Yoyo, my DMIL also made her three kids put icicles on the tree one by one, and with the ends even! DH is 56 now and he still doesn't want anything to do with tree decorating.

Unfortunately my most vibrant childhood Christmas memory is the year our tom cat Bootsie sprayed the tree. He instantly became MY cat! The tree was carted out into the back yard and I had to clean all the ornaments and the tree to get rid of the smell.

Donna

One of my favorite memories is of the year my father happened to be in possession of a Santa suit, because he was the pack leader of my older brother's cub scout pack. Our considerably younger brother was two or three years old. On Christmas Eve, with extended family gathered in our living room, my father went to the basement to check on the furnace. (This was in the days of coal furnaces that did indeed require some tending.) While Dad was gone, Santa showed up at the front door. Our little brother was very excited at this turn of events. He sat on Santa's lap and had quite a long chat with him. After Santa left to get back to the North Pole so he could start his toy deliveries, my father returned from the basement. In great excitement, my little brother ran over to him saying, "Dad! Dad! Santa was here and he has shoes just like yours!"

Cute story, Kathy! I remember when I realized that Santa's handwriting on the gift tags looked exactly like my dad's. :)

Donna

We always went to my grandparents for dinner and gifts on Christmas night (which was great fun because we had lots of aunts and uncles). My younger sister said when she was little she always felt sorry for our dad because he never was there when Santa came.

My earliest memory of Santa was once when we were visiting an aunt and uncle. Daddy went out and Santa came in and talked to me and then kissed my mother, told me not to tell my dad, and left. When Daddy came back in, I excitedly told him about Santa's visit. He asked me about him and then asked if he kissed Mama. I wouldn't answer him because Santa told me not to tell.

yoyo, I have noticed how smell plays a part in US Christmases as our aunts and cousins from the States used to send gifts impregnated with spicy smells of cinnamon etc and I still have a tea-pot mat with a faint whiff of all-spice clinging to it.

The traditional trees over here are the 'Norwegian' fir although many local people prefer what we call the Woolworth spruce (ie plastic) . . . and this in a place surrounded by trees, especially the soft-woods favoured in old mining areas which were grown for pit props.

It has to be the real thing for us and we will pick one up this w/end. Over here we have the tradition of keeping the tree and decorations up until 12th Night/the Epiphany/6th Jan. If the tree is put up too early most of the needles have fallen off within a few days and get walked into the carpet.

Other Christmas smells are of turkey roasting with parsley, lemon and thyme stuffing and the Xmas pud steaming away in a huge saucepan.

Does fruitcake have a smell ? LOL that would be in my memory bank as well.

We used to get live trees until one year a friend stepped on a pine needle that had embedded into her carpet and pierced her foot. She ended up in the hospital with sepsis and endocarditis and had to remain there for three months !

The whole ordeal gave me pause regarding live trees and from that point forward I've opted for a lovely slim, alpine tree with cones !! Not loaded with fragrant memories but it gives the necessary holiday cheer :0)

My mother always made a blackberry jam cake with caramel icing at Christmas. The recipe calls for cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves, so the cake smells wonderful while it's baking. I made one to take to the seniors' lunch at church today (have I mentioned that they call us the Speeders?) and four different people, one a man, told me it reminded them of their mothers' jam cakes. They ate it all, too.

I've never had blackberry jam cake, Carolyn - or any type of jam cake. I can't quite imagine it, but it sure sounds good.

I like the group name "Speeders." At the church my parents attended, the senior group is called "The Flickering Flames." Funny, but ...

ominous......countdown to blast off.

Carolyn......Is this like your Mom's recipe ?

https://www.bakepedia.com/blackberry-jam-cake-caramel-icing/

yoyobon, pretty similar. Here is our recipe:

MAMA'S JAM CAKE

1-1/2 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
6 eggs
4-/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. soda

2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. allspice
1 c. sour milk (I use buttermilk)
1 c. raisins
1 c. chopped pecans
2 c. blackberry jam

Heat oven to 350 degrees, and grease and flour three 9-inch cake pans.

Cream shortening and sugar together until fluffy. Add eggs and beat
well. Sift dry ingredients together and add to batter alternately with
milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Dredge raisins and
nuts with a small amount of flour and mix well. Stir in the jam.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until cake tests done. Frost with Caramel Icing.

My mother used home canned blackberry jam so there was more liquid than
in jars from the store, and I think her cakes were probably more moist
than mine. I've debated about using a little more milk but haven't had
the nerve to try.

Carolyn, that sounds so good, but the recipe is a little intimidating for me. I think I'd rather fly to Louisville and have a piece of yours.

You would be very welcome! It is actually not a hard cake to make; it just has a lot of ingredients.

Not nostalgic scents of the season, but there was the year my 9-year old brother found the stash of Santa gifts that Mum had hidden. He promptly called the little sisters, aged 7, 5 and 3 and handed them out, saying"this one is for you, and THIS one is for YOU...". Mum came in and was NOT best pleased. She now had to buy new things to perpetuate the Santa magic. =)

We have a story about my brother that we bring up when we get together. He had been given some money to buy Christmas gifts for everyone. Unfortunately, temptation got the better of him and he spent most of it on himself. Christmas morning, as we opened the gifts from him, we all started laughing. He had bought each of us a Lovely ( (the brand, pencils with colorful designs on them) Pencil and had wrapped them in a variety of different sized boxes. As each package was unwrapped and another Lovely Pencil emerged the laughter increased. To this day, all we have to say is Lovely Pencil, and everyone starts laughing.

Roxanna, one year my sister and I found the stash of wrapped gifts under my parents' bed. We carefully peeled the tape on the ends of the boxes so we could see what was wrapped inside. I can't remember if we were caught doing it, or just weren't as stealthy as we thought we were, b/c my mom knew we'd done it and was not happy!

Donna

Donna -- hiding gifts under the parents' bed is never a good idea, lol -- once my mum hid a slew of gifts there which had been mailed to us from an aunt, that never made it under the tree. Since I knew ahead of time about them, I asked mum about it -- she promptly sent me up to get them. Mine was a gorgeous watercolor-print silky fabric quilted bathrobe that I wore to utter rags over many years...

Speaking of remembered Christmases, one of Rouan's and my other sisters sent each of us a loaf of walnut povitica. Our mother used to make it at Christmas, though she called it nut roll. Now that certainly brought back memories in all our households!

BTW, for all those fruitcake deniers, my husband and I adore fruitcake. One year I made four different recipes, and there were definitely some that tasted significantly better than others. You just have to find a good fruitcake.

Rosefolly