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 nmberry@mcmsys.com
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