Sister Susanne Bauer shares fun family stories of Christmas in Kansas when she was growing up. These are her “Gift of Christmas” memories this Advent.

“Every Christmas my brothers would climb up in our cedar tree and cut some branches. We tied them together to make our tree. We decorated it with icicles and decorations we had made in school.

“The first Christmas I remember, George put real candles on branches. We all stood around the tree while George lit the candles. Then Mom told him to blow out the candles because she was afraid the tree would catch on fire.

“Elizabeth worked in Kansas City. One Christmas she brought a set of blue lights for our tree. She also wrapped candy bars to put under the tree. I unwrapped all of them to see what was in the packages. She scolded me and said they were supposed to stay under the tree for decoration.

“Another Christmas, Mom and Pop were all alone. They went to midnight Mass and Mom got sick. She whispered to Pop she felt like she was going to faint. He thought she said she was going to the bathroom, so he said, ‘Go ahead.’ With that, she fainted.”