Holidays

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OUR CHRISTMAS GIFT

Every winter when the snow flies, my memories go back to the year of 1956. Dad had been sick for a long time, he took what Mom called bouts of sickness. Sometimes a doctor would travel from another county and give him a shot and he would get better for awhile.

The winter of 56 was different, the snow poured and poured, until there was 18 inches of white stuff laying on the ground. Nothing in that little holler was moving, not even the horses. A few of our neighbors had horses for plowing and riding to town.

Dad was having one of his spells and the doctor could not make it through the snow fall to get to him. Dad laid there for hours on end getting worse and worse. Finally he called mom to his bedside and reached for her hand, barely above a whisper, he told her how much he loved her and to please take care of his children. We watched him leave this world on December 15, 1956 in the wee hours of the morning.

My uncle trudged across the snow capped mountain to get to us and Dad. They laid him in a box made of pine wood that our uncle built all by himself on our front porch. That Monday morning, On December 17, we all stood around in the heaps of snow watching dad being lowered slowly into the ground by our few neighboring men that could make their way through the snow filled paths to our house.

They put him on a little hillside just above our house. Mom just fell apart collapsing on the ground in front of that little mound of clay. She was a widow at 31 with five hungry mouths to feed. My oldest sister Margaret was 13 and me being the youngest was 3. James was 5, John was 7 and Louiza, nicknamed Tiny was 11.

Christmas day was fast approaching and it was hard for Mom to get in the Christmas spirit, she cried a lot and wanted to be alone a lot. One day she called all of us children to her side and told us the Christmas story. She did this every year, reminding us about the virgin birth and that the only way from earth to heaven was through the blood of Jesus Christ.

That year, the story was different; the tears fell from her face and made big dots on her red gingham dress. She told us, “Unless God moves in a special way there will be no Christmas presents and no Christmas dinner”.

Me, being the baby was sitting on her knee trying to catch the teardrops and telling her, “Mommy, don’t cry”! Please Mommy don’t cry”! We all got really quiet for awhile and then we all heard my brother James speak and a look of astonishment come over Moms face, James was only 5 years old, but the way he said it made us all feel like it would and could happen. He said, “Our God will supply all our needs”! At that point, all my other brothers and sisters, started chanting, “Our God will supply all our needs,” “Our God will supply all our needs,” and then Mom joined in, “Our God will supply all our needs”!

As the Christmas day approached, we went into the woods and found the most beautiful pine tree that could ever be brought into a house; we spent hours trying to get it just perfect. Mom made ornaments from the pine cones, running little pieces of twine from top to bottom. We made strands of popcorn rope and circled them around the tree.

Finally we got the tree just the way we wanted it and my sis Margaret stuck me upon her shoulders and I put the little angel on top the tree. I had been putting that angel on that tree for as long as I could remember. She had shinning blond hair and was dressed in gold and silver with beads of green and red. She had been passed down to us from mam and pap who had long been gone on home.

Christmas Eve came and we all gathered around the fireplace singing Christmas songs and eating the popcorn mom had made on the open fireplace. We always grew popcorn just especially for the Christmas season and the two old apple trees out back furnished us with the seasons drink. We celebrated that Christmas Eve like we had never celebrated. We watched the empty spaces under the tree, where the presents usually lay, there laid all our favorite verses of scripture written on little pieces of paper. Mom said that it would increase our faith.

About 11:30 mom tucked us all in bed, she said that we must be asleep to let the love of the precious Christ child come to life. I drifted off to sleep quickly thinking about a baby that was born in the city of Bethlehem.

About 6 o clock on Christmas morning, we were all awakened by the sound of music coming from somewhere in the heavens, I have never heard music like that before. It was like the wind was carrying the sound and dangling it right at our back kitchen door. Mom got to the door first with all us children trailing close behind. There was a huge basket setting there with Christmas presents wrapped in gold and silver. There was a collection of fruit, ripe golden bananas, and the reddest apples ever God created. There were oranges and candy canes and an array of chocolates. In the middle of the basket laid a turkey all stuffed and ready to throw in the oven. Happiness and singing spread through that little home as we dragged the basket through the door. Inside there was a present for Margaret, a present for Louiza, a present for John and a present for James and one to baby Mary Alice. The square package that was wrapped for Mom said, “To Grace, the lady of faith”.
We stood there as mom opened that package, inside was a very pretty green bible with her name engraved in gold letters on the front, it read, “Grace Bush”.

She watched as we opened our packages one by one. James and John got baseball mitts with a baseball tucked inside. Margaret and Louiza got purses with a strap that went across their shoulders and inside those purses was a bill-fold to match. Little Mary opened her package and there was a golden haired dolly dressed in red with little tiny white shoes and red socks that came to her knees. When you laid her down, she made a little crying sound.

We started playing with our toys, but Mom said, “Wait, have we not forgotten something”? We looked at her and nodded our heads. At that point we bowed our heads thanking God for his goodness and kindness. Mom ended our prayer with this, “I thank you Lord for I know that you have supplied all our needs according to your riches in glory in Christ Jesus”.
And we all said, “Amen”.

©Mary Alice Bush Bowles
10/27/05




(Phillippians 4:19) And my God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

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