Dreaming of an “Orange Christmas”

What memories does the scent of an orange bring forth for you?

For me, the scent of oranges evokes a special memory of the Christmas stocking my mother made for me.

Each Christmas morning I would peak over the railing of our loft and spot my stocking: red with white spots; my name embroidered on the green trim. The stocking was filled with candies and small gifts. And I could always spot a large round shape in the toe of the stocking. No, it wasn’t a lump of coal — it was an orange!

What I find interesting is that although I never actually ate the oranges (I thought the candy canes and Whoppers were much more tasty), it is the scent of an orange that will instantly bring me back to our cozy living room in Newfoundland on Christmas morning.

Holiday memories can sometimes be bittersweet. We may have memories of feeling disappointed as a child, which could occur when expectations were set too high. This can be an especially difficult time of year for those who have lost someone. Remembering the smell of your father’s winter jacket when he came in after shoveling the snow… the scent of the stollen cake you wish you had the family recipe for… your dog who used to lay by the fire…

↪ What scents trigger memories of special holidays for you? Are there scents that remind you of special family meals, the weather during that time of year, or even the smell of a memorable toy you were given?

We Shared A Time

How many of us have imagined at some time in our lives of going back into the past to high school–but bringing with us the self confidence and knowledge that we did not have the first time around? I, too, imagined that scenario just a few years after graduating high school.

Due to feeling shy and awkward, there were many people I did not even attempt to get to know and later wished I had. And, having low self-esteem, I let things said by negative people bring me down. It would have been so nice to “do over” high school with the confidence I had gained in just a few short years of working and supporting myself after graduation.

It’s interesting to see how powerful those school experiences and memories can be. How important our “place” was to many of us. Some people look forward to high school reunions (especially those first few reunions) so that they can show their classmates how they’ve blossomed into a very attractive person, or how successful they have become.

In later years, as we mature, the approval of others becomes less important. The focus is now more on others rather than on ourselves. We are grateful to become reacquainted with our classmates, and to form new friendships with the classmates we did not know before.

Whether we hung out together or in the same group doesn’t matter anymore. We have become a group over time, even if we have not seen each other for over 25 or even 40 years. We are a group of people with shared memories. We may have not made the memories together years ago, but we have much more in common with each other now simply by having had the same teachers, listening to the same music, experiencing the same current events, going to the same places such as favorite pizzerias, local nightclubs, county fairs, the shore, and even places that don’t exist anymore. We shared a time, even if we did not know each other then. Today we share memories. Today we are connected.