Audrey Ateca prepared for Christmas 2005 early.
She was expecting her fifth child that date, and she’d already had one child born close to Christmas. Her son, Joshua, was born Dec. 18 – his due date.
That year Christmas came on a Sunday.
A pianist at her church, she was scheduled to play with the choir at the morning Christmas service, but she had a backup plan in place. She’d readied for the service that morning and had had a few contractions, but she ended up not accompanying the choir.
“We didn’t want to be a live nativity,” she said.
It’s a good thing she had a backup plan because her son, Daniel, made it into the world Christmas Day 2005, only a few hours after not playing the piano.
“Fifth babies come quickly,” she said.
When she was pregnant and people would ask her due date, many would lament and say what an awful day to have a baby, she recalled, but a friend got a “gold star” by telling her Christmas was the perfect day to have a baby because “he shared his birthday with Jesus,” Ateca said.
Christmas Day is broken into two segments; the morning is Christmas, but at 4 p.m., it becomes all about Daniel with special desserts and gifts not wrapped in Christmas paper.
Ateca said her sister’s birthday is Dec. 31, and her mother wrapped her sister’s presents in Christmas paper until Ateca protested and insisted she use birthday paper.
Christmas memories can be bittersweet.
For the daughter of the Godfather of Soul, Christmas brings a mix of emotions. James Brown died on Christmas Day 2006, but Deanna Brown delves into deeper memories of being a child and living on Walton Way where her family’s Christmas decorations attracted holiday crowds.
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She remembers “wishing I could go outside and be with the other children who visited our home on Walton Way to see the Christmas decorations. I could only go out if I was with mom or dad and security.
Childhood memories stick with many Augustans.
“I think my favorite memory is having mom and dad tell my brother and me – at the height of hyper-inflation in the early 80s – that Christmas might be a little smaller, but waking up Christmas morning to find everything we wanted and more. It was the sacrifice they were willing to make for us despite having almost no money to do so,” said Ian Mercier, president and CEO of the Medical College of Georgia Foundation.
Lisa Maddox, a physician and wheelchair athlete, remembers the excitement of waking up early Christmas morning after a long Christmas Eve.
After midnight mass, she’d drive around with her family to look at Christmas lights.
She used to share a room with her brother, and they’d try to stay up after looking at lights to see who could see Santa.
“We could never stay up all night. But whoever woke up first would come into the room, with one of our toys, and wake up the other singing, “Na na na na na na, I woke up first!” she said.
While they couldn’t stay up all night, her parents probably did.
“I was about 5, and I woke up, ran around to the tree, and there was a lime green banana seat bike with training wheels. I rode it around to my parents’ room and bumped into their bed. I just couldn’t understand why they weren’t as happy to see my new bike as I was,” she said.
They rolled over and said, “That’s pretty, baby,” before going back to sleep.
Lisa Calhoun, a bodybuilder and gymnastics coach, recalls the magic of waking up at her grandparents’ house while waiting for Santa and being with extended family.
There were “like 15-plus people sitting around the fireplace and opening gifts together for hours on end,” she said.
Family gatherings played a big role in the memories of Stephanie Phillips, a stay-at-home mom in North Augusta.
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“I would say driving to New York to see my mom’s side of the family, my cousins and the huge tray of Italian pastries. Cannolis and sfogliatella were my favorites. It snowed once when we were there, and we put plastic baggies over our hands to play in the snow because we didn’t have gloves. Our hands still froze, but they were dry,” she said. “And going to my dad’s family in Wildwood, N.J. for Christmas Eve. My grandma would give us tons of presents to open, and they had a huge dining room table that sat like 20. They had pasta and fish, the huge Italian feast.”
Laura Kaminer, social media influencer and mom, said she has memories from her childhood too.
“I have so many wonderful Christmas memories, but one special year that stands out in my mind was the Christmas I was 8 years old. I wanted an interactive Julie doll that I had built up in my mind to be my new best friend. That year, I had so much anticipation of Christmas magic. Seeing the Julie doll under my tree on Christmas morning felt like a dream come true. I’ll never forget it,” she said.
Kaminer said she’s working to make special memories for her own children.
“For the last 20 years or so, my mom and I have been getting together to bake Christmas goodies to keep and share with friends and neighbors. Now that I have a daughter, she takes part in the fun, too. We usually bake the same recipes and occasionally add a new one.
This year we even bought matching shirts to wear. It’s a tradition I hope to continue and pass down to my children’s children,” she said.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
