HELLO FRIENDS...A REMEMBERAMBLE 12/19/25

Can you recall the incredible slowness associated with these few days leading up to Christmas when we were very young? The days seemed bogged in a mire of time caught in quick sand, it was a shared agony, as almost all kids suffered so, of course. Christmas rituals and traditions varied widely, and our family had our own way to "keep" Christmas. Mama and Daddy told us that Santa could not carry all of the world's kids' gifts, so he had to make two trips. Santa brought gifts to our house, on Christmas Eve. We liked being on that "first load," and getting our gifts ahead of most we knew. I know our way will seem a little odd to most of you, but it was just how mama and daddy did it. Late on Christmas Eve, just after dark, us kids were shepherded into the back room of our house, to our sisters' bedroom, which the four of them shared. They were much older, 8-11 years older than me, for example. So they were wise, and knew things, the "hidden knowledge" had long been shared with them, concerning these matters. They were trusted with keeping us sequestered until it was time to turn us loose and let us invade the living room where our gifts had been left in stacks with slips of paper saying who each set of toys belonged to.

Those were heady days indeed. Later, they changed it up a bit when instead of herding us into the back room to wait, daddy would drive us around while Santa came to deliver our gifts. We were dumb and gullible younguns. Christmas was much different for my parents and their generation, and likely yours too. Sharecroppers' Christmas were lean and hungry ones, but almost all of even the poorest families at least managed to have a special dinner on Christmas day. For my parents, it was fun to go and cut a pine sapling, and gussy it up with whatever could be found to brighten it. It took so very little then to excite kids, and anything like that was a real treat. The premier part of Christmas day then was the cakes and pies. A pound cake, pecan pies, lemon or chocolate pies, and maybe some tea cakes made it memorable indeed. Back then, Santa was a bit poor and down-at-the-heels too, but did the best he could, and brought what he had, and no matter how humble his gifts were, Christmas morning was joyful for those kids. Santa brought candy canes, peppermints, hard candies in different flavors, or even a pack of chewing gum, Brazil nuts, English walnuts, raisins, perhaps a few tangerines or oranges, an apple or two, and those were special to those kids who rarely saw such delights. Those hard working parents took delight in that one day each year if they were able to give their children those special things. Life is hard and was harder then, but now and then, no matter how cold the day, how meager the gifts, folks found joy in the day, with each other. This Christmas, let us not seek the big things, the costly and shiny things, but find simple joy if for only a day, in small kindnesses, and love and fellowship, one with the other.

..... we highly blessed and favored boyz three, babee conway, lil merle, & me