- Nov 24, 2000
- 4,784
- 103
since that time is approaching, i thought i would share this christmas story with everyone. it's a true story, written by my mother, about a christmas from her childhood. she's 72 now.
The Joy of Giving
Christmas was the most wonderful season of the year when I was growing up. Our family was very holiday-oriented.
Besides celebrating the birth of Christ within our family, we always packed up the old car and went to Kansas where we again celebrated joyously with grandma and dozens of aunts, uncles and cousins.
On or about the 15th of November, I would count the money I had earned and saved throughout the year. There was no extra money in our household for gifts, because we had a big family-my parents, five brothers and me-so throughout the year I earned money babysitting and doing chores for neighbors.
This particular year I was very excited. I had saved enough for $1 gifts for each of my parents and 50-cent gifts for each of my brothers!
Probably the most exciting part of selecting gifts was going through the BIG Sears catalog and choosing exactly the right gift for each person.
My parents’ gifts were easy-really nice boxed handkerchiefs for each. My youngest brother would love a little toy and the other would treasure the scratch tablet and colored pencils. My older brothers were more difficult to buy for. Although they seemed very mature, they still loved an excuse to tease me unmercifully. I will never forget the morning that I found the largest beetle from their bug collection nestled in the toe of my shoe…
After a long time of choosing and rejecting items in the catalog, I finally found exactly the right gift for my much admired older brothers. There it was-a miniature Bible about 2 inches by 2 inches and only 50 cents. They would each like to have one of those!
Off went my order to Sears and it arrived complete, around the first of December. Everything was perfect.
Then something happened that changed the mood of Christmas that year.
Two weeks before Christmas, two of my older brothers drowned in an accident, one trying to save the other. I’m sure we still exchanged gifts that year and gave thanks for the birth of Christ, but I really don’t remember. We did go to Kansas, but there was a double funeral and everything seemed quiet and in slow motion.
Many Christmases have come and gone since then, but I have never experienced the same deep joy that I felt when I found those little Bibles in the Sears catalog.
I don’t know what happened to those two extra Bibles that year, but I still firmly believe that my brothers would have liked them-maybe even more than any of their other gifts! And that’s what Christmas is all about-the joy of giving.
(In my mother’s house are some boxes, packed with mementos and treasures from my brothers’ lives. I’ll bet that’s where those Bibles are, waiting for my brothers.)
The Joy of Giving
Christmas was the most wonderful season of the year when I was growing up. Our family was very holiday-oriented.
Besides celebrating the birth of Christ within our family, we always packed up the old car and went to Kansas where we again celebrated joyously with grandma and dozens of aunts, uncles and cousins.
On or about the 15th of November, I would count the money I had earned and saved throughout the year. There was no extra money in our household for gifts, because we had a big family-my parents, five brothers and me-so throughout the year I earned money babysitting and doing chores for neighbors.
This particular year I was very excited. I had saved enough for $1 gifts for each of my parents and 50-cent gifts for each of my brothers!
Probably the most exciting part of selecting gifts was going through the BIG Sears catalog and choosing exactly the right gift for each person.
My parents’ gifts were easy-really nice boxed handkerchiefs for each. My youngest brother would love a little toy and the other would treasure the scratch tablet and colored pencils. My older brothers were more difficult to buy for. Although they seemed very mature, they still loved an excuse to tease me unmercifully. I will never forget the morning that I found the largest beetle from their bug collection nestled in the toe of my shoe…
After a long time of choosing and rejecting items in the catalog, I finally found exactly the right gift for my much admired older brothers. There it was-a miniature Bible about 2 inches by 2 inches and only 50 cents. They would each like to have one of those!
Off went my order to Sears and it arrived complete, around the first of December. Everything was perfect.
Then something happened that changed the mood of Christmas that year.
Two weeks before Christmas, two of my older brothers drowned in an accident, one trying to save the other. I’m sure we still exchanged gifts that year and gave thanks for the birth of Christ, but I really don’t remember. We did go to Kansas, but there was a double funeral and everything seemed quiet and in slow motion.
Many Christmases have come and gone since then, but I have never experienced the same deep joy that I felt when I found those little Bibles in the Sears catalog.
I don’t know what happened to those two extra Bibles that year, but I still firmly believe that my brothers would have liked them-maybe even more than any of their other gifts! And that’s what Christmas is all about-the joy of giving.
(In my mother’s house are some boxes, packed with mementos and treasures from my brothers’ lives. I’ll bet that’s where those Bibles are, waiting for my brothers.)
