Christmas: Thinking Back...

When I think back to my childhood and asked who my favorite  teacher was, I would answer without hesitation that her name was Wilma Sappington. Mrs. Sappington was the type of teacher that you would dream to have. She made learning fun and very meaningful.  There are several things that I remember about her. I can still visualize her sitting beside me, helping me to learn to make a Cursive “W”.  My last name was Warren.  Now being left handed, making that slant was not easy.  Perhaps since her first name was Wilma, she had that same experience when she was a child, I am not sure.  Another thing I remember about her was that she had a contest every month where whoever drank the most cartons of milk would be the Milk Queen or Milk King for the next month! Well, I got to be Milk Queen one month and I still remember how that made me feel.  I was obsessed with crowns anyway, always making them out of aluminum foil and wearing them around the house.  The third thing I will mention (and believe me, there are more) was that in Mrs. Sappington’s class we had a Christmas play….yes, Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the real thing.  Well, of course you know that I wanted to play Mary in the worst way but that role went to Barbara Hill, one of my best friends.  No, I got the part of one of the speakers!  So, when it came to the part of the shepherds, I stood up on a stool and recited the part of the story from Luke…”And in the same country, there were shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night....”  You know that one.  I memorized all of these verses to the “shepherd part” and still remember them to this day.  I also remember what I was wearing along with the giant bow that was always prominently on the top of my head, thanks to my mother.  Isn’t it funny the things that you can remember from so long ago?  Yet, I would have to think awhile as to what I did each day last week.

            I am one of the lucky ones who can say that I can only think of one or two times in my life that Christmas was not a special time of the year.  As a child the anticipation of Santa was more than I could stand!  I would never be able to sleep the night before.  I was a true believer that Santa was real and remain a believer still today.  We always opened presents on Christmas morning and I can remember the wonderful sounds of rustling of paper late the night before as my parents were doing last minute wrapping and getting ready the next day.  I bet this was always a special time for them, now that I think about it.

            I know that it certainly was a good time for me when I had sons of my own.  I spent many a Christmas Eve staying up late getting things ready for them so that it would be magical when they woke up and came down the stairs. How I treasure those memories!

            Even though my parents made Christmas consistently wonderful for my brother and me as far as Santa was concerned, there was no doubt in our minds as to what we were really celebrating.  Much emphasis was put on the birth of Jesus and what that meant to the world.  It was a tradition at our house on Christmas Eve to have a “program” of sorts and everyone was expected to be there.  It usually consisted of my daddy reading the story from the Bible, and then my brother and I would take part somehow.  Mother played the piano and we sang carols.  This tradition continued until my father’s death in 1990.  Only, in addition to his reading the story, we had performances from John and from Robert.  I was even known to sing!  But, the important thing is that we all had a part to play in this important service.  I remember the first Christmas Eve after daddy died.  My mother came to Texas.  We still had our “program” and I have a picture of Robert reading the Christmas story in daddy’s place.  Unfortunately over the past years, we have discontinued having our special time.  Part of this was due to the fact that I was always at the church on Christmas Eve playing the piano for sometimes 4 or 5 services that day.  Anyway, I dropped the ball with keeping that tradition alive and it makes me rather sad when I think about it.

Christmas has changed over the years since the kids are grown, but it is still a wonderful time to be together.  I love getting the house decorated and anticipating their arrival.  The best Christmas for me is when all of us are under the same roof!  I know that there will be new traditions and new memories to be made and for this I am very grateful.