December 20, 2021 - “I will remember the wonders of old….” Psalms 77:11
My brother Joe and I talked on the phone from 9pm to 12:05am(!) this morning. Our conversation was mostly about the memories of our childhood Christmases. After cutting a pine tree (one year a holly), we made our ornaments from Crayola-colored rings stuck together with water and flour glue. None of us ever saw or ate an apple, an orange or an English walnut until Christmas every year.
On Christmas Eve, we lay whispering in bed till daylight. When Mother and Daddy called us, we ran to the fireplace, warmed and opened our presents. A cap pistol with several rolls of caps was for many years our Christmas toy and we each got an apple and an orange. I was so proud of my English walnuts one year that I hid one on a window ledge and enjoyed it several weeks later.
Even thinking about the smell of fruit, fresh pine needles and smoking cap pistols can still bring tears to my eyes. We were unbelievably happy with so little and were truly a rich poor family. And even though those days are forever past, time hasn’t destroyed the happiness of them.
The memories live on.
