Winter's chill & White Linen = LOVE

One of my favorite winter memories is of my mom picking me up after work when I was three years old.

At that time, my mom worked at the Estée Lauder counter at a downtown department store. In the morning I went to a half-day of daycare so that my grandfather wasn't overwhelmed by a three-year-old all day. In the early afternoon he'd come get me, and I'd stay at my grandparents' house until my mom could pick me up after work. Often that was after dark, after my bedtime.

So Grandmama would get me ready and put me in her bed to sleep. I'd sleep there until my mother got home, and then she'd carry me out to the car and lay me in the back seat for the ride home to Myrna Court, the apartments where we lived (those apartments are gone now, but I have a couple of pictures).

What I remember is it being Christmas time and very cold. I remember pretending to be asleep when I wasn't, so that my mom would have to carry me out to the car. She had this short but heavy fur coat that she wore, and she'd hold me tight against her, wrapping the soft, warm coat around me to save me from the chill. I can still smell the White Linen perfume she wore that she got for free because she worked at the cosmetics counter.

Most of all, I remember feeling how much she loved me in that simple act - the cold, the coat, her warmth and embrace, the smell of her perfume all mingling together into the hazy glow of a dear memory. She always looked so lovely, so chic in the latest fashions, with the prettiest makeup and hair. My mom is a beauty, always has been. I remember being very happy and loving her so.

***
Do you have a favorite winter memory? Please share - I'd love for you to knock my socks off with the happiness of it all.

Comments

[Gayle]

Maya, that is a such a sweet memory. I think one of my favorite childhood winter memories is each year my mom, my half-sister and her two children, and I would get in the car and drive around looking for Christmas lights and ooooing and ahhhing at every display we went by!

[elizabeth]

I remember a heavy snowfall, heavy enough that school was cancelled. I remember bundling up after breakfast and heading outside for a long afternoon of fort-building with my sisters. This one was an underground fort (well, semi, it was impossible to make it completely underground), and I remember the happiness I felt when it was finished and we slid down the entry chute into our own fort and huddled together in the cold.

[Ms.Tee]

That's so lovely, Maya - you write so beautifully! :)

I remember being so eager for the first snowfall. When it came, my mom would bundle us up until we couldn't move (like Ralphie's little brother in Christmas story) and we'd play outside in the snow for what seemed like hours - til our fingers felt frozen & our cheeks and noses were rosey. When we finally came in to the warmth of the house, we could smell hot soup my mom would make, and she'd have sandwiches cut and laid out for us, and mugs of hot chocolate. I always felt so cozy and loved when she did that. I'd forgotten about that until just now - thanks for such a sweet post! :)

[shelli]

That's such a lovely story about your mom!

What comes to my mind is the four years we lived in Colorado in a house that I still think of as my "childhood home" before my parents were divorced or my siblings moved out. I remember Christmases as a family. I especially remember playing out in the snow. I remember one particular day when I was playing by myself at one end of the house and then something flew by in the corner of my eye. I turned to look, and no one was there. Then it happened again and again. I can't remember if a snowball hit me or not, but finally I turned around and found my brother standing there throwing snowballs at me. He had ducked behind the corner of the house to fool me. I can still remember his laugh - a low chuckle. He still laughs like that when he's doing something mischievous.

[spread your wings]

what a beautiful and tender memory.
It's funny how this time of the year conjures up special memories. I think i'll do a post about it as well.
thank you for sharing your special memory.

[dianalyn]

I remember our tobogan and our runner sled. Since we moved from Massachusetts to Georgia, we were the only kids in our neighborhood with real sleds, so anytime it snowed about 25 of our "closest" friends would magically appear. One year it snowed enough for us to be out of school for days and we spent the time building complicated jumps and tunnels for our sleds on every hill in the neighborhood. the tobogan was the funniest - about 5 kids could fit on it and inevitably the driver (aka my brother) would lose control and we'd all go flying.

[Thea]

I remember decorations, smell of evergreen in every room of the house, and the annual Christmas Eve bickering over whether or not we would each open 'just one' present. We always would open one. The bickering was as much a part of the tradition as was the actual present opening.

[kristen]

I LOVE your stories!! Growing up my bedroom was on the second floor with the window looking out over the front yard and our street and drive way. I can remember the glow of the white snow piling up and the sound of the snow plow coming up and down the street and our drive way. Growing up in the snow belt of Cleveland, this is a common winter memory.

[Linda]

One of my favorite memories of childhood is going to sleep on the living room couch, in the dark with only the christmas tree lights twinkling, with the far-away sound of my mom washing dishes in the kitchen. Magic and security. :)