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When I was growing up, Christmas was
not the big deal it is nowadays. We were very poor and
couldn??™t afford a tree, lights, and decorations. In fact, we
didn??™t even have electricity till after my mother passed
away.
One year, my mother and father, my
sisters and I had gone somewhere, I don??™t recall where, and
we were on our way home. But for some reason, the man who
owned the property where our house was wouldn??™t let us go
through his yard to get to our house. It was pretty much out
in the sticks. When I say country, I mean country. It must
have been ten or fifteen miles to town. That was a long way
for us, because we didn??™t have any mode of transportation.
We had to walk everywhere or get a ride with someone who had
a wagon. Hardly anyone owned cars in those days.
I was not much more than five or six
years old, so the details are very sketchy. But my father
and this man had some hot and kind of nasty words for each
other and we ended up staying the night with an old couple
whose name was Lancaster. Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster asked us to
stay the night with them. They had a nice little cottage,
warm and cozy and I just felt so safe and protected there.
It just so happened that the next
day was Christmas.
The day broke and I remember it was
cold outside. There was a nice warm fire going in the wood
burning stove. When we awakened, Mrs. Lancaster had a
stocking for each of us three girls and they had candy and
oranges, nuts and apples in them. It was such a kind thing
for her to do. It made our Christmas a little brighter than
it had started out to be.
We moved from that house to what we
referred to as the Holloway house; the reason being that it
was owned by the Holloways. It was there that my sister met
her future husband. She was only sixteen at the time. Her
future husband was several years older than she was. That
year at Christmas, Mack came to call on my sister and of
course, he brought her a box of candy. But what stood out in
my memory was the fact that he brought me a box of candy and
the box was in the shape of a Santa Claus. I dare say that
was the first box of candy I ever got. I was about eight at
the time. My! how that impressed my little eight year old
mind; I was so fond of Mack after that. That was the year my
sister got married. She had her first child when she was
seventeen.
That was really an outstanding
Christmas in my memory. It didn??™t take much to be an
outstanding Christmas to me, because every day was filled
with so little of the things we needed. Of course, we didn??™t
know we were so poor. We thought that was how everyone
lived.
Needless to say, things had to get
better. They couldn??™t have been much worse. But I am
thankful to God for the things I had, food and shelter and
clothes to cover my body and keep me warm. At least I wasn??™t
living out on the street, as so many people are these days.
Thank God for His many blessings.
Nell Berry
12/11/04 |
