As life has gone on, the holiday traditions around our family have, of necessity, changed a bit. If your family is like mine, perhaps you understand what I'm saying. Kids grow up, get married and move away. The matriarchs and patriarchs of our families at times find themselves residing in nursing homes and assisted living centers, unable to get out and enjoy family celebrations. One year the economy is doing great and the area underneath the Christmas tree is heavily laden with gifts, yet perhaps the next year a family finds themselves with little to offer their children and Santa does not make it to their house on Christmas Eve. Times change, traditions change and like it or not, we have to change with them. Such is life.
When I think back to Christmases of the past, I really have nothing but the happiest of memories. I came from a big farming family, seven kids in all and I swear to you I do not know how my parents managed to do it each year. Yet they did. A kid in our family could generally count on there being half a dozen presents under the tree for each of us to open up on Christmas Day, no matter what. There were always a couple of toys or "fun" gifts, for sure some socks, mittens, and pajamas. As I type these words, a chill has gone down my spine because in all reality, I am asking myself, "What did my folks have to give up every year for themselves in order to do that for their children?"
About the leanest of holiday times that I can remember was when I was a fifth grader, way back in 1965. Money was tight and my parents were both working to support our family. Wow, when I stop to think about that, I'm kind of amazed. Back in those days, usually it was just one parent working away from the home but in our case, both Mom and Dad had jobs. I remember begging my mom a couple of weeks before Christmas that year that I'd like to give everyone a present in our family and what could I get? So one day after she and Dad came back from the old Gibson's store in Hutchinson, she called me into her bedroom to show me a package of a dozen Bic pens. Mom told me that if I wanted to, I could wrap each one up individually and put them under the tree for all of my brothers and sisters. I was thrilled! Now mind you, it probably only cost about 39 cents for the entire package of them, but to the 10-year old girl that I was back then it didn't matter. Christmas morning I watched proudly as each person in my family opened theirs up and they were happy too. After Christmas vacation was over and I returned to my fifth-grade classroom, I remember telling one of the other girls in my class what I had been able to do. I will never forget what she told me that day and the smirk on her face as she said it. "That's ALL you got them?", she asked. I was so ashamed and humiliated by that encounter that I never told another soul again..... well that is, until you read this blog post. And having said what happened to me, FINALLY after all of these many years, I realize the very valuable life lesson that a little girl named Peggy Scott was taught that day. To my parents, yet another word of thanks in gratitude for the upbringing I received. Not sure when December 25th turned this "commercial" but it was a sad day when it did.
Our holiday tradition has changed this year, but heck all of life is different for this Kansas farm girl now. With fingers crossed for decent weather to travel back to Reno County this upcoming weekend, we will make it back home for Christmas with our families in Hutchinson, Haven and Wichita. Not everyone will be there but in spirit we will feel them alongside us at the table. It will be Mike's first Christmas back there in five years and had I not been able to return, it would have been my first Christmas ever to NOT be there. We didn't put up a tree this year but not because we didn't want to celebrate. Things went so fast after Thanksgiving that the time just simply got away from us. And while the trees, lights, presents and greeting cards are nice to see everywhere you go....it was never really about all that anyway. The more we remember that, the nicer our holiday celebration will become.
So on this 18th day of the last month of 2013, my wish for you all is one for peace and joy during the days ahead. May 2014 be kind to all of us. Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year for each of us. From Montrose, Colorado~
Christmas of 2010~the best gifts that a momma could ask for...Ursela, Ricky, and Grahame
Christmas at Haven, KS in 2012~my niece Jessica Scott and I after we had finished talking about plans for me to visit her in NYC this past spring.
The "lowly" Bic pen is actually very valuable, especially when we need one and can't find it. I'm smiling as I type THESE words :)
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