Longboaters reminisce on holiday memories and mishaps

With the holidays come memories — good, bad or otherwise.

That perfect batch of Christmas cookies can burn. Family road trips can be waylaid, and what was thought to be that perfect gift can be, well, not so perfect.

Here, some Longboat Key residents share their most memorable holiday moments.

The gift of friendship

Pat Marschke and Sheila Syer said their favorite memory is from 2002, when they and other Longboat Harbour residents met for the first time at a holiday party. From that point on, the ladies say they were attached at the hip, although not literally, they tried. Syer recalls lots of dancing.

“We’re all family,” Syer said.

— Pat Marschke and Sheila Syer

A very clean bird

“I went to work and I put the turkey in the sink to defrost in a tin pan. Kerri [her daughter] had the day off from school, and she did wash and the sink started overflowing with bubbles. Almost the whole first floor flooded because of water from the washing machine [and sink].”

Thankfully, they managed to save the turkey after giving it a bath.

“We had the best, cleanest turkey.”

— Janice Doherty

Light up the nights

“The first time I lit Hanukkah candles with my grandchildren.”

— Roz Goldberg

Oops

“My mother baked many kinds of cookies every Christmas, and my sister and I were helping her one day very close to Christmas. I blithely announced while we’re busy on the cookies that I had totally changed my mind about everything I had asked for from Santa and had new requests to send him. My mother exploded, “Those gifts are bought with your father’s hard-earned money, and they’re already bought!” As soon as it was out of her mouth, she realized how she had blown it ... but I still got to believe longer than most kids today in our media-heavy world. I think I was about 7 at the time.”

— Sunny McGrath

Oh, well

“I lived in New York City and attended our company Christmas party one year. I won two tickets all expenses paid to Southeast Asia in the raffle. Now for the funny part: The following year I left before the raffle. I got to work the next day and asked my friends who won. They looked at me laughing and said, “You did! “ But since I left, I was not entitled to an all-expense paid trip to Spain. Lesson: Do not leave the party before the raffle.”

— Karen Coltun

A wet Christmas

“My condo flooded on Christmas ... someone from above.”

— Carole Horowitz

Giving to others

The first Christmas Marie Guillet spent alone with her sons, aged 11 and 9, was full of invitations to friends’ houses, but Guillet wanted the day to be just the three of them. So, the trio ventured to the boys’ school where they were helping those in need. Guillet washed dishes and her sons served people and put on a little theater performance. At the end of the day, the three went home and enjoyed each other’s company.

— Marie Guillet

Tiim-berr

“I had just purchased a home in (Connecticut) and had the wood floors refinished. My daughters (ages 6 and 9) were so excited about the holidays. We picked out a beautiful fraser fir, which we carefully decorated. In the middle of the night, we awoke to a thunderous crashing sound. It turned out that the family cat (a rescue named Max) decided to climb the tree. The water was spilling all over the new wooden flooring. The cat almost went back to the shelter that day, but in the spirit of the season, I let him stay in the house.”

— Nancy Rozance

They said 'I do'

On Dec. 25 in the 1960s, Debby married Jerry Hamburg in Philadelphia in front of friends and family.

— Debby Hamburg

Like mother, like daughter

“I had my daughter on New Year’s Eve, and my daughter had her daughter on New Year’s Eve.”

— Sherri Kaufman

A different spin

When her kids were young, Pat Anderson would hang her Christmas tree from the ceiling so they couldn’t knock it down. She said it was constantly spinning, but that made it easier to decorate because she just had to stand in one spot and hang the ornaments, and her kids loved it.

— Pat Anderson

A special stocking

“... Christmas 1991 when our daughter Rosemary, at age 7, discovered a stocking made by her grandmother that outsized her. She immediately poured out the gifts and jumped right in. Seeing her inside this huge Christmas stocking was a reminder that in fact she was our gift! Makes you believe there really is a Santa Claus. Nothing can top that for us.”

— Fanny Younger

Rubbing it in

"In Minnesota, Mike and I would bundle up and head to downtown Minneapolis for the Holidazzle Parade. This bundle-up process would require layers and layers of clothes — it would be in temperatures colder than your freezer. Our first Sarasota Christmas parade we were thrilled to dress in shorts and long-sleeve shirts, sit on our lawn chairs and enjoy the holiday parade. Of course, we had to send a few photos back to our friends in Minnesota.”

— Cyndi Seamon

A date to remember

“Our best memory during the holidays is remembering we got married on December 19. Here we are 59 years later, and it’s still on the top of our list next to our kids and grand kids.”

— Maggie and Dave Brenner

Tickled pink

The only funny story I have is about my mother who, in her way, loved Christmas. She would get a flocked tree every year, and they were usually flocked in different colors each year. One year she got a pink flocked tree and thought it would be fun to dye our toy poodle pink to match the tree. Don’t know how the poodle felt about the whole dye thing, but it certainly gave everyone who came to our home something to talk about.”

— Madelyn Spoll

Ol' Blue Eyes

Susan Horwitz would host a big Hanukkah dinner party every year, and she always had Frank Sinatra playing throughout the evening.

“It’s part of crafting a holiday tradition,” she said. “That and potato pancakes.”

— Susan Horwitz