Sometimes the question is asked, "What was your best Christmas ever?"
I don't know about you, but I would find such a query difficult to answer, as each Christmas usually has something special about it, whether because of someone special, or a place or event or present that was special.
Some of the Christmases experienced as a child were certainly special, such as ones where we travelled to be with someone special, like my grandparents. One winter when we lived at the air base at CFB Edmonton, my grandfather lived in Kelowna, B.C., and we travelled to be there for Christmas, along with some aunts and uncles who also lived there.
I don't remember anything really about what presents I got that year, but I remember being at my uncle Peter's house, and going to my grandpa's church Christmas Eve; I also recall the harrowing trip home, which included the car spinning out on a bridge over a river as I looked with horror out the passenger window at the river below.
To answer the question above, I would have to think about the difference between what makes a Christmas "the best one ever" as opposed to one that was memorable for whatever reason.
I have experienced one green Christmas which was certainly very memorable; I was with a group of young adults living in the Philippines for a few months, which involved being there over Christmas and New Year's. At Christmas, some of my friends went off snorkelling off Sombrero Island; as a non-swimmer, I elected to roast on a nearby beach (or to go exploring said beach), and at New Year's we went to Olongapo where the U.S. Navy had a base at the time. We set off these powerful little firecrackers on New Year's Eve, and on New Year's Day, we toured an aircraft carrier and a destroyer, and then roasted on "Officers' Beach".
All of that was certainly memorable, as was the longing to see snow and experience our Canadian Christmas. Now, of course, Weyburn is home to many Filipinos, and they get to celebrate it here in Canada and likely are longing for the warmth, greenery and humidity of home.
I prefer to look forward to each upcoming Christmas time as a special one to be with my family and friends; after all, it's how one approaches the holidays each year and what you do and see, and who you give to and treat as being special, that will make it memorable, and when you give something special to those loved ones, or to someone who is in need, that's how you will make a Christmas to be "the best one ever."
