Damama tagged me for a meme so long ago that I think she even forgot that I’d do it – but no! I’ve not forgotten! I don’t mind telling you seven personal, very weird things about myself. But because of the snowstorm here in Chicagoland and my desire to be a rebel in all things, I’ve decided to make them Christmasy things. Ready?

1. When I was a kid, my mom took tree tinseling very seriously. None of the rest of us were allowed to put tinsel on the tree because we did not place one careful strand on each and every pine needle. It took her hours.

One Christmas when I was a teenager, she and I got into an argument about chores. She banished me to the living room to vacuum the carpet. Instead, I vacuumed all the tinsel off one side of the tree. Then she caught me.

2. The second best gift I’ve ever received actually wasn’t a Christmas present. It was a bottle of luxurious passion fruit body lotion that a co-worker gave me as a baby shower gift. Why was it so memorable? We were terribly, grindingly dirt poor and that gift was the one thing that reminded me I was still a woman. Still brings tears to my eyes to think of it.

3. The worst gift I ever gave someone was during the period mentioned above. I gave my sister and her boyfriend a TV that only needed a picture tube in order to work. At the time, being a silly twenty-year-old, I imagined that I was giving her a real TV! That only needed some minor work! But in retrospect I realize, no, I gave someone a broken TV. That’s pretty lame.

4. When I was a very small child celebrating Christmas at my Grandpa RB’s house, my older sister convinced me to sneak downstairs with her to see if Santa was real. Everyone was asleep. We actually saw some man down there by the Christmas tree and he did not look like our Grandpa (who was distinctly un-Santalike) or anyone else we knew. We ran right back up the stairs and I don’t think we ever asked anyone about it.

5. My worst Christmas ever was about ten years ago when I was a single mom. My girls were spending the day with their dad and I lived to far from my family to travel there. I invited my recently-divorced friend to spend the day with me and we went to the movies and ate Kung Pao Chicken at our favorite Chinese restaurant. When she went home, I spent the evening in internet chat rooms just looking for someone to talk to. The next year, my friend Natasha gave me a blown glass ornament shaped like a red pepper to remember our Christmas by.

6. My favorite Christmas memory is of the Christmas Eve services at our church. I’ve felt so much peace in singing “Silent Night” with all my friends and my daughters, lighting one candle from another, and looking out into the cold, dark night with our little lights.

7. I received my best Christmas present ever before Christmas Day, December 20, 2004, when Big Guy asked me to marry him. In the Renaissance Gallery of the Art Institute of Chicago. In Italian.

Since I didn’t know any Italian, I just stared kind of blankly at him until he offered to translate, and then got down on one knee. And BG says I took a very long time to answer him.

I’m going back over to Damama’s to tell her I’ve kept my promise and wrote my meme. Want to join in the fun? Please either post a Christmasy meme on your site or respond to these 7 items in my comments. I look forward to hearing from you!