Sweet Christmas Memories

“Cornfwakes, Mommy! Cornfwakes!” To be fair, Anthony had probably seen more cornflakes than snowflakes during his then two and a half years, but he had the right idea. We were unloading decorations from our little trunk of goodies, and he was bouncing all over the room. He was old enough to catch the excitement about the Christmas holiday and he was chatting away. My cassette player was recording it all.

I had purchased the bright crocheted snowflakes from a local crafter. A great decoration - beautiful, kid-proof and cat-proof. They adorned the tree with other trinkets not really intended to be ornaments, but I loved telling the stories that went with each one, already a testament to how quickly this child was growing.

One was his first shoes - a soft tiny pair of black and white oxfords that were too little when he was born, so he never wore them except for a photo session at the Sears store in downtown Doniphan. An eighth grade class had pooled change to buy them. Another was a string of large empty thread spools, some wooden, some plastic, that one grandmother had provided to quiet her great-grandson’s whimpers during teething. By golly, it worked! A single shiny bell on a red and green striped ribbon that my other grandmother had given me when I was a teen made it on the tree, too, or was hung on a doorknob during the holidays.

Decorating always culminated with unwrapping the ceramic figures of the nativity scene, telling the story of Jesus’ birth from Luke 2 as we set them in the wooden stable. Few of those early mementos remain (the trunk was stolen), but the memories are intact, as are the smiles they generate. A nativity scene is still the centerpiece of the season. Merry Christmas!