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Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world.

Additional Story for Christmas Contest ? Clara Wersterfer

December 27, 2007

?No Christmas Presents
by Clara Wersterfer

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"There won't be any Christmas presents this year. Your Papa has spent every cent we have building this new house for us. We barely have money to last us through the winter and to buy seed in the spring." Momma had called all us children in to tell us not to expect anything next week when Christmas came. I was really looking forward to a new coat and a doll. None of the six of us kids said a word.
We sat there with our chin on our chest and tears in our eyes. Momma continued,

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"We have chickens and ducks, eggs and meat from our hog, so we won't go hungry. We have wood for the fire and clothes to wear. That's a lot more than some folks have. We just have to make do with what we have and thank the Lord we have a new roof over our heads."

Momma turned back to her cooking and we knew we were dismissed.

?My oldest sister, Frances and I went to the barn to collect eggs. "Why did Papa
have to build this house right here before Christmas?

I hate this house" she whined.

The year was 1926 and times were hard.? We knew Papa had sold half of his land to get money to build a house. Selling his land meant less income from the crops. That old cabin we lived in was hardly more than a shack and Papa wanted us to have a better home. I tried to tell Frances it was better to have the new house than new clothes and
toys.

It was hard for me to believe those words as they left my mouth, but I remembered the old house and was glad we had this one.

The next day dawned sunny and warm for December. Papa had to go to work at his shoe shop and Momma wanted to ride as far as our neighbor's house to take her some eggs and butter. She would walk home. My oldest brother, Ray, who was fifteen, would be in charge till she returned. Momma reminded us of the quilt she had airing on the clothes line. Should it look like rain, we must bring it in. As soon as our parents were out of sight,

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Frances wanted to go look for mistletoe to decorate the house. She decided to take the quilt in just in case of rain. Frances was eleven and the oldest girl. She was in charge of
helping with the laundry.

We ran off toward the woods in our quest for mistletoe, with our baby brother in tow. We found one large tree with lots of mistletoe and were trying to figure out how to get it, when we heard Ray yelling for us and looked toward the house. Smoke was drifting skyward. We ran as fast as our legs would go while pulling Johnny in his wagon. Oh Lord! Our new house was burning!

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Ray and Hubert had buckets and was running with water from the creek and throwing it on the house. We all grabbed every container that held water and tried to help. Ray ran
into the house and grabbed the quilt which was smoking, dragging it out the doorway. We all managed to run in through the smoke and pour water on the places that were burning. Fortunately the quilt was the major cause of the fire. Frances had brought it in and dumped it on Papa's rocking chair. A spark from the fireplace had popped out and
caught the quilt on fire. It had smouldered and created a lot of smoke.

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Once Ray got the quilt out and Hubert dragged the chair out side we poured water on
the now blackened floor. After Ray opened windows and doors
the smoke blew away. We all sat down and cried. Frances looked up, her black eyes glistening with tears and said,

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"If I could only go back to yesterday. I wouldn't complain about this house or no
presents, or anything else. Yesterday was good and I didn't know it."

This made us all cry harder and this is how Momma found us, sitting on the scorched floor crying. Her first concern was if we were hurt. We were not. Her next concern was the loss of Papa's chair, made by his father. Satisfied that we were ok and the chair could be replaced, she gathered us all in her arms, hugging and kissing us one at a time. Frances poured out her confession without being asked how the fire started.


When Papa got home, Momma met him down at the gate and told him about the fire before he walked in and was surprised. After hugging each of us kids, he inspected the damage.

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"We'll have to replace a section of the floor, get a new rocker and quilt, but praise God,
I had six children this morning and I still have six tonight."

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We bowed our heads while Papa gave a prayer of thanks.? It was more than a year before Papa could replace the floor. He said he wasn't in a hurry, as it served as a reminder to us children about being careless.

We didn't have any Christmas presents that year, but some of the neighbors
brought us candy canes and fruit. Momma made her traditional stack cake and cooked a big goose. Frances decorated the house with mistletoe. Mrs. Jenkins, the lady Momma took the eggs and butter to that morning got a new coat. She gave Frances her old one, who in turn passed hers on to me. It fit better and was a lot warmer than mine.
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This story was told to me by my mother.
Clara Wersterfer

cbwest@webtv.net