"No memory is ever alone, it’s at the end of a trail of memories, a dozen trails that each have their own associations." Louis L'Amour.
I've never quite had the nerve in my memoir writing classes to ask the question, "what is the worst memory you have of Christmas?" I don't always shy away from asking hard questions (some amazing stories come from them), but there is something sacrosanct about the holidays. It seems almost cruel to dig around those deep-in-the-soul memories. It's not that some of us didn't have some rather horrible times (the first holiday after a divorce; my own grandfather died in our house one Christmas morning when I was a youngster....), but we tend to save these stories for the parties, make a joke about them, lubricate our throats with eggnog - saving our fingers for putting down the squeals and smells of the happy times. There are dozens of trails to follow. - Beth Almond Ford
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