Christmas Memories

My mother-in-law died last summer at the age of 94.  She was a woman who grew up quite poor on a farm in Iowa and got married during the Great Depression.  At some time she decided to save anything and everything that came her way.  So when she died, there was quite a lot to empty out of her house.  Much got passed on to family members and friends.  But lots more ended up in our basement.  My husband and I are slowly working our way through all the bits and pieces.

A few weeks before Christmas I was going through a box of Mom's things that had been in her desk.  She loved little things, so I found tiny toys that she had saved from when her children were young: magnets, a jig-saw puzzle that fit in a match-box, little books, a tiny toy truck in its original box, and much more.

Another part of this story is a tradition that comes from my family of origin.  We always received one of our gifts at the table after Christmas Eve dinner, and I introduced that tradition to my husband when we married.  My husband suggested that, this year, we wrap some of Mom's little items for the table gifts and play a game with them.  So I selected eleven items (since eleven people would be at dinner) and wrapped them up.  After dinner, we each drew a number from one to eleven.  #1 got to select a gift.  After she opened it, and we all saw what it was, #2 selected a gift.  If #2 preferred the gift #1 had chosen, he could take #1's gift in exchange for his own, and so on down the line.  It was fun to see which item would be the most "desirable" and therefore traded the most.  It turned out to be a little book published in 1909, the year before Mom was born.

It was a wonderful time for our family.  We remembered much about Mom (and Dad, who died before her) as we opened each little gift.  The children in our family are now young men and women (ages 18-34), but they entered into the spirit of the game, delighting in each new item and remembering stories about their grandparents.  We distributed a few more items from Mom's huge collection, and we didn't spend any money.  (Even the gift wrapping paper came from her stash!) Then we went on to talk about memories of my parents, and our brother-in-law's parents.  All those persons who have gone before us were present with us again at the Christmas table. We all understood that we were celebrating their love for us even as we celebrated the gift of Love that Christmas is all about.

We also realize that the most meaningful memories are not mass-produced.

Amy Beveridge, Bloomfield, CT

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