As a child, I remember the lone Christmas my family celebrated when I was 4 years old.
My younger sister woke me up early on Christmas morning and the two of us ran downstairs into the family room, where we stared in awe at the colorful tree. Stacked underneath the tree were wrapped gifts and we tore open one of the packages — a yellow dump truck for our younger brother — before our mother came downstairs and stopped the tyranny.
I remember holding up little pink teacups and playing tea with my sisters, before we gathered around the TV and watched actor Dick Van Dyke, playing an eccentric inventor, turn an old Grand Prix into a fancy car for his children in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”
It was a time of spending meaningful moments with my siblings. It was a magical Christmas and one I will always fondly remember and cherish.
Our family stopped celebrating the holiday after that for religious purposes.
Years later in the seventh grade, my English teacher assigned my class to write a short story about the mystery of Christmas and Santa Claus. Our local newspaper had launched a contest calling on kids to write on this topic.
As a child who grew up with nearly no Christmases, I was all-too-familiar with the mystery of Christmas. My younger sister and I even wrote a letter to Santa one Christmas Eve and placed it on our bedroom windowsill that included a drawing and description of where we lived, in case Santa had forgotten. We were heartbroken to see the letter still sitting on the windowsill the following morning and wondered why his reindeer still couldn’t find us.
But when I wrote my story for that newspaper contest, I didn’t include any of these sad details. I used my lone happy Christmas experience to fuel my story, which included a group of sisters sneaking up the stairs on Christmas Eve to see a mysterious glare under our parent’s bedroom door. The dazzling light was a metaphor for Santa and all the warmth and happiness the holiday brings.
My story won first place and the week of Christmas, it was published in the local newspaper and I received a $50 cash prize.
Now I’m bringing this contest full circle as the Mirror launches our holiday contest for students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade. Please tell us in 800 words or less what the holidays mean to you. You are welcome to write about Christmas, or you may address what this time of year means to you in general. We will select a first, second and third place winner and winning entries will be published in our Christmas edition on Dec. 25. Each winner will also receive a $50 gift card to The Commons mall.
Entries may be handwritten or typed and we encourage participants to draw pictures to accompany your stories, some of which will be published as well.
Email your story to editor@federalwaymirror.com, or drop off your entry to our office in person or mail to: Federal Way Mirror, 31919 1st Ave. S., Suite 101, Federal Way, WA 98003. All entries must be received by 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 14.
