In 1989, I gave my four remaining great aunts spiral notebooks,
pens and a list of questions. I wanted
to know of their childhood years, their parents and their grandparents. Please tell me what they were like. What did
their home look like? Walk me through it, please. What were their parents’ favorite Scriptures
and hymns (and theirs as well). I asked
about their Christmas memories at ‘the homeplace’ out in the country. It has been years since I read what my great
aunts wrote. Early this morning, by the
light of the Christmas tree, I curled up on the sofa and read my Aunt Cecile’s
memories of Christmas. All of my great
aunts have now passed away but in the scribbled words found in a notebook from
someone who grew up with so very little, I received what I most needed to
receive this morning … a reminder that LOVE is more important than anything else
in this world.
"You should have seen our decorations. Garland and Espie and I (and at times Beulah,
your grandmommy) would go to the woods and hunt running cedar that could be
draped over our windows and on our pretty tree we’d find. Mother would pop and string popcorn and drape
it all over the tree. We used holiday
pieces off of trees that had red berries on them. We would try and help Mother place all of this
where it would look the prettiest. There
was plenty of room for presents under our tree but we did not find many there. Maybe some parched peanuts, some molasses
candy that she would wrap and put in the bag with the peanuts. Just something like that. No gifts at all. But with all of that effort there was A HEAP
OF LOVE."
(Back to me … I will take some parched peanuts, some
molasses candy and A HEAP OF LOVE any day)
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