A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Banter Hall Home for the Holidays A Memorable Holiday

Oh my folks were really good at making holidays very splendid, but one Christmas always comes to mind from when I was a kid. It was the year I had just turned 5. Older kids had told me there was no such person as Santa Claus and I was devestated!

So, on Christmas morning boy oh boy did I get a surprise! There was my new dolly for the year seated at a little school desk and chalk board. The board had writing on it "Merry Christmas, Mary-Ellen, love, Santa"!!!

Oh my gosh! A message from Santa himself! And all those big kids were just kidding when they said he didn't exist! There really is a Santa and see? he wrote on my chalk board!

47 years later and I still remember the feelings of that marvelous surprise.

What about you? Which holiday stands out in your mind?


Merme

I remember Christmas from when I was in second grade. I too was beginning to question "Santa"---Well we went to church as usual---(My dad was a holiday attender) when we left no gifts were under the tree.--(we opened our gifts on Christmas Eve)

when we returned I was very careful to note if my dad went in before us "to check" on the house to see if it was safe and or warm enough for us to go in--- but no he did not--we all went in together--and there under the tree was my beautiful new doll --I named her Penny--and a Mickey Mouse watch---(what I would do to have that back now)--Sio I then decided all that I had heard was not true and that santa did exisit.---(and you know he did ---Only it was my parents & not a jolly fat man)

I still remember that Christmas--and I still wonder how that was pulled off---but it truely made a believer out of me----at least for that year..... :wink:

In the mid-1980's I had the opportunity to help make a very special Christmas for a family in suddenly desperate circumstances. It was wonderful to have a chance to participate in this story and I thought you all might like to hear of it.

I was still living in Ohio in those days, and my sister heard of this family in town who'd been hit pretty hard. There was a mother and father with a slew of kids and also the mother's disabled sister living in the home. Late that autumn the father died suddenly of a heart attack. Soon after, the house burned down and the mother broke her back trying to get the children out. The city helped the family relocate but it was soon to be Christmas and they had virtually nothing.

My sister got on the phone. Someone donated a tree and all the ornaments. Someone gathered gifts for all the children. We made stockings for everyone. I was given a gigantic empty decorative basket, the kind used for holiday gift foods. My sister went to the grocery store and spent hundreds on everything imaginable for a festive holiday meal for that big family as well as all the specialty items people enjoy for the season. I went shopping to fill all those stockings and I put together a giant gift box of crafting supplies for the kids.

My husband at the time was a pastor and so we were designated as the delivery team. We went over early on Christmas Eve and let the kids see all the food and hang the empty stockings. We visited for a while, listening as the children explained they weren't sure Santa would find them this year because of the fire and the move. We assured them that he would know just where they were but I could tell they weren't at all certain. We waited until the kiddos were all sent to bed and then snuck all the gifts into the house.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall the next morning as those kids came down the stairs to see the gifts and the stockings filled! I'm sure they had a great day with their presents and eating good food, their grief put a little at bay.

It isn't often that an opportunity arises to make Christmas for others and I thought this was marvelous how so many people joined in.

Remembering that Christmas always reminds me of the feeling I get when I hear the Who's in Who-ville singing their Christmas song on Christmas morning anyway after the Grinch stole everything.

"Welcome Christmas"

fah who for-aze
dah who dro-aze
welcome Christmas
come this way!

fah who for-aze
dah who dor-aze
welcome Christmas
Christmas day!

Welcome, welcome
fah who rah-moose
welcome, welcome
dah who dah-moose
Christmas Day is in our grasp
as long as we have hands to clasp.

Fah who for-aze
dah who dor-aze
Welcome Christmas
bring your cheer
fah who for-aze
dah who dor-aze
welcome all Who's far and near.

Welcome Christmas, fah-who rah-moose
Welcome Christmas, dah-who dah-moose
Christmas day will always be
just as long as we have we.

Fah who for-aze
dah who dor-aze
Welcome Christmas, bring your light

Welcome Christmas
fah who rah-moose
Welcome Christmas
dah who dor-moose
Welcome Christmas
while we stand
heart to heart and
hand in hand.

Fah who for-aze
dah who dor-aze
Welcome welcome
Christmas Christmas
Day.

~Dr. Suess, 1957

Merme

Wow Merme that's a wonderful story, and just what Christmas is all about, we so easily get caught up in all the commercialism, it's so great to hear of such heartwarming acts of kindness.