Share a story of Chistmas Past

[Stan]

Fond memories of the kids? The Parents? School Play? Ingathering? PLEASE let us enjoy them as well.

[LynnDel]

I remember being dreadfully depressed my first few years in California after having grown up in Colorado (mostly). The warm sunshine and palm trees and people wearing tank tops and shorts just were not properly seasonal. Where was the white Christmas? The nippy nose? The tingly toes?

Then we moved into California's Central Valley and found the White Christmas. It was in the air all around as we drove four hours over the river and through the woods to our relatives' house. The fog was so whitely dense that we could not see the reflectors outlining the lanes unless we drove right on top of the line. For awhile we tailed a big rig, but he got tired of our presence after awhile and zoomed on ahead. When we got to our destination, we toasted ourselves around the fire, and it felt just like Christmas.

LynnDel

[Dr. Shane]

[:"blue"] This is a a story I wrote which is one of my experiences working along the border. I call it... [/]

Blanca's Christmas

Blanca was an eleven-year-old girl who lived in Reynosa Mexico. Blanca was tall for her age and as skinny as a twig. Some folks joked with her that someday the wind would come by and blow her away. Blanca lived in a little house with four brothers and sisters. It was a small house in an under-developed area of the city. The walls on the inside of the house were bare wood and there was no bathroom.

Blanca’s family had an outhouse they used and a water spicket in the front yard. She didn’t have a nice bathroom where she could take a bubble bath or a warm shower. Blanca’s family used a wash tub to take baths. Blanca would fill it up about half full with water and get one of her brothers to help her carry it inside. There she would stand in the middle of the tub and with a bowl she would scoop up water and pour it over her. In the summer it was refreshing but in the winter the water was really cold.

Blanca had a lot of friends. In her village all the children would be playing outside. Most of the children didn’t have video games and some didn’t even have TVs. One of her favorite games was soccer. Everyone in her village loved to play soccer. The local park didn’t have any swings or slides, just a big soccer field.

When the cold winds started to blow from the north, Blanca knew winter was coming. Winter in Mexico isn’t like winter in Minnesota or New York. There is no snow in Mexico. The winter doesn’t get cold enough to snow. The winds still blow hard and sometimes it gets almost cold enough to snow. Blanca would always cuddle up in her bed with her little sister under a big thick blanket. There was one thing Blanca liked about winter. She knew that winter meant Christmas.

Blanca’s house didn’t have a Christmas tree. They didn’t have any lights or stockings. Blanca’s mom worked in a little taco stand selling tacos and Blanca knew her mom was going to buy her something. Blanca always went with her mom to help her. Blanca would go to the mill and buy corn flour to make tortillas. When she brought the corn flour to her mom she would go buy ice to keep the sodas cold. Blanca was always running back and forth helping her mom with the taco stand.

Blanca knew that her mom would reward her for being a good little girl. Blanca was studying the Bible with a missionary and some times he would take her to church. There she learned about Jesus and how He loves each of us so much. She learned that when she doesn’t obey her mom it makes Jesus really sad.

On Christmas Eve Blanca’s mom made a big supper for the whole family. She cooked tamales. Blanca loved the tamales her mom made. When it was time to open up the presents Blanca open hers and found it was a green sweater with a turtleneck. “Oh, no” she thought as her heart dropped. She didn’t get the radio she wanted. She couldn’t even smile. She didn’t want to get mad but she felt so sad she wanted to cry. But what would everyone think if she cried. “Oh, no! This is terrible,” she thought to herself.

The next morning when Blanca got out of bed she shivered because of the cold. She saw her green sweater sitting on her dresser with some of the wrapping paper near by. “Well” she thought. “At least maybe the sweater will make me a little warmer.” When she put on the sweater she discovered it fit her just right. “I can wear this with the pants the missionaries brought me last summer,” she thought. After putting them on she went out to look for some of her friends.

“Oh, what I nice sweater your have,” commented one of her friends. “It is warm too,” Blanca told them. It was really nice because even when the wind blew it didn’t bother Blanca. She looked so nice in her sweater and was so warm. She even thought about sleeping in it.

Even though she didn’t get what she wanted she got something better. Good children don’t always get everything they pray and ask Jesus for. That is because many times Jesus has something better for them. They don’t need to worry about it though. Jesus will always see that the children are taken care of. Someday He is going to return and take all the children to heaven where there will never be cold winds and no one will ever have to take a bath in cold water. I want to go to heaven and I know Jesus wants me to be there with Him forever.

[Dr. Shane]

Certainly we have some more members here with memerable Christmas stories...

[Gail]

There was the time when I was about 5 and my sister 3. We grew up in a poor family, but one Christmas Mom splurged and bought us a nice Barbie ensemble.

My Barbie twisted at the waist but I wanted to see if she would bend and touch her toes. She couldn't...

In about 1/2 hour we girls had broken everything my mother had bought us <img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I even wrapped a Slinky around my legs and cut them all up

I was a BAAAAAAAAAAAAAADdddddddd girl. I shouldn't have gotten any presents at all

<img src="/ubbtreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

[Taylor]

Well when I was a child, my parents were missionaries in Central America. We would often drive or fly up to Florida to spend Christmas with my grandma, aunts, uncles, and cousins. This was a warm fun time, of riding bikes in the orange orchards (see ma, no hands!!!), playing games like "Life", eating Christmas dinners that were delicious at the long table in Grandma's dining room. (I can remember my cousin eating so much there was no room for dessert. The food was fantastic, so she disappeared from the table. I went looking for her and found her jogging around the house trying to jiggle things down so she would have room for dessert....and this was from a twiggy slim cousin, lol)

So Christmas was always a "warm" occasion, even temprature wise. I don't know how old I was before I figured out that the Christmas song of "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" meant SNOW not bright sandy white beaches!.

One time at my Grandma's house my brother and I were staying in the same room and the door was open. We could hear our cousins whispering in the other room. "Why do you think that Karen got such a nice battery operated car that you can actually ride in? I wish Grandma had given me one!" upon which her brother whispered, "That's probably because they are poor deprived missionary kids. They don't have many nice things down where they live". My brother and I put pillows over our heads to muffel our laughter. You see we viewed them as our "poor deprived american cousins" who didn't "get to" do all the fun things we had to do. And WHO wants toys when you have things like pet racoons, parrots, a squirrel, dog etc., a long rope swing to swing on, bikes to ride, baseball to play with all the neighborhood kids, board games to play with big Academy age kids who would come over for Sabbath nights, Pathfinders to go camping with, music concerts to give for evangelistic meetings. WE had the good life, according to us. "Oh well," I told my brother, once we stopped snorting with laughter "let them think we are deprived! At least we get nice presents that way!"..more stiffeled belly laughs.

[Taylor]

My cousin always gave me lots of great hand-me-down clothes at christmas. I didn't really need them as my Mom and Dad kept us well clothed, but it was ever so much fun to get a whole box of nearly brand new clothes to wear. And my cousin always dressed "really cool" or so I thought.

Well, one year I got what I been hoping for (don't laugh). I wanted a white sweatshirt with a large yellow smiley face on it .It seemed that EVERYONE had one, but me. Well, I got my wish that year! At the bottom of the box was a perfect smiley face sweat shirt. I was so excited!!

Well we took all the clothes and Christmas gifts back to Honduras but it was HOT and I couldn't wear the sweatshirt without roasting....so I was waiting for a cool rainey day to put it on. Well the day finally arrived, it was REALLY cold and I was all warm in my very cool smiley faced sweat-shirt.

Around evening we had a knock on the door. A man in rags was selling some very sorry looking bananas. Beside him was a pathetically skinny and shabby dressed little girl. I couldn't help but notice how cold she looked with goose bumps on her arms, and her wet hair dripping. Their umbrella had various holes in it so she wasn't exactly dry. My mom, bought the bananas to help the poor soul out and I looked at that girl miserably. I then fled from the room, yelling over my shoulder to my Mom "Tell them to wait" . I pulled off the smiley faced sweat shirt, shed a tear or two, and looked at it one more time then ran back to the door. "Here, I want you to have it. It will keep you nice and warm" I said, holding it out to the little girl. "For me?!" she gasped, her eyes lighting up like a Christmas Tree. "But you just had it on! What if you get cold?" "Oh, I have other sweaters, it's ok, I want you to have it, besides it's the warmest one I have. You are outside more than I am. See, it has a smiley face so you can feel happy too!". The little girl grinned and pulled it on over her wet hair. She smoothed it with her dirty hands and peered down at it admiringly. She was much shorter than I was so the sleeves were too long, and it hung down below her waiste but the look of gratitude and excitement in her eyes left a new lump in my throat.

After they left and we went inside I remember my mom saying "I am proud of you" and I said "don't be mama, cuz at first I didn't want to give it to her and I even cried some.......oh mama.....do you think I'll ever have another smiley faced sweat-shirt again?" "I don't know", said Mom, "but I think that the memory of giving it away will one day be more precious to you than 10 smiley faced sweat-shirts." and you know....she was right.

[Taylor]

December 23, 1972. Does anyone remember that date? On that date an earthquake of the Managua Nicaragua Earthquake. (If you want to read about it go to http://library.thinkquest.org/17749/earthquake.html)It was only 6.3 on the richter scale, but living in Costa Rica, I remember being thrown out of bed that same night. Our long mirror in the living room was cracked from one end to the other. I can still see my Dad skidding on the "taraza" (not sure how to spell it) floor as he and Mom came to make sure we were out of our beds and heading outside. There we sat on the ground as it shook, just before one o'clock. I remember thinking "Is Jesus coming back tonight?"

The stories that we heard which came out of that earthquake were horrifying and tear jerking. My dad was asked to drive an "OFASA" (ADRA) truck with relief supplies into Nicaragua. He said that seeing the devastation was terrible (about 20,000 people died and 250,000 others left homeless). But what really broke his heart were the small children wandering around the streets lost and crying "Mama, Mama, donde esta Mama?" (Mommy Mommy, where is Mommy).

However, some had amazing stories of survival. One college girl who was colporteuring over the Christmas vacation was staying in the home of an Adventist Family. In the middle of the night she woke up feeling terrified and just KNEW that they must all leave the house. She woke up all the family members telling them, "I have no idea why but get out of the house, get out now!!!" The panick in her voice pushed them out of bed as they ran out the door. She was the last one and as they exited the earth quake hit in full force. The house fell down completely, pinning the college student to the ground by her leg as she wasn't completely out of the doorway. However, except for a scar on her leg, she lived to tell the story and the family was so grateful for God's warning.

Why did some live and others die? Only God knows the answer to that. However, I remember feeling so grateful that we had each other, a roof over our head, and food to eat that Christmas.

[Taylor]

At the risk of sharing WAAAAAYYYYY too many stories...I just had to tell you this one.

When we lived in Honduras, we couldn't find anything suitable for a Christmas Tree. One year we had brought in a sick looking, rather sparsly branched pine tree, but it never did look quite right. And palm trees or other trees never looked right either. So one year my Mom was bemoaning how she wished she could have a full looking evergreen tree. That year we were not going to be going in to Florida, so my Dad took note of what Mom said.

A few hours later I heard him working out in the garage with a drill. I asked him what he was doing but he said to go play or weed the garden..that he was making a suprise.

The next morning when I woke up I could not believe my eyes. In the living room was the most beautiful tree! It reached from floor to ceiling and was full of beautiful branches. Upon closer inspectiong I thought "I didn't know ANY tree looked quite like that!" When my Mom came out she just stared at it for a few minutes and then burst out laughing as she hugged my Dad. Dad had taken a thick pole, drilled holes into it at an angle, cut branches off from pine trees, and stuck the branches into the holes. We had a perfectly symetrical tree and we prayed it would last the week without drying out, which it did. I was amazed that my dear Dad was so ingenious!

We then went looking for Christmas decorations. Well we had never had a tree that big so we didn't have enough decorations. That is when Mom came up with a brainy idea. We went outdoors and collected "dry sweet gum tree burrs" (at least that is what I think they were) They are a large seed pod that has holes and all kinds of "stickery things" poking out. (I would post a picture here but am not sure how to do that...) Anyway we collected alot of those, spray painted them gold or silver, and hung them on the tree. I think that in the end it was one of the prettiest trees we ever had.

[Taylor]

Shane...great job! I bet your kids LOVE to hear Daddy tell them stories! If you don't tell children's stories at church, you ought to!

Did you ever submitt this story for publication? Just curious.

[Naomi]

GAIL ... Girlie ... ROFLOL somethings just screem for us to check out!

[Stan]

Loved reading each of these stories!!!!

Hope everyone can add some more.

Christmas stories from the 'mission field' are just great as well.

[Naomi]

Taylor,

Thank you for sharing your Christmas "Mission" stories. Somehow Mission families seem to have some very moving, deep experiences from thich to draw.

Naomi

[Naomi]

The Christmas seasons of my youth have no similarity to the Christmas which we celebrate today.

There are many special Christmas stories, but I believe the overall memories of those early seasons are most precious.

We were poor, rural people. If we had a good pecan crop we had money for some "store bought" Christmas gifts. We would all go to the fields and Daddy would climb the tree and with a long cane pole knock the pecans to the ground. Then my mother, brother and myself would see who could pick up the most in the shortest time. Then we would take our pecans to town to have them weighed. After our tithe was withheld we would count our money. How proud we were to have "money" to buy presents for each other!

Some years we did not have a good pecan crop. To be on the safe side, immediately after Christmas,in January, mother would began making gifts for everyone; family, friends, neighbors and extras for an unexpected visitor.

Most of our clothes, quilts, and comforters were made from scrap materials and colored feed sacks. All the women in the area saved the sacks and traded them so everyone could have enough material to make clothing. Mother's sewing machine usually didn't work well and she would sew our clothes (our gifts) with a needle and thread. She still makes quilts, crochets scarves, etc and is just as proud of her gifts today as she was years ago.

We would go to the field and find a Christmas Tree. Daddy would cut and trim the tree and we would happily take it home. We had no money for decorations, so we made our decorations from strainging popcorn, & colored paper decorations. We made our glue from a mixture of egg white and flour. Pine cones made need decorations. Crape paper made pretty flowers to cover the tips of the tree.

Those times seem so far away ..... In today's world we would be considered very underprivileged. Yet, we were rich in excitement and fun.

Music was provided by mother's piano or guitar.

Naomi

[Taylor]

Naomi...love it! Thanks so much for sharing! Sounds like you grew up in a very loving family.