The Best Christmas

The following is a guest post from our friend, Shirley S. Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?

Looking back on my childhood most of my fond memories are those of my grandparents. My grandmother wore a digital hearing aid, without it she could barely hear anything at all. I was raised by them from the age of seven and they are still my support system and who I turn to when times get rough. The older generation is a different breed of people and I feel privileged to have been raised by them as they taught me so many life lessons the old fashioned way, which in my opinion is the best and only way to raise a child.

I have so many good memories of them, but one that stands out the most in my mind is also one of my first that I can recall. It was my first Christmas living with them, we lived in a run-down house with a wood stove for heat and our only water source was well water. It was so desperately cold in that old house so my brother and I would sleep bundled up together under many blankets on the couch.

Christmas Eve wasn't much different to us from any other night of the year, since my grandparents couldn't afford to buy the food for Christmas dinner, there wasn't the familiar smell of the Turkey roasting or pies baking. Although we were very young, we knew that there was barely any money for the household so we assumed there wouldn't be much in the way of gifts.

Just before going to bed that night my grandmother came in to pray with us before we went to sleep. Though we had it so rough ourselves we always prayed for those less fortunate than us. My little brother stated in his prayer "Even though we have no money, do you think that Santa could bring me a one dollar toy?", when my grandmother heard this she began to giggle.

As all kids do on Christmas Eve, we almost never fell asleep that night. We woke up bright and early, and beside the couch where we were sleeping were two large brown bags. I peeked down inside of mine and what did I see, about ten small dollar toys. I have never been as happy as I was that very moment, you would have thought that we’d been given a million dollars! I will never forget that day as long as I live and I thank my grandmother for making that Christmas so perfect for us.