Oh how I would love to go back and experience Home at Christmas as a child. It was a
very exciting time for all of us 10 children. My first pair of pajamas was received when I was around 14 years old. My oldest
sister was away at college in Cincinnati. She became our main Santa Claus for many years after she left home. The presents
grew tremendously when she came home for Christmas. She truly has been a servant with a servants heart all her life. May God
richly multiply this love back to her.
We worked hard growing up and it seemed that we lived in the tobacco stripping room. We worked until bedtime every night
all winter long. We ate as soon as we got home and off the school bus. We put little potatoes too small to peel to roast on
the old pot belly stove in the stripping room. We ate the peelings and all with their burnt crusts. You havent tasted roasted
potatoes until you have ate them this way. I kept my grades average the best way I knew how. I did get a few Cs and it was
because we did not have time to study. This is how our dad was able to feed us during the cold winter time. He did carpenter
work in the summer. At the end of the day coming from the barn around 9:00 P. M. I would stop and stare up at the big dipper.
A beautiful sight to behold the snow glistening on the ground as it crunched under my feet. I walked with tiredness in my
whole body to the house. We would have hot chocolate sometimes or a small handful of peanuts. Mom bought peanuts for Christmas
and had hid them from all of us. She would buy oranges, apples, orange slice candy, bon bons, and chocolate cream drops. I
finally realized at the age of 14 where she kept all these treasures. A bountiful supply was tucked underneath their bed for
several weeks before Christmas. While making the bed out of the goodness of my heart I could smell the sweet aroma of oranges
. I felt like I had discovered a gold mine. We usually only had oranges or tangerines at Christmas. The smell of oranges and
orange slice candy trigger many memories in my mind. I buy them today for my children.
The older child was permitted to put the treasures under the tree on Christmas Night. When all the little ones had gone
to bed, the oldest at home had the honors of filling bowls encircling the tree base. Each child had chosen a cereal bowl for
his or her treat to be placed in. We even filled one for mom and dad. Sometimes the bowls increased in size by different ones
as they grew older. I may have been guilty of that myself. I have been known to put three english walnuts in my bowl instead
of two. I seemed to have been a little greedy and paid the price for it with a stomach ache the next day.
We had large bulbs on the tree of multicolor. We would have maybe twelve bulbs on one string of lights. My brothers would
usually go and get the tree, sometimes over on someone elses woods. They were not satisfied with what we had to offer in our
small woods. They got in trouble for that more than once by our mom and dad. We would lean the bare side of the tree next
to the wall and tie it to a nail in order to keep it from falling over. We had a wooden x or cross put across the bottom to
support it from falling over. That cross reminded of my saviors love. There were no tree stands as most of us use today. I
was around 20 years old when I first saw one of these contraptions to hold a tree. I really did not know what to do with it.
I tell you as I go back in my mind with the lights dancing on the ceiling in the dark was a lovely sight to behold. Very
few toys were received, maybe two for each child. They were not expensive, but we loved every one of them. The most favorite
toy was a little baby doll wrapped in a pink blanket for me and one in blue for my sister. They would lose their arms and
legs after a few days and we would have them collapse as we tried to put body parts back into the sockets. The smell of the
candy and oranges in the bowls we definitely knew that it was Christmas. I recall as I filled the bowls one of this and two
of that for each persons bowl. I started popping a cream chocolate drop into my mouth as I put one into a bowl and then one
into the mouth. I do not like cream drops for I get deathly sick at the smell of them even today. I havent the foggiest reason
why.
I would then jump under one of mothers homemade quilts. The quilt was so heavy that I could barely turn over under
it. Tonight I was going to sleep on the couch and keep watch over the precious jewels under that tree. What a sight to behold
as a semicircle of nuts, candy and fruit framed the base of that scraggly little cedar tree. The lights were reflecting from
the pictures on the walls and on the frosty window panes in a rainbow of colors. I can still feel the warmth of the coal stove
as the fire popped and cracked and the smell of the pungent smoke lulled me off to sleep.
The most precious sight were the eyes of my brothers and sisters as they looked for their special bowl. Santa had been
good to them the night before Christmas. I also recall a box filled with little brown bags of treats and fruit in a large
box that someone must have left on our front porch one Christmas morning. It may have been a local church that we attended
sometimes when our oldest sister took us little ones when she learned to drive. I placed a little cardboard box that I had
turned on its side on our porch. I cut out with a butcher knife a hole in the back. I then inserted a light bulb on an extension
cord to form a light inside for a manger scene. This display was the only thing that was on the front porch for cars to see
as they went by. I wanted my brothers and sisters to know about Jesus and His birth. I placed hay in the bottom side
and built a scene of the birth of Christ with homemade figures. I would make the best scene I could with dolls or figures
of Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. I sang, Away in a Manger, every time I saw it at night. My youngest sister
told her husband of the white corning ware dishes I had made for her out of white margarine boxes. I cut out little plates
and drew little blue flowers on them so that she would have little set doll dishes. She wanted to buy something for me for
making those special little dishes. She too, has a very kind and giving heart to others. I think that all my brothers and
sisters have these traits from our mother and father.
I believe a real Christmas God would want us to have is the giving of ourselves in someway to others. Make or create a
special little gift for someone from your heart. If it has a lot of love in it or thought then it is felt by the receiver.
It may not cost a lot. When hospitality and love our shown to one another it is wonderful. God Himself is love why not
do as our Father has done for us. Show love to one another. We can not comprehend this kind of love for one another if they
see the Father in our loving deeds to them. God is Love. He was born to die so that we could live. One year I made
gifts for my children. I took little white T shirts for all the girls and appliqued their initial on the front with purple
felt, and made little cheer leading skirts to go with them. The skirts were gored with gold pleats. I also took white poster
paper and created a majorette boot top with a V at the top to slip over their tennis shoes. I stapled a white yarn tassel
on the front of each little boot cuff. Danielle said, Mom this was one of my favorite Christmass. I bought them batons and
they had a ball cheerleading and marching in their own band they created.
God gave of Himself when He gave us His only Son. What will we give to our children? Will it also be of ourselves in some
way or form? True giving is a sacrifice of some sort at this wonderful time of the year and every day of the year. I think
as a grandmother, my family being together for a good meal or breaking bread together is what our children desire more than
anything. We are making memories that will live forever as we are laughing and the joy rings out with peace that is surrounding
us. The peace of God dwells within our home. This is what I do for my children now at Christmas. It is my gift to them, giving
of myself. A dinner with memories of the meals they had as a child and they do cherish it. The only thing that is different
they try to buy for us now. They would spend their money they received from grandma on each other and us as children.
I feel God was well pleased with us in this area of giving to each other.
The giver of all gifts has been given. Can anything else more be given for complete happiness and peace in ones life? When
God sent His Son He gave the ultimate gift. The Gift of Love, Jesus. We know the Son as the Son knew the Father, and Father
knew Him and knows us. Jesus was the ultimate gift to all mankind. Will you receive this gift? It is their for the taking?
Jesus Loves You. Be blessed.
Written by Karen Armstrong
December 2001
