Ah, the nostalgia! If I had one childhood day to live over, it would certainly be on a Christmas Eve. Even now, memories evoke such strong emotions - a wintry day with 10 inches of snow that fell almost in an instant, sweet strains of Christmas Carols, either on radio, phonograph player or old chord organ (with me trying to play and my dad bravely singing along), the lazy comfort of being in a warm house with plenty of good food to munch on, the fabulous gift wrappings my aunt would conceive, even on the smallest of "stocking presents", the tree so tall that my dad would invariably have to cut off the top of it, bubble lights, the soft glow of the red and green bulbs from the cellophane wreaths hanging in the windows (I would rest on my bed and bask in the dim light and dream of Christmas day yet to come) and the sort of feeling I was getting away with something naughty when my parents would let me have a glass of their wine (this was the only time they would drink it, too).

Wishing everyone the merriest of Christmases!