#1: the best barbie house in the world

As this time of the year approaches, my brain is flooded with memories. It's amazing what the look, feel, and smell of winter can bring back to you. Starting December 1st, today, I will be sharing one Christmas memory a day until the 25th. 25 memories??? Oh, surely I can come up with that many. They will not necessarily all be life-changing moments that deserve a 10 page paper written about them. They may be small and simple. They will also not necessarily be in chronological order, so for those of you who are extremely anal retentive and have issues with a lack of structure (me), you'll have to just take in a deep breath and realize that it's just a blog. Sighhhh. Okay, here we go! The 25 days of Christmas Memories ...

One of my favorite memories is walking into the living room on Christmas morning when I was 4 years old. At that time, we were in our little house in Yukon. Sometimes I don't know how my parents survived with Mark and I running around like crazy people in that teensy space. Anyway, I walked in and what did I see? A barbie house!! It was the most wonderful barbie house in the world. It wasn't made of plastic and you couldn't buy it anywhere. Santa's elves (my dad) made it just for me. It was made of wood and there were four big rooms. The roof even had shingle-looking things on it!

It wasn't until later that I really realized the time that it probably took to make that thing. I could sit here and bawl like a baby thinking about my dad sitting outside in our garage constructing this barbie house. He was/is a wonderful dad. When asked, "What is your favorite christmas gift you've ever received?" I always say this one.