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When
Children were Children
My
most memorable Christmases
By Sharon Hopper
I
want to deviate from my usual tales about When Children were
Children for the next couple weeks to tell you about my most memorable
Christmases. I think at this time it is important to reflect and pass
on the
real meaning of Christmas.
When
I was about 27 or 28 we were very poor. I had a friend whose
husband was a music teacher and in those days teachers did not make the
money of
today. Christmas was coming and neither of us had a dollar to spare,
let alone
money to spend on presents or food for a fancy feast. We had no credit
cards in
those days. There were others
we knew would be alone for
the holiday. While we were shopping one day with our 5 children we came
upon an
idea. Why not pool all our resources and invite anyone who did not have
a place
to go and our families to a great feast. But where were we going to
feed all
those people? Well I had a huge family room and we decided to use saw
horses
and sheets of plywood that we had in our basement from building our
home. That
is another 4-year story.
Anyway
we ended up with tables that groaned with food and 36 adults
and children. Everyone had more than enough and we cried as we said the
blessing because without the co-operation of everyone it would have
been quite
different.
When
dinner was finished and the kitchen crew started their work
the rest of us gathered in our small living room and I played Christmas
Carols
and everybody sang. As I remember it was not the best performance, but
it was
surely one of the happiest I have ever heard. As for presents there
were very
few. But I must tell you it was truly one of the most meaningful
Christmases
that I will ever know.
It
is always said that this time of year is for love and sharing
and believe me there was a lot of love and a heap of sharing and I
don’t remember
if I received a present as such, but I received a huge blessing and
memory. Our
families laughing and enjoying in celebration was the greatest gift of
all. Merry
Christmas.
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