I am going to do something I haven't done before! You will receive 2 posts on Christmas - one today and one tomorrow. There were just so many beautiful memories - I don't want to just toss them out. So just count these as my gift to you the readers. Your response to these stories have been wonderful! Sandi To Mother from Santa: "This is a story about my mother who passed away October 2003. When she was a little girl her mother and father were divorced. She was an only child of that marriage but each parent remarried and had children with their new husband and wife. My mother didn't feel very wanted because she didn't feel like she belonged anywhere. Her step mother resented her and her step father resented her so when Christmas would come she didn't get much. One Christmas in particular she always remembered was at her grandmother's house, the Christmas tree seemed 20 feet tall. Of course when you are 5 it does seem tall. When they started passing around all the presents her step sisters got big presents that turned out to be beautiful dolls. She only got a small hand carved piece of wood that was of two birds eating a cracker. (Now it is a very cherished piece of course). But she was so hurt she went under the stairway and cried. As a child she never got a doll for Christmas and she always had wanted one year after year. The year of 2002 I knew my mother of 79 was not going to be around much longer and was afraid I wouldn't have another chance so I bought her a beautiful porcelain collector baby doll that reminded me of one that would have been purchased back in the 1920's or 1930's. I wrapped it and placed it under the tree that year at my brother's house without anyone knowing who it was from. I attached the note " December 25, 2002. Dear Bettie Lee, Mrs. Clause and I want to apologize for the delay in getting this gift to you. As we were planning for our trip last night we found this gift that was supposed to be delivered to you approximately 70 years ago. We found it tucked back behind some other toys. We are very sorry. Now we know why you were sitting under those stairs crying. It was because we forgot your gift. We hope you can forgive us, we didn't forget you on purpose. It is very hard to find good elf help these days. I couldn't get into your house last night to deliver this, so I left it at your son's house instead. Your husband surely secures your house now that you don't have any children there with you. Very truly yours, Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR" When my mother was handed the gift everyone in our family (all 36 of us) stopped opening our gifts to see what was in the mysterious package with no name except who it was to. As she opened the letter and read it out loud she began to cry and tears streamed from every eye in the room. She opened the gift and cried. The doll sat on her bed until the day she died which was October 10, 2003 and my dad saw to it that it was buried with her. I miss her dearly, especially during the holidays." (Sheila) Christmas in Cave City: "The year was about 1928 when I was five years old. It was around seven or eight miles out of Cave City, Ky. out past Shady Grove cemetery, in Hart County. And is now a part of Mammoth cave National Park, was where we lived. It was a little four-room house, very primitive and by today's standards, it would be considered uninhabitable. Was heated by a wood-burning stove. Water was carried about a quarter mile in a galvanized bucket and not a drop was to be wasted. The wash water ,which ran off the roof was collected in a rain barrel and stored therein. This was used to wash clothes ,dishes and bathing. The house was on a mud road which was strewn with rocks and boulders. It was impassable by automobiles, and I think horses and buggies and wagons had a hard time negotiating it. Strangely, I do not remember anything being said about Christmas or Santa Claus , but that is a while ago and I may have forgotten about it if there was. I definitely know there was no tree. But, all the same, I remember my mom giving me a brand new pair of "bib overalls", and a little home made wagon. They had used a cigar box for the wagon bed and had made the wheels from a wood limb that had been sawn off in thin pieces. The handle that you pulled it with was also a limb from a tree that had a "T" shape to it. I had on my new overalls and was pulling my wagon down the mud road and suddenly, the world spun out from under me and I landed on my back in a puddle, I was upset because my new clothes were ruined, but MOM said it would be alright, she could wash them and make them like new, but putting the "new "back in a pair of overalls is never as good as when they are really new. My dad died in January right after that and I know not what happened to my little Christmas wagon, and I definitely outgrew the overalls. (Tom) The Christmas of '53: "My most favorite Christmas was in 1953, the year I married, I lived about 5 miles away form my parents and the snow was getting deeper by the hour, The roads were closed snow drifted to the top of the fence post. This was my first Christmas away from home and it didn't look like we were going to get to go to my parents house. My next door neighbor came with horses and a sled we wrapped up really warm and put blankets every where on the sled and we took the sled to my parents house. My dad had cut a live tree and we strung popcorn and made construction paper loop rings and we hung the Christmas cards on the tree. and our star for the top was cardboard covered with foil. I wish I could have had a picture to remind me of how beautiful it was. Later that day we took the team of horses to the top of the hill near my parents house and unhooked the team and rode the sled to the bottom. We gathered all the neighbors in and had a wonderful Christmas. The sled was the only means of travel and everyone was glad to get to go. The Christmas story was read by my father and there was none of the hustle and bustle that we have now with the Christmas shopping. It was truly a Christmas to remember. Two days later the highway department brought a dozer in and cleared the highway .Christmas has never been the same since. Believe me that Christmas where we were all together was the best ever, My father died that April and Christmas has never been the same since." (Mary) The Nativity Play: "Fortunately, I've always had merry Christmases. Being a baby boomer, I'm almost embarrassed by the riches our family had during the holiday seasons. Both of my parents lived through the Great Depression, so they did everything they could to "make up" to their children, what they had lacked during their own childhood's. I must relate my 4th grade school Christmas play. Back in the early 60's, the 2 plays, that my elementary school produced yearly, were "The Blue Willow" & "The Nativity." I really, really wanted to play the lead in "The Blue Willow" but ended up as the sound effect person. November came 'round and tryouts for "The Nativity" were held. I feared that I would, again, be the sound effect person due to my triumphant work in "The Blue Willow." (Deserved a Tony award, in my opinion.) However, I was chosen to play Virgin Mary. Wonderful! A role to show my true talent! My mom made my costume - all in blues, a flowing gown, a long head scarf, a shawl ... different shades of blue. I thought it was the most beautiful outfit I had ever seen. (This was about the time when I was considering becoming a nun, just because I like their habits ... & we were Danish Lutherans.) The play went well ... no better virgin ever graced the stage of Monroe Elementary school, than I. Had the New York Times reviewed our play, I'm sure that we would have received 2 Thumbs Up with a special mention of my pious expression and the ability with which I handled the Baby Jesus. (Who was a life sized Betsy Wetsy doll.) With my triumphant stage presence still ringing in my ears, on Christmas Eve I pleaded with my mom to allow me to wear my Virgin Mary dress. She agreed & I greeted all of my family at the front door with the statement, "Hello! Merry Christmas! I'm Virgin!" (Having played her, I felt we were now on a first name basis ... ) My parents later (when I was older) related that there were lots of snickers from aunts & uncles & grandparents at my welcoming statement. And for those of you who are Rocky Horror Picture Show fans ... nope, I never made it on stage when the call went out for a virgin. " (Lynnea) The Girl From Uncle: "I was an only child raised in Ohio away from my mother's extended family in Louisiana and my father's, which were mostly split between the Bowling Green area and Indianapolis. My Aunt lived in Dayton - she was the reason we were there - she came in her teens to Dayton to work in about 1918 and when my grandfather died in 1925, she brought my father up to Dayton to finish high school. I always wished for siblings more than anything else - but with parents who married late in life at 39 and 44 and who accidentally had me at 44 and 49, it was something that never was going to happen. My father loved the aforementioned jam cakes but my mom made them for him throughout the year - I don't remember it as being something for Christmas. My mother was an elementary school teacher and she made cookies over the holidays. We always had a box of Esther Price chocolates. The Esther Price candy wasn't cheap, however and we made the box last as long as we could. It came in a beautiful foil-wrapped box that I recycled into Barbie/Skipper clothes keepers or else my Aunt Jodie in Louisiana, who often spent Christmas with us, would use to store her clipped recipes from newspapers and magazines. As an only child, I had nice gifts but some that I particularly remember were a pair of child-sized snow skis that I never got to use. In southern Ohio (60 miles from the KY line) we were at the bottom of the snow belt and the top of the Bible belt. It didn't snow enough to use them until I grew out of them! Nowadays, I buy my kids sleds or a new snow shovel as insurance that it won't snow enough to need them! Of course, some years we get a lot of snow but some we get barely any. The other was a Susy Goose brand Susy-Q Secret Agent Kit. It was about 1967 and it was probably developed because of all the secret agent boys toys inspired by the Man from U.N.C.L.E., James Bond and others. But this was for girls! I picked it out of the J.C. Penney catalouge - "Susy Q Secret Agent - She Always Gets Her Man!" It was a pink plastic purse with various articles of spygear such as sunglasses and a garter with a holster for a tiny pistol. When you pulled the trigger, out popped a fake (darn it!) lipstick that could be used as a whistle. I sure did love that thing! In second grade (1965) I got a Madame Alexander baby doll "Pussycat" that looked so real that when I took her for show and tell, holding her over my shoulder like a real baby, a teacher who came in the classroom was startled because she thought I had a real baby! The best thing about dolls back then - Barbie included - was that they didn't all have blond hair. Pussycat and my Barbies, Skipper and Tutti all had brown hair. In later years, my best gift was a 13" color TV I got in 1982 when I was 24. It was totally unexpected - back then we only had one TV set until I got that. Now we have a TV in nearly every room! (Martha) The Ballerina Doll: "I was 6 years old in the early '50s and we lived in the Knotty Pines Cabins in San Antonio, Texas. My memory is that it was a group of 2 bedroom cabins without any lawn, just dirt road, mostly occupied by Air Force personnel. At that time children could wander out of their parents' eye with no concerns, and my brother and I did exactly that. My favorite place to go was a toy store that was a couple of streets away. I think it was a small store, since I can still see in memory, how closely the counters were placed and how things were stacked up high on shelves. The top of my head didn't even reach the top of the counters as I stretched to reach for the ballerina doll that I loved. She sat on the counter-top in her crisp, pink tutu and pointy shoes, carefully packed with tissue in a box. I don't remember a clerk ever speaking to me, but I visited the ballerina doll every day, carefully caressing her as she nestled in her box. I really wanted Santa to bring me that doll. I whispered my wish to the Air Force base Santa my mother took me to see, and thought that would mean my wish would be answered. I really wanted that doll. Of course, you know what happened. My parents never knew about the doll, as my mother says now, or perhaps she was too expensive; but the doll wasn't delivered by Santa. More than fifty years later I still remember that doll and how much I loved her. I suspect if I would have gotten her as a present, she would be lost in my memory, but now I still see her fresh in her box forever and feel the child in me yearn for her. Other than a rabbit fur stuffed kitty my grandmother, Meme, gave me one Christmas and I wore down to it's leather, no other Christmas toy remains in my memory. I suspect this is something important to understand, but it eludes me still... a cherished memory of a toy not received." (Pamela) "My home in Louisville's west end had a large living room that was the focus of our evening activities when I was a child. At Christmas, the focus of our family was the Christmas tree. Dad would get out the one-of-a-kind Little Town of Bethlehem tree base that he had made when he was only 14 or 15, I guess. The stable where Jesus was born had the nativity set in it and a light. There was a tiny water well in the town square, old pottery water jugs, old oriental type rugs--all in miniature and all made by my dad. The tall tree he placed in the center seemed to grow out of that town--as though it were the center of the world. In some sense, I think it still is--the center of the Christmas story that brought to Earth the one who was it's Creator. Well, I have lots of Christmas memories that all sort of blend together, I think, because of the traditions that we always kept again and again. I loved unpacking the ornaments and seeing the old familiar things we always put on the tree. Sometimes we'd buy a new string of lights and, of course, tinsel. But I enjoyed the smell of history that clung to the old ornaments and in the old cardboard boxes they were stored in. When the lights were strung on the tree and on our front porch, the magic transformation from mundane to sacred was complete. Dad had even made a large Star of Bethlehem of wood, covered with white paper in the front, so the bulb in it gave it a soft glow. He built a special lattice for that end of the porch that was there year-round with the star-shaped opening that was waiting always for the next Christmas--to become, once again, our own special Christmas star. The rest of the year, it was an empty space--just as Christ's tomb was empty after he arose-just as our hearts are empty until we invite Him to make His home there. Well, ALWAYS, Mom or Dad would read the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas Eve. We'd eat some Christmas cookies with our milk or cocoa, and then off to bed to imagine what surprised might be under the tree. One year, I was so naughty. I'm ashamed to tell it, but I had decided I must become a wild animal trainer. My father had taken me to visit a pet shop downtown on Market Street, and the owner, Mr. Monday, had some wild animals there. He had a leopard, a Mynah bird that whistled seductively at me (and everyone else), and two gorillas in cages in his back room. Talk about an exotic smell! Well, I decided my parents should buy me a tiger or a lion cub for Christmas. I was sure that I could train the animal and then perhaps every Christmas they could add to my menagerie as I grew up preparing for my place under the Big Top. I was really perplexed on Christmas morning when there was no live jungle cat for me to play with. But I quickly forgot my tiger when I followed a string from under the Christmas tree out to the porch where my dad had a big box. It was a new green 20" Huffy bicycle. I learned to ride my bike that week, and so, I began to imagine that perhaps I could be a trick bicycle rider in the circus, instead, and just admire the big cats from afar. (Ruth) Texas Cedars: "Y'all may not believe this but we still use cedar trees here in north central Texas at Christmas time. And yes, the favorite way is to put it into a pail of dirt. We're covered up with cedars and most of us encourage folks from town to come out and get whatever they want so as to get rid of some of them. You don't suppose that some early Kentucky migrators brought these pesky but pretty cedars down here with them when they GTT do you?" (landjahead) Christmas Punch: "Christmas punch (or nog) and "Christmas Gift". My grandfather, Johnny FIERS, b: 1847 in Barren Co., KY (around Old Wisdom) would invite everyone, including people off the street, in to his home for Christmas Punch, which included some strong liquor He would also be the first to say, "Christmas Gift" in person, and would make early morning phone calls on Christmas morning in order to say Christmas gift. (R. M.) (c) Copyright 22 Dec 2004, Sandra K. Gorin