and me as the grandgirls are getting older and it is getting all that much harder for them to all come visit “grampa Rich and gramma” at the same time. We had spent the day downtown in Lincoln, walked through the trees, rode the carriage, visited almost every store and had been to Shop One Stop at the knights. Continued --
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzExODA=