Holiday Greetings God’s timing is always perfect, even at Christmas By Elizabeth Vrudny Menahga I was a happy child growing up, but especially at Christmas. I loved the special music, the smell of almond extract in my mother’s cookies, cutting the tree, the snow and ice skating and the time off school. One year, about age 10, my mother said to me, “Don’t forget to pray for those at Christmas who might be sad.” “Who could be sad at Christmas?” I asked her. “Those who have lost loved one or those without families. Christmas can be a tough time,” she said. I thought about her words a long time. I think back and write this true story, for those my mother taught me to pray for. Dec.1984 Bunding up my infant son on a snowy December day, we were going to check the mail, as both of us needed some fresh air and exercise. Our mailbox was about a half-mile down a country road. I tucked him into my front carrier and set off.
Opening the box, I was thrilled to see a stack of Christmas cards! I loved Christmas cards! As I casually slipped them into a small bag, a postcard floated away and landed in a snowdrift. I bent down, blew the snow off the card and saw a picture of a new baby! As I turned the card over, I read three short words, and my thoughts drifted back to the previous year. Dec.1983 I had gone to work, as a nurse, and accepted my assignment that evening on the post-partum (new mommies and babies) unit. Getting a report from my supervisor, I found I had three patients. Two second-time moms going home the next day and one special mom who needed extra care, as I found out her baby had been stillborn. I decided, after saying a prayer along the way, to see the grieving mommy first. Her name was Amy. Entering her room, I saw the dad by her side and Amy sobbing.
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Editor’s note: Storytelling by Enterprise readers is one of our favorite holiday traditions. So grab a cup of hot cocoa and snuggle under a warm blanket to enjoy poems, memoirs and short fiction by your friends and neighbors. There are tales to make you feel grateful, to remember and to be hopeful. Thank you to our contributors!
Perfect gifts are sent from above By Bob, Sharon and Annie Schinnert Nevis
It has been a year since they put me away in my special box in my place of honor in the dark corner of the shed. Once again, I’m naked as the I knew it must be getting day I was brought home! I will close to the time for me to soon look very different. Dress make another appearance me up a bit, add a touch of because I could hear Bob and bling and I just may be a sight Sharon loudly discussing who to behold! put what away last year and I guess I should explain. where did they put it. I’m Bob and Sharon’s Christmas tree. GIFTS: Page B7
Do you still believe? homestead cabin, which later turned into one of the first My two oldest children were resorts in our area. They had wonderful memgetting to the age where Santa Claus was a “maybe?” in their ories of Christmas, as did my mother, and they got to remiminds. I hated to see that wonderful niscing as we all sat around the belief disappear, as it meant my table after eating our lunch. They spoke of how beautiful babies were growing up. Santa Claus always made his visit and the Christmas tree looked on Christmas morning when they still does for that matter! But this is a recollection I will came down from upstairs. It always hold close to my heart. was always so tall that it went That same Christmastime, up into the stairwell, and they my mother’s two oldest sisters would see it as soon as they got to the stairs. came for a visit. They were born in 1900 and 1901, and grew up in a log BELIEVE: Page B6 By Teresa Avenson Conway Dorset
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