FAMILY HISTORY AND STORIES
The Spirit of Christmas
Written by June Parker 11 October, 1994. Personal memories and family stories from June's notebooks.
The first Christmas after Selena (June's Grandmother) died, some of her children were gather around the kitchen stove on Christmas Eve, making a Christmas treat for the younger ones - FUDGE. Ted (June's father) had come home from his sister Lena's where he lived while he worked, and Gertie, Elsie and Renie (Irene) were talking, being teary through their laughter, but carrying on with the small festivities for the sake of the three little ones who were already tucked in their bed.
The Christmas tree which had been found, cut and brought in that afternoon was now decorated, but done so after the younger children, Leslie, Olive and Barbara, were asleep, as was the tradition. You see, it was always Santa Claus who decorated the tree to provide the thrill of that glorious sight for the children's excitement on Christmas morning. (This bit of subterfuge must have taken some doing considering that all of the ornaments were handmade, and only those that were not perishable could be saved from year to year.) The older children always helped, but this year they did it without their mother;s guidance and they all had that sadness to overcome. There were never many, if any, gifts that were not hand made; jars of jelly and preserves, hand sewn items or baked goods were given to the older ones who were living in their own homes. Selena saved yellow soap wrappers all year (either Octagon or Fels Naptha) and redeemed them for small gifts for the little ones - no more then one each. The Christmas tree and the Christmas dinner and the togetherness of the family were the desirable and important gifts.
The Christmas of 1914 was the first one when this family was not all together. Both
Abbie and Lena were "raising watermelons" and too close to their delivery time to venture the trip to Plympton. This year, 1918, the family togetherness was struggling to overcome the greatest gap of all.
Ted walked over to the parlor door to look at the Christmas tree again. He looked, turned pale and started to shake. "Ma!" he cried, then to the others who moved closer to see what was the matter with their brother, "Did you see her? Ma was standing there looking at the tree!"
My father, Ted, told me this story years ago and repeatedly as I asked it of him. Irene told it to me again. Irene was ten years old at the time.
Want to read more history and stories?
|
