Best hockey Christmas memory?

[Pheebs888]

Good morning folks!

Maybe it's because absence makes the heart grow fonder (umph@the lockout) or just because it's December 23rd and I am in a festive mood but I was reminiscing earlier this morning trying to think about my best Christmas memories and I realized that it's a tie between two which are both hockey related...Made me wonder if I was alone in that situation or if some of you were as well...So yes, I'm curious, I want to hear your best Christmas memory hockey related or not...

I'll get the ball rolling starting with my two...

Back when I was 10, I caught a very bad case of whooping cough right before Christmas as I was very contagious, the doctor told my mum that we should stay away from the Christmas parties so that I wouldn't make everyone sick. And so, the table was set for a very lonely Christmas with just my sister and my parents. I don't know about you, but I have a huge family. My dad has 7 brothers and sisters and they all have at least 2 kids so to say that the Christmas parties were a very busy affair would be an understatement....However, that year would be different. There would not be the traditional hockey game at the rink, drunken Santa's arrival for the presents while we all attempted to guess which uncle had dressed up that year and no huge dinner with plenty of laughter. In short, I was absolutely miserable....Until something strange happened. Every Christmas, mum was in charge of shopping for the presents, wrapping them and all that but that year, on Christmas eve, my dad decided to go shopping. He came back with a colossal box which had both me and my sister trying to guess what it was. The box was seriously huge (it was a trick box but we didn't know) and my dad took it in his tool shed to wrap it before putting it by (not under there was no room) the Christmas tree. We kept asking him what it was and he said it was a present for the whole family...My sister said: " Ohhhhh I bet it's a computer" as for my mum, her money was on some cooking device which I cannot remember the name of...me, well I was clueless...But when the clock reached midnight, dad told us we had to open the other pressies first and that one would be the last. So we went trough the mountain of presents, I got several My little pony (remember, mum chose the gifts) and a couple of transformers (she knew I'd sulk if i didn't get some) and then, it was time to unwrap the monster. My sister and I pounced on it and tore the wrapping paper as if our lives depended on it, we opened the trick box and at the bottom of it, a brand new Wayne Gretzky Overtime Hockey Table top hockey game was staring at us! I was over the moon! I forgot all about being sick and from then on, I played that game with my dad every day, becoming the resident expert...And yes, we still have it and you can bet it will make an appearance at this year's Christmas bash...it always does :)

My second one is not a one time event but rather a regular occurrence at the Hains' Christmas party. I said earlier that my dad had a huge family, in fact so huge that no one had a house big enough to host the Christmas bash. As a result, every Christmas we would hire the town hall in my dad's native town and the adjacent outdoor skating rink. We'd get there in the early afternoon even though the celebration was meant to be the dinner but for my cousins and I, it was all about the traditional hockey game. Every year, it would be the same thing, kids vs. adults in a no holds barred fight! In the early afternoon, we wouldn't fare too well as the grown-ups were somewhat better than us, but as the day went on and the adults celebrated with a few beverage, we'd become better and better...Each year, we'd spend 3 to 4 hours on the ice playing the game and I can honestly say that it was always one of the highlights of not only my Christmas but my year...

So there you have it, that's my Xmas trip down memory lane! Now, do me a favour and let's hear yours :)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Karine

[lugnut12mcisaac]

My favorite Christmas ins't really a story but just a memory :p 2 years ago me and my sister got to meet Bob Craft as he was coming back from the Bahama's. He signed some autographs for us and took pictures. He also gave us 4 club house tickets, first row seats 1-4. Mr. Craft is a extremely generous and nice man. The game the tickets were for Christmas Eve to :D. Later that same day after meeting Mr. Craft at 12 to 1 A.M. Marc Savard was flying in from Canada. We got some pictures and autos as well. It was my best Christmas ever.

[Pheebs888]

Bob Craft as in the Pats' owner? Wow, clubhouse tickets to a Pats game that's heck of a treat! Lucky you :)

[lugnut12mcisaac]

Bob Craft as in the Pats' owner? Wow, clubhouse tickets to a Pats game that's heck of a treat! Lucky you :)

Yep :3

[RGM81]

I'm really looking forward to this year's Christmas. This will be our first Christmas in B.C. - every year that we've been together it's always been in Halifax - so it's going to be a fun experience to actually get to enjoy everything with our families. Mrs. RGM81 is working on the 25th in the evening so I'll be going to my mom's place for dinner. It'll be a blast because I did a bang-up job of the presents this year. I think Mrs is going to be a very busy lady that morning because I've got close to 20 presents for her. Most of them are just little things - but sometimes the it's the little things that matter most.

In past years, one of the best memories that I still have was from 2008. Mrs. did a custom blaster box that had a bunch of assorted packs in it. I think the card highlight was a Price H&P jersey. But what made it so great was the effort put into the box itself. It was just fantastic and really made the morning. I still have the box.

Sports-wise, this time of year is synonymous with the World Junior Championships. I bust out my Team Canada jacket for two weeks every year at this time of year during the tournament to show the national pride. I will of course also wear my Carey Price Team Canada jersey. Lots of great memories of Team Canada laying a beatdown on some hapless hockey nation. I've received a lot of Habs-related items over the years of course, from a 12" McFarlane Patrick Roy to a Cammalleri jersey (hey, it WAS a great present in 2010!) to signed photos to a pair of Josh Gorges game-used gloves. Wifey knows me very well - it's going to be an interesting challenge this year because of the lockout but I know she'll find a way to make it awesome. She always does.

[Wickabee]

Mine would probably be watching 2 WJC preliminary games live when they were in Vancouver (prelims were in Kelowna and Kamloops. Saw Sweden beat the Slovaks and Canada lay the smack down on Latvia. That's also where I got to watch Luc Bourdon live once before his accident.

[Pheebs888]

Have a great Christmas back in BC at last Richard, and make sure you let us know what the mrs gets you!

Sounds good wickabee. Quebec City wants to host the Worlds in 2015, I sure hope it happens, if it does, watch me be at every games :)

[MasonRaymond0320]

Hockey memory would be going down to the rink last boxing day with vanpav25 and trying to get some autographs from nugent Hopkins, and Taylor hall. Unfortunately we got there too late, and even tho they signed autos we weren't able to get any :/ Still memorable..but the WJC last year was memorable also:)))

[scottkoz20]

This is going to sound weird to most of you guys since I'm an American, but it was Christmas 2010, when the World Juniors were in Buffalo.

My wife was able to get 2 tickets to 2 games for the WJC through an organization that is affiliated with Women's and Children's Hospital of Buffalo. The first game was the opening game between Germany and Switzerland, which was my 1st look at Nino Neiderreiter live (he will be a good one!!). The Swiss jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first period. We stayed to watch the 2nd period and they Olivia was starting to restless and tired, but as a 3-year old, she did well for 2 periods.

The 2nd game

December 28th at 4pm - Canada vs. Czech Republic

Becky didn't want to go to a 2nd game so she told me to go and enjoy the day as there was other things going on in Buffalo in conjunction with the WJC. Anyhow, the tickets were 2 rows from the Ice (Yes, I got 2 tickets that close for a game that was nearly sold-out)! Anyhow, I had 1 ticket that was not going to be used. So I decided to scalp the ticket with the money going back to WCHOB (I probably could have gotten more, but $60 was not a bad get for the hospital).

The game was awesome, but not for the game itself, it was the passion and atmosphere Canadian's have! Made me a bit jealous because as an American, we don't seem have this same type of passion for our national teams.

[jbudny]

It was Christmas eve 1998 and it had just been snowing quite a bit. The roads were frozen over and covered with snow. Since the weather was so bad my family was staying in and not going to Christmas Eve mass as we usually would.

At around 6PM my doorbell rang and it was the neighbour hood kids calling on me to come play hockey. They were desperate for a goalie. Now normally my parents would have never let me go and I'm not sure why they said "yes", but they did.

It was perhaps the most fun I had ever had playing hockey. The streets were like ice and I was diving/sliding around like crazy in net having a blast with old 70's goalie gear on and my KOHO Felix Potvin mask. If our parents hadn't of come to get us, we would have stayed all night. Sadly, the game ended around 10PM when parents started coming out to bring their kids home.

Another good memory I have was stopping at the convenience store after Christmas Eve mass and my mom allowing me to pick out one pack of hockey cards.