Christmas Memories: Snapshots of Christmas Past

With the arrival of the holiday season, it is often a time to reminisce about celebrations of Christmas past, so, in that vain, the staff of TSB, shares their memories of times gone by.

Maryland, Florida and Texas for Christmas!By Bryan Criswell

Growing up in Maryland with my parents in different households due to divorce, and splitting holidays between them, was something I was used to. As a child, I can remember what seemed like long trips between Annapolis, Western Maryland and Maryland’s Eastern Shore during Christmas. As I grew up and my family became more geographically distant, holiday time became more split. Instead of visiting both sides of the family between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I would break up the holidays and spend Thanksgiving in one place and Christmas in another. This was a great way to see everyone during the holiday season but it required travel in Maryland or to Florida.

When I met my significant other, I added another state to the line up: Texas. After getting used to splitting the holidays between three states and three families, I never imagined that I would one day be able see the entire family during Christmas.

The year was 2006 and that was the year it happened. During a fateful trip to San Francisco with my other half that year, I got engaged! Rather than make phone calls to our families, we decided to exclaim our news in person during Christmastime. The only problem was figuring out how to be in Maryland, Florida and Texas at the same time. Well, after a juggling act with the airlines we had a plan of action and ended up spending a day or two in each place during the week between Christmas and New Years. More than three thousand miles and five planes later, we were able to see the whole family in just a few days… After all was said and done, we decided on a New Years Eve wedding the next year in DC and got the see the entire family again – but this time they all came to us!