This is an article I posted last year on my old blog.  I thought it was worth a re post. I hope you enjoy it!

My most memorable Christmas was when I was 11 years old. My father had left the year before and left my mom, me, my 2 younger sisters an my younger brother to fend for ourselves. That was the end of life as we knew it.

It was a few days before Christmas and my mother had been crying.. again.. and, of course, being the responsible one, I thought it was something I did. I went into my mother’s room and asked her why she was crying. She looked at me and said, “oh I’m just sad honey, and since you are old enough to understand I need to tell you that it will not be a very good Christmas for you kids. I can’t afford to buy presents, only give you the things I’ve made for you.” My mother was always very good with her hands and crafting was a big part of her/our lives. She had made us all some clothing out of old things that we couldn’t fit into anymore and of some materiel she had found at a good price at the local discount store. I told my mom that it was ok, that I like the clothes she makes me (even though I would have loved to have a new dress from the store), and the kids were little so they didn’t really care, as long as they got something from “Santa””. She hugged me,said thank you, and then she cried a little more. Then she said “I won’t be able to make a Christmas dinner for us either, we will just have a meat loaf and some potatos”. This was ok with me, because even meatloaf was a treat since we usually had some kind of canned meat, and there never was enough. We ate ALOT of canned meat from “the commodities” that we got from the state welfare program (they didn’t give food stamps in those days), a monthly distribution of canned meats, powdered eggs and a few more essentials I try not to remember. We had to make that food last for the month, which was difficult for a family of 5 with food enough for a family of 3!

I tried my best to help the kids understand that Santa was very busy and had alot of children to make toys for so there wouldn’t be as many as usual. My mom was holed up in her room working to make the clothes that ‘Santa didn’t have time to make’. On Christmas eve, we had gone to my Grandmother’s house and visited with the cousins, aunts and uncles and of course Grandma. We got some gifts from them and the kids were happily playing with the toys they got, wearing the new pajamas that grandma always gave us for Christmas, and chattering about all the great stuff they were sure that Santa was going to bring. My mom sat in her chair trying to put on a cheerful face, but wasn’t doing a very good job of it, she was still worried that the kids were going to be disappointed. About 7pm, there was a knock on the door, my 2 sisters jumped up and ran to the door yelling “It’s Santa, it’s Santa!!”, My brother, who knew about Santa before I did, and I just looked at each other. My mom asked me to answer the door. I opened the door to 3 smiling, familiar faces from the local grocery store that I often shopped at for my mom, they were each holding 2 bags and there was a box sitting on the ground. I looked in the box and there was a huge turkey, some sweet potatos, and a whole lot of other groceries in the bags they were carrying!! I looked up at Betty, the woman from the grocery store and she looked like an angel to me. Her face was surrounded by a beautiful soft glow and I just stared in awe. She reached down and hugged me and whispered in my ear “Merry Christmas Sweetheart!”. My mom came to the door, and with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face, hugged all 3 of them and choked out the words “Thank you so much and Merry Christmas!!” They all looked as if they too would cry but were able to maintain for the minute or 2 more that they lingered in the doorway. My mother was so happy that she was almost dancing as she put the groceries away.

The next morning, Christmas day, I was awakened by my brother who ran into my room yelling, “get up, get up! You have to see this!” I got up and walked out to the living room and couldn’t believe my eyes! There were 2 Sting Ray bicycles, a red one for my brother and a gold one for me, sissy bars, banana seats and all the bells and whistles! There was a tricycle for my sister and dolls, toys, candies, fruits and lots more for us! “I found it on the front porch when I woke up!” exclaimed my brother. He had woken my mom up to show her and he and she brought everything inside. My mom was overwhelmed. We all cried together and went to get the little girls out of bed to see what Santa had brought them. It turned out to be the best Christmas ever! It gave me a sense of the world and let me know that there are some wonderful people in it, people who care and share and give of themselves at Christmas. We never knew just who put the gifts on the porch, but I know that my “angel” had something to do with it.

I hope you can all take away a little message from this memory of mine, and that would be that Christmas is not so much a time for receiving but more or a time for giving to those who are less fortunate than you are. The most precious gift you can give is to put a smile on the face of someone that you know is in need.

Merry Christmas and Blessings to you all!