Christmas Memory

11 Christmas Memory Christmas is a wonderful time of year. Today, kids receive far more gifts than they really need. It seems as if all they have to do is ask. But when I was growing up, there was no money in our family. We were poor. My father tried his best. He usually sold five turkeys raised by us on the farm and used the extra money to buy each of us an orange. This was our Christmas present each year. And we all loved to receive it. But this year, the townsfolks had no money and were unable to buy my father's fat turkeys. He could get no money to buy our gift of oranges. So, my father came home and told us all in a grave and serious manner that Santa Claus had been in a huge accident near the North Pole, and he would be unable to make his regular Christmas visits on time. We believed Father of course, and not one of us complained. We accepted the story and did not expect any Christmas gift that year.

We made do with what we had. My mother cooked a turkey dinner, baking two of the unsold birds in the oven of the wood-burning stove. We had potatoes and carrots, turnips and gravy, and the richest apple pie! Later, we played outdoors in the new snow. And that evening, we sang Christ- mas songs around a warm fire. A few months later, when we went down for breakfast, we found our Christmas stockings hanging on the wall. In each stocking was one orange for each of us. We screamed and laughed, “ Santa did come to visit us! " We hugged each other. We peeled our oranges and had one small piece, allowing the sweet juices to run slowly down our throats. We saved the rest for later, eating a piece here and a piece there all through that day. We savoured each morsel of orange, allowing not one drop of its precious juice to fall to the floor. I always remember that Christmas, even if it was two months late.