Now that you have finished shopping, wrapping, decorating, planning, cooking, packing, traveling, welcoming, there is one more thing.

Is this going to be a Christmas to remember? Or is it going to be added to the Christmases that you know must have happened because you are a year older?

What are the Christmases that stand out in your mind? Can you name one? Or as many as two or three?

And what do you remember about them?

Do you remember the presents you gave or those you received? Was it a special present or a special someone that figures in the Christmas you remember?

Or was it the absence of someone?

I won’t argue that all Christmas memories are happy ones. Some are, some aren’t. But they remain our Christmas memories.

Perhaps, just perhaps, if we shared our happy Christmas memories, they would cheer others up. And if we shared our sad Christmas memories, perhaps we would not feel so sad.

I remember one very cold, sleet-driven day when as a college student I was approached by a young girl selling homemade Christmas decorations. Not for any organized cause but to raise money to buy presents for her family.

You have probably made very similar ones. Ones that you brought home from school and your mother gave them the place of honor every Christmas until they fell apart. She then lovingly saved the pieces.

I do remember that Christmas well, at least that encounter in the parking lot. It makes me feel better that once upon a time I encountered someone who thought about others before themselves.

Even the pieces of those decorations have faded with time. But I still have the memories of that Christmas. Tell others of your Christmas memories.