How Do You Know Christmas Is Here? Christmas Gift!

Little Girl Whispers to Santa

Ferrol Sams, then a sixty-six-year old grandfather, wrote Christmas Gift! in 1989.

My sister-in-law, who passed away this past summer, gave it to her mother that year for Christmas, as a book of shared memories of Christmases in Georgia.

Told by an Atlanta-area physician and author, the book is a memoir for his grandchildren about the rituals of Christmas when he was growing up before and during the Depression.

Cutting down the tree in their woods a week before Christmas brought the smell of fresh cedar in the house, to meld with the smell of fruitcake marinating in homemade blackberry wine.

Sams’ mother brought out from hiding a precious box of ornaments for the tree that were hung between the strands of popcorn and paper chains.

The children placed presents on and under the tree.

Adults did not give each other gifts until well after the Roosevelt administration.

The children gave gifts to each other and the many adults in their extended family, and, of course, received gifts from Santa Claus.

In alternate years, the oldest or youngest opened the door to the parlor to be sure Santa had come before letting the rest of the family in on Christmas Day in the morning.

Sams’ remembers the joy of his first watch. He noted the change in fortunes that brought oysters one year for stew and stuffing

He shared the family’s teaching that no matter what or how much or how little, you showed joy and enthusiasm for each gift, because “it’s the thought that counts.”

The exception to the rule that you only ate what you raised or grew was the Christmas turkey.

Sitting in his grandmother’s room to hear family gossip until he was eight, Sams then decided to join the men in the parlor playing Rook on Christmas Day in the afternoon.

The fireworks from stockings blazed through the sky on Christmas Day in the evening.

Sams ends his detailed memory of the Christmases of his childhood with a trip to the family cemetery with grandchildren of six and eight to remember his father’s joyful greeting to everyone in the family on Christmas, “Christmas Gift!”

This was the year he set aside grieving for all those lost family members and rejoiced in the memories of those long-ago days of happiness that now enrich his own family.

Let this be a New Year’s resolution for my readers.

Get a small notebook and start writing your own stories down for your grandchildren.

What rituals tell your soul, “Now, it is really Christmas?”
What family members do you remember fussing with and playing with on Christmas?

What gift stands out for you?

How did your family remember the true meaning of Christmas?

Click here to get this blog in your Reader for more ideas about how to write down your stories for your grandchildren.

Carol Covin, “Granny-Guru”

Author, “Who Gets to Name Grandma? The Wisdom of Mothers and Grandmothers”

http://newgrandmas.com

Share and Enjoy!


Read More:
Christmas Gift! Book Thursday.