A Merry Little Christmas

The Christmas that I was four years old was not a good one for my parents. My father’s job was barely making ends meet, and my parents’ worried every day about money. But some Christmases work out better than others.

This year, we have shortages. Someone may not get that item. You know the one. The one they asked for! The special one! We’ve been here, before. I remember Cabbage Patch dolls. People were giving hundreds to get their hands on one. Then, I got a phone call. There was one new, in the box, and I could have it for the retail price! I asked my four-year-old and she was cool. She wanted a Visible Woman that showed all of the body parts. The Cabbage Patch doll was just not on her list. So, I passed and said they could sell it to someone in a dither for it. Everyone thought I should take it and resell it, but I am far too busy at Christmas to start my own little side business. I haven’t a clue where the doll eventually went.

However, no one is immune. I once searched all of Indiana for Christmas Barbie. I finally got a message from my daughter at Purdue that she had found one in Lafayette, Indiana. I was thrilled to find I would have another Barbie doll to join the Barbie ROOM in our house. (Yep, Barbie took over what had been the coal room and filled it with what my boss called The Barbie Doll Hall of Fame.) We obviously needed that Barbie!

My most egregious action, however, was over a Strawberry Shortcake Kisses doll. My daughter confided on Christmas Eve that she had told only Santa she wanted the doll so she would know if he was “real.” Parents can be idiots, and I rushed out in a -40 degree F chill factor to get the doll. And parked my car facing the wind…where it would not start…and my husband had to come and start it. Meanwhile, I stood inside the toy store clutching a doll that smelled like something short of strawberries and got a migraine from it. The only saving grace was years and years later her son took to calling the doll “Strawcakes,” which is at least funny.

I am not faulting anyone for chasing a present. But we need a reality check. Especially this year, when Covid still hangs over us and there aren’t enough people to serve our every whim and what we want for Christmas could be on a boat outside of the harbor until February. I am older now. When I thought two of my gifts for grandchildren would be stranded elsewhere, I bought something small to open and said I would put a picture of the other present in a card. It is coming, would be the message, not here you go!

And that Christmas when my parents nearly filed bankruptcy? We went to my grandfather’s farm to get a free tree. We traipsed up and down hills, laughing as we went, until my mother found one sufficiently full and “about tall as tall” as her six-foot husband. They look smaller in the forest. The tree was too tall to fit in the house and my sister and I sat and giggled while my father sawed and sawed and sawed to get it to a size that would fit in our living rom. And we lived in the downstairs of an old mansion with high ceilings! Mother polished the hardwood floors until the tree lights reflected in the floorboards. My parents made their famous fudge and each of us got an ice-skating doll from the drug store and half a set of paper dolls. My sister and I sat at the foot of our huge tree with our presents, thankful for what we thought was the best Christmas ever! It is still my favorite memory of Christmas past.

We did not go through bankruptcy. Shortly after Christmas my father went to his favorite banker and asked for a five-hundred-dollar loan. The banker sighed.

“Ray, I don’t think that will help you,” he said.

My father thought, “Then that’s it; I’m bankrupt.”

Then, the banker added, “Let’s make it a thousand and get you out of debt.”

And it did. We never had another such year!

Whatever this Christmas brings, or cannot bring, love those around you. Be nice to cashiers and clerks who may be dealing with things you cannot imagine. Enjoy each other more than things. And have a Merry Christmas!