My Favorite Christmas Memory

At this time of year, parents everywhere are trying to make a Christmas-to-remember for their children. Stop trying so hard. Memories are made from the simple joys we share with others. 

My favorite one is when I was young. All five of us, my parents and us 3 girls sat together at the dining room table, laughing and joking over the gift box we'd received. We slowly sampled each triangle of cheese wrapped in foil, sliced the salami, and ate on saltine crackers. Vocally, without fear of a scolding, we each commented about the cheese we liked best. Dad preferred the stinky kind. Mom preferred the white ones. I liked the mild orange ones. We all loved the salami. The saltine crackers were just fine for us.

My dad worked for a cattle company. Every Christmas, he would bring home gifts from the many trucking companies who hauled the cattle to and fro for them. Besides a large gift box of cheese, there would always be a huge, several layer box of Peggy Ann chocolates. After the holidays and the box of chocolates remained in the refrigerator, one of my sisters, who I won’t snitch on by name, would sneak into the box and poke a fingernail in the bottom of each remaining chocolate until she found her favorites. Coal should have been in her stocking the next year, but never was.

The tradition of opening the cheese gift box came at the end of a long day. Both parents worked together to make us a lovely supper. We unwrapped gifts, attended the Christmas Eve Candlelight Vigil at our church, and sang Christmas carols. It was a lovely tradition.

Many years later, my mother confided in me of her struggle to spend the same amount of money on each child to equal the same number of gifts. It was important to her and not realized by her children. During the years the cattle business did not do well, she secretly made trips to the local Goodwill and repainted used toys for us in the garage. We never knew. Back then, commercials were not so strongly targeted. Children did not demand the latest, hottest new toy or gadget for Christmas.

My mother is gone now. It saddens me to think how hard she worked to make Christmas special for my sisters and I. Her own childhood holiday memories were the good fortune to receive her own orange and a few pieces of candy in her large family of 8. When our town began the annual tradition to create food baskets for the needy, Mom was first in line to help pack and deliver them in hopes of ensuring no child would be hungry at Christmas.

Dad is now 92, still able to live at home, with the help of my sister. I plan to send him a cheese basket with salami and crackers and instructions to not open until we arrive. Together, we can sample the cheeses, eat the salami, and enjoy the fancy crackers they now include in such gifts. We will talk of the old days and be proud of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren that have such a bright future before them. All because of a man who worked so hard to provide for his family and a woman who made lasting impressions shaping the giving spirit continued today through her daughters.