Thursday, December 10, 2009

Christmas Memories

I used to start thinking and planning for Christmas soon after school started each fall. My options for gifts were limited since we never had an allowance so anything I wanted to give I had to make myself.

I wasn't good at running our scroll saw in the shop like my brothers were so making wooden things were out of the question. I was nine and Christmas was fast approaching and the only thing I had ready was a little picture book I had made for Mahlon by sewing pieces of paper together and gluing pretty pictures in it that I had found in old Oriental Trading catalogs.

One evening as I was helping Mom unpack a new shipment of things and place them on our store shelves I had an idea. I asked her if I could have the empty box, after she granted me permission I took it upstairs where I carefully cut off a flap, and covered it with some old wall paper scraps. I then glued a plain sheet of paper in the middle and copied a poem about a mothers love onto it. There was still something lacking. I finally decided it still needs a pretty border. My teacher gave a sticker to anyone that got 100% in there lessons and I made up my mind to try extra hard to do my lessons carefully and use the stickers to create a border. It took quite awhile to save enough. Every evening I would run home from school with my hard earned stickers and carefully place them as a frame around the edges of the motto I was making for Mom.

I asked John to cut out some heart shaped pieces of wood and varnish them for me. I then painted a blue rose on the one and wrote Daddy on it. Then painted roses on the others and personalized them for John and David. I felt pleased with my efforts of creating gifts and hid them in a drawer until Christmas morning.

When Christmas morning arrived we were awake early but Mom and Daddy had told us to not get up until they called us. As the sun rose it seemed they would never be ready. Finally they called us and we went downstairs. The boys went out to the barn with Daddy to help with the chores while I helped Mom fix breakfast. We had our regular fried cornmeal mush with tomato gravy and eggs, and then oranges and a cold cereal for something special.

When Daddy and the boys came in from milking the cow and feeding all the animals, we all sat down for breakfast. After breakfast everyone helped with the dishes. And then Daddy got the Bible and read the Christmas story. It was the only day of the year that he would read to us so we all sat quietly and listened carefully. After he was done reading we children had to go back upstairs until they told us it was time to come down. We used to get the gifts we had made and put them in a grocery bag and sit on top of the stairs to try to listen what was happening in the kitchen.

When they called us we ran downstairs and at each of our places at the table was a pile of things covered with one of Mom's pretty kitchen towels. We uncovered the pile and found a plate filled with nuts to crack and a lot of different candy. The boys each got a new shirt and I had a new dress. We each had a little German songbook. We thanked them and then we noticed in the middle of the table was another covered pile. Daddy said that was for everyone to share. We uncovered it and found a pile of books. We were thrilled. We all loved reading and new books were something we all enjoyed.

John, David, and I gave the gifts we had made. Mom thanked me for the motto and hung it on her bedroom wall where it stayed until after I was married.

After we had cracked and eaten some of the nuts and read a chapter or two in our new books Daddy said slyly. I have a feeling we didn't find all our Christmas gifts yet. Why don't we all go down in the shop. We followed him downstairs and there in the lumber bin were three of the prettiest sleds I had ever seen. We hurriedly dressed ourselves in our warmest coats and went outside to try them out. We had a nice hill in the pasture behind the barn and for the rest of the afternoon we rode down that hill and trudged back up. The longer we played the longer the hill seemed when we had to pull our sleds back up but the ride down was so fun we kept on until we were too cold to continue.

We went inside and Mom opened the oven door in our Pioneer Maid cook stove and laid a thick towel on it. We pulled up chairs and rested our feet on it enjoying the delightful warmth that the oven poured over our feet. Mom popped some popcorn and peeled a bowlful of apples and we all sat around basking in the glow of happiness of having had another great Christmas.

24 comments:

  1. That sounds like a perfect christmas. What sweet memories you have. You are blessed.

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  2. What a great memory! We had hills behind my house growing up and we LOVED them in the wintertime! We always had regular sleds, but I remember once using somebody's saucer and then we FLEW down those hills. Thanks for reminding me of that!! ♥

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  3. That was a wonderful childhood memory.I remember when I got my first sled at Christmas time.
    Since we lived in town we just had icy streets to go down.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  4. I so love your stories/memories THANK you for sharing them with us all

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  5. That was sweet. Reminds me of finding a sled outside on Christmas morning. It sure seemed like the ultimate gift!

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  6. Good, good memories. Do you still have your sled?

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  7. what wonderful memories! thanks for sharing them.

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  8. Heartwarming. At the risk of being called a Scrooge, I'm going to agree with that fellow in WalMart from an earlier post. Christmas is so commercialized! Simple pleasures and the joy of giving of ourselves is what the season calls for. I enjoyed reading this precious reminder.

    As a teacher, I always told my children that if they wanted to get me a present (because they alllllllll did), that I would cherish a picture or writing that they created. Still treasure those. Smiles,

    --A

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  9. Neat Christmas memory!!!! I think that hand-made gifts are the best of all... Our culture has a habit of spending WAY too much money (guilty in past--but no more). That's not what Christmas is all about.

    I know you all loved those new sleds... How special is that.... Thanks for sharing.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  10. What a beautiful story, shared so well. I could just read your memories all day long! Merry Christmas to you and your family!
    XOXO
    Joni

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  11. I love the simplicity of your Christmas and how you saved up your stickers to add to the gift for your mom.

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  12. This is probably one of the most touching Christmas stories I have read. Love it - it brought tears to my eyes - thank you for sharing it.

    Love to you.
    Kelly

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  13. What a delightful, heart warming story you tell. I could picture every word and it felt like a cross between "Little Women" and that other book I'm always reminded of when I read you - the "Little House" series.

    How dear and SWEET your efforts were. So precious to put so much hard work into that very special gift.

    Merry, merry Christmas, sweet friend.

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  14. What a lovely story, but the part that really made me smile was the very end where you had popcorn and apples. Lately, I've been treating my two little ones with popcorn and apples for lunch and it's been such a nice memory for me.

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  15. What a beautiful Christmas that must have been for you and your family!

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  16. Hi..I know I haven't been blogging lately..but the bug is beginning to bite kinda hard...LOL...but I have read to my hearts content every day!!! and this blog of yours today...just made me feel so good all over...I could actually feel the warmth of the love flowing in your home and with your family...thanks and God Bless you for sharing...hugs...Ora in KY

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  17. For some reason, your story made me cry. Just the thought of your efforts to make beautiful things for your loved ones -- the getting of the stickers was a heroic undertaking for a little child. What a sweet heart you have!

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  18. What a precious Christmas story. You write with such love and warmth that it makes my heart smile. Thank you

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  19. What a great Christmas. It made me long for the simpler days! Thanks for sharing.

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  20. What precious Christmas memories. Thank you so much for sharing them.

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  21. That would be a gift to treasure for any mother!

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  22. Great description of your family traditions. It sounds like a completely delightful Christmas.

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment. I love hearing your thoughts.