A Christmas Story By Me
It was Christmas time again. Everyone hustling and bustling about. The time for gift giving, friends and family, baking, candy making. Times were tough this Christmas. There would be more homemade gifts. There seemed to be less homes decorated with lights, fewer trees in the windows, and she noticed fewer cars in the shopping marts, as she went for groceries. It was a sad statement of the current economy. She was trying her best to bake everyone something for Christmas, make special candy, because money was tight. She had been stricken with an illness that kept her from working this year for months and never quite getting back up to snuff. Her pay checks got slimmer and slimmer, so there wouldn’t be the money she usually had at Christmas time for gift giving. She was a mother, though, and it was hard for her to come to terms with the fact that she couldn’t give good presents for Christmas. She had always wanted Christmas to be more…it never seemed as though she had given enough. Times had been rough before, but she would go to work without lunch money so her kids could have theirs. She would use her Christmas bonus every year for her family, taking none for herself. Her family was all grown up now. They had their own homes and families.
It was Christmas Eve. She had made lots of goodies for gift giving, only to find out no on wanted them. They didn’t want candy or cookies. They were fat enough. Thank heaven she would have a little Christmas bonus this year. She was one of the lucky ones to even have a job, let alone get a bonus. She would split the money up between her children, grandchildren, and their spouses. It wouldn’t be a lot, but it was all she had to give.
She heard from her friends that some of their kids didn’t even want to exchange gifts with them. One of her friend’s said that was fine, but why did they pick her to say this to and not their mother-in-law, who always seemed to get a present. Well, maybe she did more for them. Maybe she was more available. Maybe she came around more. Maybe she was more a part of their family.
Another friend had told her that her child wanted a really expensive gift, and that she felt bad she couldn’t get it for him. She just wasn’t going to have enough money.
Another friend had said her children never asked for anything, but of course knew they would get something. All children, young or old , will…as long as they have a mother.
It was a sad fact of life she was getting older now. She had not always made the best decisions in life. She didn’t have a big house or live in the nicest neighborhood. She didn’t even get to see her children but maybe once or twice a year…sometimes on Thanksgiving, and Christmas, occasionally through the year. She wanted them to come to her house, and she was always there, but they were busy. They worked. They had families of their own.
She vowed this year she would not run around trying to find a time they weren’t busy to deliver their Christmas gifts and would make them have to come to her house to see her to get them, but as it got closer to Christmas, she knew she would have to go. She hadn’t heard anything from them. Every time there was a plan made, it fizzled out.
So, she tracked them down, one by one, and in between their comings and goings, their busy social lives and the other people they had to visit, she went to deliver her meager Christmas gifts.
It was Christmas Eve, and she had called her children and wished them a Merry Christmas, and let them know she would cook a ham and have food to eat if they would stop by and see her on Christmas Day, as she hoped they would.
Time was passing by quickly. She lit her little table tree and got out her box of pictures. There were no presents under the tree. She had gotten them all delivered. She turned on “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and began to sort through her box of pictures. Christmas trees, presents under the tree, children with smiling faces as they opened their presents in their pajamas. Tears came to her eyes. Those were most CHERISHED Christmas memories.
Before she knew it, the clock had struck midnight, and she knew no one was coming Christmas Eve. She still had hope for Christmas Day. She was sitting in the chair holding a Christmas picture of her and all her children.
Christmas night at 10:30, she got a call from her daughter, but she couldn’t answer it. She was no longer of this world. She had passed on to the next. Her daughter figured she had gone to bed and didn’t investigate further. She was found by a neighbor, sitting in the chair by the window, clutching her picture to her heart.
I hope if you read this, you might remember your mother…think about what she did for you…you may not know the whole story…you may not know everything your mother went through for you to have the best Christmases she could give you.
If you can’t visit her, you could call her before she calls you on Christmas day. You could be the first one to call instead of her. That in itself would tell her you were thinking of her on Christmas and that even though she is not there with you, you haven’t forgotten her. You could play some childhood Christmas music and call your mom and let her know you are doing this. That will make her heart happy.
You never know…no matter what her age, this could be her last Christmas….you never know, it could be yours….remember, no one will ever love you like your mother, and when you get old it is a lonely time anyway, especially at Christmas and around the holidays. Don’t leave your mother sitting alone on Christmas with a box of pictures of Christmas PAST to look at. Give her a Christmas PRESENT.
