…just for a minute, a few minutes maybe…go back and think of a Christmas when everything was happy. Do you have a memory like that? …or do you have sad memories associated with the day when it seemed the rest of the world was happy?
I saw an advertisement by a company showing their particular brand of ham being sliced and they were something to the effect of…” skimp on something else, splurge on this”. Not those exact words, but that was the meaning. As I watched that commercial, I started to cry. I had a picture in my mind of a child who was hungry watching that and wishing…or a dad or mom that couldn’t afford a can of Spam, much less a ham like that and it made me sad and want to help someone…
I saw a man huddled in a corner of a building where the wind couldn’t reach him, a mom standing on the corner with a baby in a stroller… a man approached me as I was putting fuel in my car and as he started to ask, I interrupted him saying, “Sir I don’t have any cash”. He smiled and said, “no one does any more”. He told me that he was out of work and needed to be able to buy food. I told him that what I could do was to put gas in his vehicle. He smiled and said, “Mam if you’ll let me put ten dollars of gas in it would help so much.” I told him to go ahead and fill it up, but he refused to do that. I noticed that his hand was terribly red and swollen and he winced when it brushed by the gas hose. I asked what had happened, he showed me something that looked like a snake bite, he said it was a spider but there were two punctures, and they were swollen and had puss in them. I asked him if he would let me pray for him and he quickly said, “Yes, please do”… so there in front of the gas pump I lay my hand on his shoulder and prayed for God to heal him and to help him in his situation. I have continued to pray for him every day since.
I don’t have the time or resources to help all the homeless and needy people, much less all the sad animals I see that are homeless and need food… I have two stray cats and one dog that I have rescued, and Lord help me, I am so allergic to them…
I have prayed for the weather to break if only for those who have no shelter…my heart breaks for them… but what I can do is to pray and offer help and solace to those that God puts in my path.
I have a lot of happy memories of Christmases, happy family gatherings, food, fun, songs, prayers… and now I am thinking of a Christmas when I was in the seventh grade, I knew I had failed math and hid that fact from my dad until after the holiday…dreading the whole time when I would have to tell him.
Then there is the Christmas day 8 years ago this year when my mother left her earthly body sitting in a little white leather recliner to go and be with my dad in heaven… instead of making me sad now to think of it, I feel happy that she reunited with daddy and got to see Jesus on the day we celebrate His birth.
Share something with me that you remember and have a very Merry Christmas!
Harolene.com 
I remember Christmases when I was young that so many of our neighbors would come to our house on Christmas eve. Our school for boys would decorate the entire property & had a train kids could ride. We would ride through oohing & ahhing at the beautiful lights & decorations . Then I remember I’m 1976 when it was so cold & AP was working out of state & our electricity was turned off. Ice formed on our aquarium. We had 1 big log for the fireplace & Jennifer & I huddled in an army sleeping bag as I told her the story of our Savior’s birth. The Weeks & the Chandlers came over the next day & brought us food & got the electricity turned back on for us. I’m thankful for my many blessings, yet my heart hurts for the millions who are hungry & sick & have no home & are cold & lonely. No, we can’t help everyone, but we all can help someone. Merry Christmas, Harolene.
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How precious to hear that memory from you Jill, thank you. I love you very much old friend, Merry Christmas 🎄
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Don had a story about how he played God in a christmas play, and afterward a kid went up to him and said ‘hey you’re god.” and after that he wasnt allowed to play god anymore. then the glitter… so much glitter… also the stories of him stacking the big speakers on top of one another and bishop telling him to never to do it again because it took 2-4 people to get them down…
This season has been odd without him. but i know he’s happy with Pat again. he talked about her all the time and how much he missed her. so i know he is happy and not hurting any more.
~Keep me, liam and our family in your prayers. Liam is fighting major depression after the loss of their dad, and i’ve been fighting conversion disorder which causes stress to turn into seizures.~
Merry Christmas and happy birthday,
From Betsy
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Thank you Betsy! Don… yes there are so many stories, but the one thing I appreciated more was his loyalty to me personally. He would back up in the back by the dumpster and leave his car lights on so that when I left he could make sure I was safe. So many late nights of rehearsals and he was always ready to help with anything I needed. God bless him and God bless you and yours ♥️
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Harolene,
You did good. Your post trips me up with a poetic surprise.
The consummate sentimentalist celebrating the quintessential sentimental holiday. Whether you celebrate Jesus or not, Christmas is that most sentimental of sentimentalities.
1976.
Of course, there was another holiday that year which rivaled Christmas for spectacular celebration because of its anniversary falling on a double 0 number. And I have early childhood memories of that too. Yet, I cannot be certain if it was the same year as my Christmas memory or one close to it.
One of those years in there, I came to terms with the “realness” of Santa Claus. And I recall running this by my mother quietly who asked me to pretend with her for my little sister’s sake. I feel a little like Forrest Gump in that Mama knew just what to say to repair a whole blown up world with a new one so easily for me. I now was drafted to work behind the scenes, and there is a whole world to explore behind them!
But that is not the truly special memory, though it ranks up there.
No.
For me it was the babysitter.
Mom and Dad had somewhere to be one night as the big day neared. It was not yet Christmas Day nor the Eve, but very close to it. Our family had set up our tree, and lit it up, and us kids were dazzled by it, of course.
The sitter was a boy, probably about 7th or 8th grade, a friend from church. His name was Jay. And when bedtime came, which probably wasn’t that long before my parents return, rather than fighting with us kids to get into our beds, he cleared the gifts away from under the tree, and we all laid down on the floor scooting our heads up under it, looking up through the lit branches where we quietly talked for about half an hour and drifted off to sleep. I remember the contagious yawn, and how we laughed about it forever after, it seems.
A warm memory for me if ever there was one.
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That memory of looking up from under the tree 🌲? That’s a memory for me also only the tree was one of the first aluminum ones with the revolving color disk. Such a warm, magical time. We had 1 gift each and my brother (unbeknownst to us) had opened the paper and previewed them. Where have the years gone ?? I’m praying for you and your mission and all the dear souls you have brought into the shelter of yours and your precious wife’s sheltering arms. God bless 🎁🙏
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