Good morning. It's a gray day in Georgia. The season of Christmas parties is upon us.  Last night at Jerry and Heather Goode's house, we feasted on way too much food with friends that we love.

After we stopped feasting, we traded  white elephant gifts and shared favorite Christmas memories from the past.  I shared how when I was growing up in Silver Spring, MD, we'd throw a neighborhood block party. After the carol singing and hot chocolate, the high point of these parties came when Santa would show up riding a fire truck and throwing candy to us kids.  It just couldn't get any better if you were a kid.

And so, as an adult, I wanted to do the same thing for my children.  One Christmas in Florida I dialed up the local fire department and told them my story.  "Would you help me do that for my neighborhood?" I asked.

"Of course," came the reply.  So then I just had to track down a Santa Claus.  I went to the local mall, told my story to him and he agreed to help me out when he got off work.

We had quite a gang of little kids in our neighborhood and when I told them, "Come to the park at 4 o' clock in the afternoon for a wonderful Christmas surprise," they couldn't have been more excited.  At 3:45 I was picking up Santa and driving him to the fire station.  When the fire truck bearing Santa came around the block and pulled into the park, the neighborhood kids came shouting and running toward it.

I don't know if it was as magical for my kids as it had been for me, but I'd successfully passed a special Christmas memory on to them.

Christmas is a great season where memories of more carefree times wash over the angst of our current circumstances and put them into perspective.  We need to indulge ourselves in reminiscing more, so let me encourage some of you to share your own favorite memory with us here.