In chapter 16,The Giver gives Jonas a memory of a special day/event. What was described? What do you think happened to the original event?

In chapter 16 Jonas sees a tree with colored lights inside a room.  In the room are two parents, children, and two older people.  He comes to realize they are grandparents.  A child is passing around gifts and children are opening them.  The feelings evoke warmth, family, and love.  The gift is the memory of Christmas.

Once the memory has been transferred to Jonas it is lost from the Giver.  He no longer has the memory.  The memory was probably his from his childhood.

Grandparents in Jonas' society do not exist.  The older parents are sent to live together away from their raised children.  There are no sets of generations in the home other than the children given to the parental unit and the parental units.

Christmas, like grandparents, has been terminated by the society in which Jonas lives.