December is a month rife with experiences that create lasting episodes and smile-inducing memories.

And although new stories pop up each year, it is always nice to look back at the saved files in our heads, opening them and re-experiencing them while appreciating their value to us.

This week local prep athletes give readers a gift by recalling their favorite holiday flashbacks.

Enjoy these and have a wondrous holiday season.

Sincerely,

Times Sports Staff

Dad, get out of the chimney

Christmas of 2000 was beginning like most Christmases in the Raudry family household. The family got together on Christmas Eve and prepared to perform the Christmas tradition. Each year Mr. and Mrs. Raudry and the three kids -- Frank, Julian, and Alexandria -- join the Grandparents in making homemade tamales.

The special thing about this is that they make approximately 900 tamales while listening to Mexican music and drinking eggnog. As you can imagine after this task and after eating about 100 of the fresh, hot tamales, each of the family members can't wait to go to sleep. While everyone was sleeping they were awakened by a noise in the family room. You see, Mr. Raudry thought it would be festive to dress up like Santa Claus this year and act like he was coming down the chimney to pass out presents. He put on the suit and crawled into the fireplace -- thinking he had enough room to step out and act like he was Santa.

What he did not realize was that once he got in the fireplace he could not get out. He was stuck and the kids had to watch him writhe in agony as he was trying to get out and not show that he was in fact their father. Finally after removing the suit he was able to escape only to watch his kids laughing at him. Now each year after they make the tamales they kid about when their father thought he was Santa Claus.

-- Morton senior football player Frank Raudry, as told to Steve Hanlon

*NSYNC with Santa

My best Christmas memory was probably when I was about 10 years old. That was back when *NSYNC was popular and they were my favorite band. My cousin Danica and I wanted to go to their concert so bad. We had all their CDs and when we went on vacations *NSYNC was the only thing we would listen to.

All we wanted for Christmas was to go see them in concert. Then on Christmas morning we ended up getting tickets. I was screaming for about 10 minutes. The first thing I did was call Danica, and that was all we could talk about until the concert came. My No. 1 priority was to get a band T-shirt. That was my favorite shirt for the longest time. My favorite band member was Justin Timberlake and Danica's was Lance Bass. We would always argue about who was better. Danica and I even made a up a dance to one of their songs -- "Tearin' Up My Heart."

I went to the concert with Danica, her mom and my mom. I remember telling my mom I wasn't going to scream or anything.

I ended up screaming through the whole concert and singing every song. If *NSYNC ever got back together I would definitely go to see them in concert again.

-- Hanover Central sophomore softball player Jessica Toth, as told to Steve Hanlon

I saw Gramma TP'ing herself underneath the mistletoe last night

My favorite Christmas experience is from a few years back. My Grandma June came over to spend Christmas Eve with us. We had a big Christmas dinner and opened a few presents before we started getting ready for bed. My grandma was staying in my room and had gone into it to change.

I was waiting in the living room watching television when she came down the hall with her hair all wrapped up in toilet paper that said "ho ho ho" all over it in red and green. She told me she had had it for years and had worn it every Christmas Eve to bed. She always got her hair done and slept with toilet paper wrapped around it to keep it from getting messed up at night, but normally she just used plain toilet paper.

My grandma also had dentures and when she went to sleep she would take them out. She had a saying: "My teeth are like the stars, they come out at night." I can still see my grandma walking down my hallway with her hair all wrapped up in "ho ho ho" toilet paper and her teeth out. It was a very fun night.

Have a great Christmas in Heaven, Grandma, we miss you!

-- Lowell senior softball player Allyssa Reed, as told to Steve Hanlon

Football in the snow

The funniest Christmas memory I had was when my brothers and I went outside in our neighbor's yard to play tackle football in the snow. We played 2-on-2. Me and Anthony (my oldest brother) against Zach and Will (our middle brothers) After a team would score a touchdown, they would throw the ball off to the opposing team.

Will threw the ball, but it went over the fence. Anthony decided to pick Will up and throw him over the fence to get the ball. Will looked like he was having fun when he got thrown in the air into the big piles of snow. He got the ball and we continued to play.

Again, the ball went over the fence. This time, I wanted to go and get it. Anthony threw me over the fence, but I didn't land so good. I landed on my right wrist. I heard the crack of my wrist when I landed. I couldn't cry, even though I wanted to. My brothers knew they were in deep trouble, because the first thing my mom said before we went to play was don't be too rough and get hurt. The boys made me promise that I wasn't going to say nothing to my parents.

But that didn't last very long, because we had Zach with us, and he's the one who is always in trouble and rats on everyone, but for the first time he wasn't in trouble, and he couldn't wait to go tell my parents what had happened. Needless to say, I broke my right wrist, but managed to still play sports and be a pitcher after it was healed. Everyone got into trouble but me. Once in a while, it does pay off to be the only girl in the family.

-- Whiting junior volleyball and softball player Mel Dumezich, as told to Steve Hanlon

Roman Holiday

My mom has always made Christmas a special time of the year. Every room in our house is decorated with lights or candles or trees. Live garland with bows might be a dining table centerpiece one year and real pine tree branches with cones still attached the next. She's kind of like Martha Stewart without the prison record.

A Christmas I'll never forget was when there were very few decorations inside or out. No, it wasn't that my sister Ali, my brother Doug or myself behaved badly that year. It was the year that my whole family left Christmas Day for Rome. Ali and I had been in a choir that practiced weekly for more than a year leading up to the new millennium. Our choir, led by Monsignor Mroczkowski of Hammond, was to sing for Pope John Paul II in a special children's mass on Jan. 2, 2000. We also attended Mass in St. Peter's Square on New Year's Eve and received his blessing at midnight. It was unbelievable as more than 150,000 people crowded into the square and lit candles that we all held shortly before the 20th Century was over and the 21st Century began.

On Jan. 2, our choir joined more than 10,000 children from all over the world and sang songs in different languages (I didn't actually know what I was saying but, hey, I was only 8 years old).

We stayed in a convent that was turned into a hotel and got to see a lot of a city that is more than 2,000 years old. It was a trip of a lifetime.

-- Andrean sophomore soccer and softball player Audrey Bickel, as told to Steve Hanlon

Kicking around the Christmas tree

I'm not sure if this is technically my favorite Christmas memory, but it was definitely the first thing that popped into my mind. When I was in kindergarten I received my favorite Christmas gift ever: red leather cowgirl boots complete with the red fringe. Now they probably weren't actually leather, but in my eyes they were the real deal. I was very into horses and horseback riding when I was younger, and I had already gotten the Barbie horse and cowgirl Barbie.

So I was commenting on Barbie's sweet red boots when my mom told us kids to go look at our stockings. Now we definitely do have a fireplace -- actually, it's in the same room as our Christmas tree -- but for whatever reason, we hang our stockings in our bathroom above the mirror. It's strange I know, but that's the way it's always been in my family. Anyway, so the four of us kids ran to the bathroom to look in our stockings and there, stuffed into my Minnie Mouse stocking, was one red cowgirl boot, just like Barbie's, and the other was stuffed under the sink.

I didn't take those boots off for the rest of the day and I actually slept in them that night. I rocked those boots 24/7 except for when I actually rode horses because my instructor told me they weren't proper riding boots. But I took advantage of every other moment of the day. My signature look that year was my navy blue St. Edward's uniform tucked into my red cowgirl boots. I matched wonderfully. I own a lot of shoes, but none will ever beat my red leather cowgirl boots.

-- Lowell senior volleyball and basketball player Kimberly Bell, as told to Steve Hanlon

Oh, Christmas tree, Oh ...

My favorite thing about Christmas is putting up and decorating our tree. We put up the lights, icicles, ornaments, and finally the angel. My absolute favorite part is putting up the ornaments. Many of them were made by my family members, like my Mom, my brother, my grandparents and myself. I even have some given to me from my pre-school teachers. They are 12 years old! We also have some ornaments from my parents' childhood. There is an ornament from my dad's youth that is a handmade Christmas scene inside of a half of a lemon rind! It's an unusual ornament, but it is one of the many that is so unique and what makes our Christmas tree special.

--Hanover Central volleyball and softball player Kelsey Jankowski, as told to Steve Hanlon

A surprise gift

One of the most memorable Christmas stories I have is the time where we received donuts and Gatorade from coach Scott Vlink after sprints my sophomore year. The day started out as a typical sprints workout with Coach Vlink working us hard. About halfway through sprints Coach Vlink said, "Alright, boys, upstairs now to do bags (a sandbag workout we usually do)."

Next, we're walking up the stairs and everyone is dreading what's coming, but then to our surprise we open the door to the wrestling room and there's donuts, Gatorade and Christmas cookies on a table in the room. The look on our faces was priceless; that was the last thing we were expecting when we went into the room. I'd like to thank Coach Vlink for making that day one of my most favorite Christmas memories.

-- Crown Point senior football player and wrestler Andrew Szymborski, as told to Steve Hanlon

A tree of plenty

My most fond memory of Christmas was when there was actually snow on the ground, and it felt like that time of the year. I was about 5 years old and I woke up one morning to find that Santa and his reindeer came to my house on Christmas Eve. By the look of all of the presents, I must have been a really good boy that year, because there were just so many presents to open. I opened all my gifts with my older brother, Ryan, saving the biggest box until last. It was a box filled with Power Rangers toys. I remember feeling like the happiest kid that morning. I got the new Megatron and all the other Power Rangers accessories. I just remember the feeling of being a kid on Christmas morning, one of the best feelings ever. I was so excited when Santa brought me everything I wanted on my list that year.

-- Munster resident and Mt. Carmel senior hockey player Dan Mehay, as told to Mike Nieto

Video memories

One of the most memorable Christmas times I have had, happened about eight years ago. My whole dad's side of the family gets together for Christmas every year. That year was right after the death of my grandfather so we spent about an hour watching videos of the previous Christmases. This was a very special time for me because I was really close to him and just seeing those videos just made my Christmas that much more special.

-- Crown Point senior football player and wrestler Tony Conway, as told to Steve Hanlon

Downhill fun?

We used to go sledding on our street, because we had a little hill by the house. About five years ago around Christmas, I went with my sisters Gina and Michelle. We got skis from our grandparents and we prepared to go down the hill. We would go together, and Michelle and I would push Gina down. We went about 20 times, and we pushed her down each time. She wasn't approving of this. I give Gina credit, because she kept getting up each time. It just kind of happened. It was kind of like that -- we looked at each other and gave the look. We bring it up every year and just start laughing.

-- Valparaiso sophomore volleyball and basketball player Stefanie Lang, as told to Jim Hunsley

Remembering the past

Recently my grandpa Ken Callaway passed away. Every time on Christmas, we would always go to my grandparents' place over in Chestnut Hills in Chesterton and have a great breakfast. We called him papa and we called (Delores) mema. It's been kind of tough lately, but we'll have the support of all our relatives there. We'll talk about just how lucky we are for the time that we had with them.

-- Chesterton sophomore swimmer Matt Rosiecki, as told to Jim Hunsley

A smooth ride

At the age of 4, I was infatuated with two things: dinosaurs and hockey. This love would shape the greatest Christmas of my life. Living in Washington, Mich., a far distance from Universal Studios, I considered dinosaurs to be out of reach. I wanted to be just like the kids in "Jurassic Park." This special Christmas I would receive two of the greatest gifts of my life -- a Power Wheels Jurassic Park Jeep Wrangler and a Bauer flat-bladed hockey stick.

When I came downstairs on Christmas morning to unwrap my presents, I searched and searched for what I thought was a hockey stick. When I didn't recognize the shape in any of the wrapped gifts, I refused to open any of the others. My mom had to bargain with me to open the gifts and even hinted toward opening the box by the back of the tree. She wrapped the hockey stick in a large box because it was easier to wrap.

As ecstatic as I was, I had forgotten to open my other presents and swiftly ran outside to take shots with my new best friend. Running through the garage I stumbled over a box that was almost as tall as me that said "JEEP" on the side. What was this, I wondered. Upon opening it, I found my new form of transportation, sitting there in its yellow glory with a trunk for my equipment and all. That spring I went on to start my hockey career on the Mt. Clemens Wolves Mini Mite Hockey team.

-- Schererville resident and Mt. Carmel senior hockey player Jordan Zotos, as told to Mike Nieto

That's my baby

In 2003, I got my first baseman's glove for Christmas, and now it's my baby. I broke it in as soon as I got it. I didn't care how cold it was, I went outside and played catch with my dad. It was awesome. I never lose it. I always know where it is.

-- Portage baseball player Mike Sheehan, as told to Jim Peters

Double the presents

One of my favorite Christmases was when I was 8 years old. It was the first time I really got to see everybody on both sides of my family. Plus, I got twice as many presents. On my mom's side we would meet over my granddad's house, and all of my mom's sisters would be there. I would sit up all Christmas Eve and just play video games with my cousins and wait till the food got to the house. My granddad would order 100 pieces of chicken from Harold's Chicken and I would try to eat more than anybody in the house. But at the end of the night my granddad would give every one of his grandchildren $100 and to me that seemed like it was a lot of money. I would give it to my mom and save it until I knew what I wanted to spend it on.

At my grandmother's house on my dad's side we would go over there Christmas morning. I don't really get to see them during the year so I try to see them every Christmas. Over at my grandmother's house we did not get to open gifts until it got dark, so I would spend the day talking to my family and helping my grandma cook. Now when I say cook, I mean make a mess and get kicked out the kitchen.

-- Hammond junior basketball player Daron Houston, as told to Steve Hanlon

And one last thing ...

My favorite Christmas memory from when I was a kid was when my parents got me the PlayStation 2. My family was all opening presents on Christmas Eve. I was 10 years old and the only thing I really wanted was for my parents to get me the new system. So when all the presents were gone from the tree, I didn't get the PlayStation 2.

I was kind of upset but I wouldn't show it or say anything because they get me so much, that if they didn't get me this I would understand. But my mom went upstairs and told me and my brother to hold on because she had something for me. Sure enough, it was the PlayStation 2.

-- Marian Catholic junior boys basketball player Dan Panici, as told to Mike Nieto