When Christmas Truly Became About Family
When I was a young boy in the 70's, it was probably around the time I was 9 (my memory on the exact year is fuzzy), our family had what I consider to be our best Christmas ever. It was because we were out of money, and that meant that Christmas that year was about family. It was not going to be about toys and presents.
I'm the youngest of three siblings. My brother is the oldest, then my sister in the middle, and then me - the baby brother. I don't exactly remember If I was still holding onto the Santa Claus myth at this time but after this particular Christmas that was all moot.
My dad was a real estate associate and also worked the docks at night. Two jobs all the time. Always working, and especially on the weekends trying to land big real estate deals. Unfortunately, many of the deals he was working hadn't closed escrow before the holidays. We were living only off of his dock worker earnings which were barely paying for everything that year. This was before dock workers earned the big paying contracts on the dock via the ILWU.
I remember how my mom was embarrassed, but still asked her friends for food basics like bread and eggs and such. Her priority was to feed her family and she did. In fact, there was one dish she would make that was fun for us kids. She called it 'shit on a shingle.' Seriously, she used that language. It was canned tuna mixed in with a creamy soup like cream of mushroom and ladled over a piece of toast. The name helped us kids get past the fact that our dinner basically sucked!
Christmas was fast approaching, and our mom sat us down to have a little talk with us. She said that she was really sorry, but Santa wasn't going to be able to come to our house on Christmas night that year. But if we were all good and nice to each other, mom would take us to the drugstore the day after Christmas when they reopened.
You never saw 3 kids get along so well with each other. We played with the toys we already had. We really did have all we needed. We played out doors a lot back then - it was the 70's! We played a lot of board games as a family anyway, but during that December they were even more special. We laughed a lot that month. We grew closer as a family.
My childhood fantasy of Santa Claus was put away for good. But it was replaced with something so much better. A family that loved each other.
The day after Christmas, my mom was true to her word and she took us three kids to the nearby Sav-On Drugstore to look through the toy aisle with all the picked over stuff. Everything was on major discounts. I didn't get just one thing. I was able to get like three different toy packages. My favorite was a combo pack of different vehicles. One was missing and that was why it was so cheap, but I played with that set for years.
Many years later, I have my own two children and I remember that Christmas I had when I was young. I desire for my own children to know that sense of family love this Christmas and always. My parents didn't make it staying married, but that memory takes me back to a time when we experienced the true meaning of Christmas. When it was about the love of family.
May the love of God and the birth of our savior Jesus Christ remind you about the true meaning of Christmas. God bless you in a mighty way this season.
I'm the youngest of three siblings. My brother is the oldest, then my sister in the middle, and then me - the baby brother. I don't exactly remember If I was still holding onto the Santa Claus myth at this time but after this particular Christmas that was all moot.
My dad was a real estate associate and also worked the docks at night. Two jobs all the time. Always working, and especially on the weekends trying to land big real estate deals. Unfortunately, many of the deals he was working hadn't closed escrow before the holidays. We were living only off of his dock worker earnings which were barely paying for everything that year. This was before dock workers earned the big paying contracts on the dock via the ILWU.
I remember how my mom was embarrassed, but still asked her friends for food basics like bread and eggs and such. Her priority was to feed her family and she did. In fact, there was one dish she would make that was fun for us kids. She called it 'shit on a shingle.' Seriously, she used that language. It was canned tuna mixed in with a creamy soup like cream of mushroom and ladled over a piece of toast. The name helped us kids get past the fact that our dinner basically sucked!
Christmas was fast approaching, and our mom sat us down to have a little talk with us. She said that she was really sorry, but Santa wasn't going to be able to come to our house on Christmas night that year. But if we were all good and nice to each other, mom would take us to the drugstore the day after Christmas when they reopened.
You never saw 3 kids get along so well with each other. We played with the toys we already had. We really did have all we needed. We played out doors a lot back then - it was the 70's! We played a lot of board games as a family anyway, but during that December they were even more special. We laughed a lot that month. We grew closer as a family.
My childhood fantasy of Santa Claus was put away for good. But it was replaced with something so much better. A family that loved each other.
The day after Christmas, my mom was true to her word and she took us three kids to the nearby Sav-On Drugstore to look through the toy aisle with all the picked over stuff. Everything was on major discounts. I didn't get just one thing. I was able to get like three different toy packages. My favorite was a combo pack of different vehicles. One was missing and that was why it was so cheap, but I played with that set for years.
Many years later, I have my own two children and I remember that Christmas I had when I was young. I desire for my own children to know that sense of family love this Christmas and always. My parents didn't make it staying married, but that memory takes me back to a time when we experienced the true meaning of Christmas. When it was about the love of family.
May the love of God and the birth of our savior Jesus Christ remind you about the true meaning of Christmas. God bless you in a mighty way this season.
Beautiful Story of love and true values. God bless you brother. Thank you for sharing.
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