Sharing holiday memories
Staff writer
Hillsboro residents regale and recall fond holiday memories.
“It’s called Dale’s now but it was called something else,” Levon Friesen of Hillsboro said. “I loved the store because there was a Christmas feel. You’d go way back to the corner and there were just boxes of candy. Nothing was packaged.
“It was just big boxes of candy with these shuck shovels, and you’d use those shovels to pack a little bag full. It was all so fresh. The feeling in that store just gave you a feeling of Christmas and the smell of those open boxes of candy was totally Christmas. My favorite gift was my bicycle from when I was 5 years old and it was green.”
Clayton Hodson also fondly remembers a bicycle.
“I remember when I was a kid, there were these chopper-style looking bicycles that were made by Schwinn,” he said. “I didn’t think I was going to get one because I didn’t think my mom could afford it, but somehow she figured it out and I got one for Christmas. I rode that thing all around town for years.”
Shawn Voth recalls family time.
“Going to grandma’s and spending time with all of my cousins on Christmas,” she recalled. “My grandma would make these popcorn balls fresh.”
Mary Lancaster also shared fond, family memories.
“I think just getting together with our immediate family,” she said when asked to recall her favorite Christmas memory. “My two sisters, we would get together and we would have Christmas and open gifts. My mom would make a feast to feed five-hundred people. We had more than enough.
“We would gather around the table and enjoy each other’s company. After everyone moved on and got married, they’d still come to my mom’s and dad’s house. And, of course, we’d go to Christmas Eve service.”
Christmas Morning is the special memory of Mariah LaPlante.
“My favorite Christmas memory,” she said, “is on regular Christmas day, we’d wake up at five in the morning, or at least I’d wake up my mom, at that time. We’d open presents just for me to play with the boxes that the presents came in.
“I had this huge Barbie kit one year and I just played with the box. I also had this really fat cat that would find his way up the Christmas tree every time and knock it over. I miss that cat a lot but now we have two who do the same thing the first one did.”
Tim Butler recalls a more spiritual experience.
“Just roaming down the town all lit up and experiencing the spirit of and celebrating Jesus,” he said.
Recollections of family dominate Mary Black’s memories.
“When grandma and grandpa were still around and we all got together and had Christmas dinner with all of our relatives all at once,” she recalled. “My dad used to go out and get little sprigs of evergreen trees and make this little Nativity scene for me. Every year he did that for me because I was the baby.”
Traditions of holiday cookies and games are important to Tamara Burns.
“Whenever the kids come home and we get to do the traditional making cookies together,” is her first favorite memory.
Her second is a new one, family Olympics.
“We did really fun games together, and now that is our new family tradition,” she said. “The two boys plan one year, and then the two girls plan another year. It’s all different games that we do indoors, and it’s a fun competition.”
Mother, Carissa Thiessen and daughter, Brooklyn Thiessen were asked about their memories.
“Picking out a live Christmas tree and cutting it down with my parents when I was little,” Carissa said.
Brooklyn’s memory is of her parent as well.
“My mom gets me a special ornament every year of something that we did that year,” she said.
For pastor Frank Johnson, it’s a special time.
“Drinking wassail while the family decorates the house.”