Four Reasons YOU Should Donate a Coat to the 12th Annual Charlotte Coat Drive
August 22, 2022
That delicious dish that grandma used to make. The movie that you’re able to quote word for word. The extended family member you see just once a year. The annual tradition from childhood that you’ve carried on with your children. Do these conjure up visions of the holidays in your head? They do for Charlotte Mechanical!
The wintertime may bring cold (brrr!) weather, but it also brings warm holiday memories and traditions. A few of the Charlotte Mechanical team members took a quick break from helping keep your home warm to share what warms their heart during this holiday season.
Wishing you wonderful memories this holiday season!
When I was a little girl my favorite holiday memory was decorating the Christmas tree! We would always put on our holiday shirts, bake cookies, and play Christmas music while decorating the tree. I used to love pulling out all of my grandmother’s beautiful ornaments and finding the perfect spot on the tree for them. She always had wonderful stories of where she had traveled and gotten each ornament from; of course the most precious ornaments were always the ones I made her. Once the tree was decorated, we would eat our cookies and watch a classic Christmas movie together while admiring our tree, which symbolized the beginning of my favorite time of year.
I do this every year with my boys and my heart bursts with Christmas spirit as I watch the joy spread across their sweet little faces. So much has changed and although my grandmother is no longer with me in that moment, I feel her presence. Cuddling up on the couch with them after and watching them drift off to sleep in my arms dreaming of Christmas has become my new favorite holiday memory.
My favorite holiday memory is that my dad used to make us all gather in the living room after Christmas dinner and we would watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, which is one of my favorite movies. Now that I have my own family, I have continued this tradition, so every year we gather in our own living room after dinner and watch and drink hot cocoa in our PJs.
Christmas Eve was always a day that our family spent by the fireplace, watching TV, snacking, and waiting for ole’ Kris Kringle to arrive. Growing up in a family that was operating a small family HVAC company, my dad was always working, so to be able to sit for a whole day relaxing together was rare! My parents always made the same dinner of steak, lobster, garlic mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, and homemade apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert. The special family dinner drink was Welch’s sparkling grape juice. After dinner we could open one or two gifts that were from family and then the wait for Santa to arrive. It always was a special day to me, and I have continued this tradition every year with my wife and kids.
We would always watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Every year we watch this and It’s a Wonderful Life.
One of my favorite holiday memories is trying to peek downstairs with my brother, Trip, on Christmas morning. We’d have to wake our mom and dad up first, but while my dad was busy getting his camcorder ready, we’d get a first look. Trip would lie on his stomach at the top of the steps with his head toward the bottom of the steps. I would hold his feet so he wouldn’t slide down. He’d report back to me about all of our presents under the tree and in our stockings. Then after lunch at Grandma’s we would go to the movies with my dad. We have continued the tradition of going to the movies with our children and now grandchildren.
