Memories

How do you make special memories of people, places and events live on?

Before the holidays, I visited eastern Long Island where I grew up — Shelter Island Ferry; Montauk Point Lighthouse; the ocean, beach towns, and seafood — with familiar changing leaves and October drizzles. This nostalgia trip jump-started my holidays with treasured memories and meaning.

What holiday traditions do you treasure? My Aunt Margaret’s Holiday Punch in a fancy glass bowl — for adults only — had a sign that read “spiked.” A pitcher of plain punch stood aside “for the kids.” One Christmas 9-year-old cousin Billy discovered what “spiked” meant!

Holiday cards covered the piano; we kept them to reread the following year.

We were blessed with lots of relatives (some not even related), and we celebrated Hanukkah with Uncle Howard, imagining eight days of presents!

One year, our car got stuck in the rain while delivering donated gifts. We almost missed our holiday dinner but weren’t upset because it was the right thing to do.

Remember fruitcake and mincemeat? Back then, our mince pies included meat and suet along with various fruits.

What was your favorite present? Mine was white lace-up figure skates. At 10, I loved skating, and we glided inside a building at Flushing Meadows Park that’d housed the 1939 World’s Fair or skated outdoors on frozen ponds or puddles.

Your favorite holiday outing? I ice-skated at Rockefeller Center and walked along 34th Street to gape at the wonder of Macy’s windows.

What memories do you treasure? What will you re-create this holiday season? Yes, it’s different now — friends and relatives have gone before us, we live in a new place, and mince pie is meatless — but our memories can lead us to reach out to friends, family and neighbors with joy and appreciation.