What's your special holiday memory?  When I was younger, it was the huge Christmas party at my grandmother's house.  Every Christmas Eve we would go over to her house, eat a big fancy dinner, and open the presents that were under the tree.  My favorite part about the holidays was the special food and the presents.  Each family would bring a special dish to the Christmas Eve dinner, with my grandma cooking a big turkey with real stuffing.  Dinner was served on the Lenox holiday china, and even in the middle of summer, I can remember exactly what those dishes looked like:  they weren’t white, but you wouldn’t call them beige either.  Around the plates and the bowls of the Lenox holiday china were classic silver stripes that came together to show a silver bow along the edge of the plate.  The silver stripe would show your reflection in it when you held it up to the light.  This Lenox holiday china was actually a wedding present that my grandparents got when they were married over 50 years ago.

It's kind of funny, what you can remember about your holiday memories.  It seems like little details get etched into your mind, for example remembering about how my grandmother only brought the Lenox holiday china out for two holidays a year: Thanksgiving and Christmas. To me, my grandmother's china was better than any of the more festive Lenox holiday china patterns that were filled with bright colors.  Every year before starting to eat, I picked up the plate, and in it I could see my reflection, which was always flush with an excitement for the upcoming presents.

It's strange, how even 20 years have passed since that last Christmas party, I can still remember exactly all the small details, down to the Lenox holiday china, the presents and the rest of that wonderful Christmas Eve.