Advent Calendar Day 2

 Good morning! I'm half-way through my holiday shopping (see spreadsheet #10024) and that is SUCH a relief. Until I think about wrapping all this stuff. :-D :-D :-D  THANK HEAVENS FOR THE OFFICE ELF. 

But since I'm in a I'll-think-about-my-credit-cards-tomorrow mood, I thought we'd do a little bit of a giveaway. 

I have two copies of the charming 100 Christmas Wishes: Vintage Holiday Cards from The New York Public Library, which I'll give away to randomly selected commenters. 

All you have to do is share one of your favorite winter holiday memories below.

As for me, we used to spend Christmas vacation at my grandparents' mountain cabin. Every year we prayed for snow, but I think that actually only happened once. ;-) At first, there was no TV, so we spent our holiday break hiking and exploring, playing with paper dolls or games like Mystery Date (I kid you not), baking MOUNTAINS of sugary deliciousness, and listening to Christmas music on this very old portable record player. I was the only one of my friends who was familiar with the entire oeuvre of the Mills Brothers and the Andrews Sisters. ;-) So yeah, it was pretty old school. There was even an outhouse for those occasional emergencies when the only bathroom was already in use. In fact, it was too old school for my grandparents, who quickly got cable and built on another bathroom. ;-)

I think I was in college when my grandparents moved back to "civilization," and we started celebrating the holidays at home like regular folk. There's a lot to be said for central heating! But I have to say, those rough and ready cabin Christmases were kind of magical. 

Share your magical holiday memories below.