Last month, our youth blog held a comment contest. We shared our Thanksgiving traditions and asked you to share yours. Now it’s Un-Shushed’s turn!

The theme this time is “winter memories.” After you read some of our favorite winter memories, share yours in a comment below, and you could win an FPL book bag, as well as some other FPL goodies. We’ll pick one commenter at random to win the prize. Maybe it’ll be you! Leave us a comment by next Thursday and we’ll see!

So, without further ado, here are some of FPL’s favorite winter memories:

When I was a kid, Christmas was a pajama day. The rest of the year, everyone had to be up and dressed for the day to begin, but on Christmas morning, we woke up in pajamas, and then made it through present opening, gift wrap cleaning up, cookie deliveries to the neighbors, and cookie deliveries to our own tummies without ever changing into anything with buttons, zippers, or ties.
-Katie Breithaupt

Growing up in Southwest Florida, where it’s sunny and warm 24/7, cold weather and snow and chimney’s were a foreign concept. In our small town, the big holiday event was when Santa would arrive in a helicopter at Grant’s Department Store parking lot. He’d step out of the copter dressed in his traditional red coat trimmed in white fur but sporting shorts and flip-flops from the waist down—then we’d go to the beach!
-Jan Jackson

My immediate family is full of people who can’t wait until the proper time to do things, so we open presents on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning we get stockings with candy and socks and things. During Christmas Day we go visit our family in Gainesville, TX and exchange our “Secret Santa” gifts with our assigned extended family members. Good food, good people. What more could you ask for?
-Amanda Poore

Two words: Christmas Pageant. We’d go through the whole show with the singing and the lines and the dressing up, just as we rehearsed. But my favorite part was right at the end. The director would give everyone in the room a candle, even children (as long as they were older than nine). Then an usher would walk down the aisles, lighting the candle for the person at the end. That person would pass on their light until every candle was lit. Then we’d turn off the lights, and while the entire room glowed, we’d sing Silent Night very softly—first in English, then in German.

Frohe Weihnachten!
-Lisa Kilian

My favorite winter memories spring from living in El Paso, Texas for a few years when I was very young. The idea that you could have freezing temperatures and snow in the morning, and then go out in the afternoon in short sleeves to play, was astounding. Now mind you my parents didn’t send me out in short sleeves but pretty quickly you figured out they were just trying to get their money’s worth out of the coat they bought when you lived in Amarillo. Now that place has winters!
-Gary Werchan

Seeing Santa skate at the Galleria and the lights at Frisco Square.
-Anna Mazumdar

We had lots of traditions growing up in Northern Ontario, Canada (200 miles north of Toronto), but my favorite was going to get the Christmas tree with our best friends the Scott family. We didn’t just go to the local tree farm or corner grocery store, oh no, a few weeks before Christmas, my Dad would bundle my brothers and me up in our snowsuits and boots, load us in the car, and we’d head off down the highway. As we drove, my Dad would be scouring the countryside looking for just the right spot, and when he found it, we’d stop, scramble out of the car, and follow my Dad and Mr. Scott into the bush.

The Dads carried the axes and pulled the toboggans in order to drag the trees back to the car. We’d all spread out looking for just the perfect tree, everyone wanting their choice to be picked. My Dad liked the Spruce with its nice short needles, while Mr. Scott preferred pine. After a round of snowball fights, and a healthy debate over which trees were the best, the Dads would chop them down and we’d get ready to head home with our finds. Unfortunately, after a couple of hours of trudging through the trees with snow up to our hips, we kids were exhausted, so the Dads ended up using the toboggans to pull us back to the car with one hand while dragging the 6 or 8 ft. trees out with the other. We couldn’t wait to get home to show our Moms the trees, and to warm up with a mug of hot chocolate and some freshly baked cookies. Ah, those were the days!
-Lorrie Puchala

Leave us a comment by next Thursday, the 22nd, and we’ll include you in the random drawing. Our lucky winner will be announced on Tuesday, the 27th when we reopen after the holiday. That’s your name all over Twitter, Facebook, the Library website, and, of course, this blog! We can’t wait to hear your favorite memories!

	Jake Gauslow
	Adult Services Librarian
	jgauslow@friscotexas.gov