As I look back over the years of my life, I
thought I’d present a few random memories of Christmases past:
As a little girl, the extended family
gathered at our house. My cousin and I slept in my twin bed, her head at the
foot so we had more room. Grandma slept in the extra twin bed in my room. Some
relatives slept on the couch or floor in sleeping bags. No air mattresses in
those days.
Christmas Eve we gathered around our organ in
our pajamas and bathrobes and Grandma Mac played Christmas carols while we sang
everything from “Jingle Bells” to “Silent Night.” In the middle of singing, we
heard Santa’s bells outside. All of us children pulled off our bathrobes while
running down the hall or up the stairs depending on where we were sleeping. We
had to get to sleep so Santa would stop. When I grew up, I learned it was
usually Uncle Johnny that slipped out to ring those bells.
One Christmas morning, a squirrel came in the
open door and ran across the dining room table, and all around the living room.
Then he spotted something familiar—a tree, and scrambled up it, breaking
decorations on the way. The adults had a hard time chasing him out.
Then there was the year Mom made me something
for Christmas, and insisted I had never seen a real one. As a know-it-all teen,
I thought to myself, how does she know
everything I have ever seen. Ah well, she won that one. She made me a
5-foot tall mermaid for a bed decoration.
Christmas took on a whole new meaning when I
had children of my own. From the first Christmas pictures of toddlers crying on
Santa’s lap to the first one as empty nesters, all had a joy of their own. What
I miss most about having children at home is our tradition of baking cookies
and taking them around to friends and neighbors and singing Christmas carols. I
could write a whole post about our experiences with that.
With all of the merriment and trappings of
the season, the most important thing to me—Jesus Christ is the reason for the
season. Without His eternal sacrifice to pay for our sins, the world would be
for naught. Words cannot express how grateful I am for Him.
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