Christmas in the Great White North
This time of year always makes the world seem a little brighter...just for a while. Some of my favorite Christmas memories are from the time I spent in northern Washington as a kid. We lived in a tiny town just south of the Canadian boarder. We probably would have been considered poor by most peoples standards but we didn't really know it.
My Step Dad had been laid off from the lumber mill in the fall. There was a small amount of money the folks had been squirreling away for the holidays, so there was hope. About two weeks before Christmas we got the call (or should I say word, telephones were a luxury), that we had Uncles, Aunts and Cousins stuck in Northern Indiana who needed money to get back to North Dakota, where they could stay with family until things could be worked out. The family meeting was held. The money was sent and Christmas was all but canceled.
Christmas Eve rolls around and about 4:00PM (already dark) so does the UPS truck. To my delight there is a large package for me. It's from my Dad on the other side of the country, it's a large black hard case and inside is my first acoustic guitar. It's almost bigger then I am... but thats ok, it will be years before I pick it up on a regular bases and learn to play it.
A short while later my Grandmother and her husband arrive for dinner with a car full of sports equipment formerly belonging to his grown son. There were balls, bats, gloves, bows & arrows. There was more stuff there then my step brothers or I could have imagined.
That Christmas was a miracle and I'll never forget it.
And God the snow was beautiful!
My Step Dad had been laid off from the lumber mill in the fall. There was a small amount of money the folks had been squirreling away for the holidays, so there was hope. About two weeks before Christmas we got the call (or should I say word, telephones were a luxury), that we had Uncles, Aunts and Cousins stuck in Northern Indiana who needed money to get back to North Dakota, where they could stay with family until things could be worked out. The family meeting was held. The money was sent and Christmas was all but canceled.
Christmas Eve rolls around and about 4:00PM (already dark) so does the UPS truck. To my delight there is a large package for me. It's from my Dad on the other side of the country, it's a large black hard case and inside is my first acoustic guitar. It's almost bigger then I am... but thats ok, it will be years before I pick it up on a regular bases and learn to play it.
A short while later my Grandmother and her husband arrive for dinner with a car full of sports equipment formerly belonging to his grown son. There were balls, bats, gloves, bows & arrows. There was more stuff there then my step brothers or I could have imagined.
That Christmas was a miracle and I'll never forget it.
And God the snow was beautiful!