Posted on 12/17/2002 11:23:00 PM PST by daisyscarlett
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12-16-02 Christmas Is...FReeper Memories 12-17-02 FReeper Pets on Parade
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They would sleep during the summers in the park and save up enough money to pay for a one room attic flat in the winters. My grandmother spoke little english and had a hard time getting enough work, but she finally went to work in a factory sewing. Then the union came along and took money from her check to give to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade! She was outraged! They took her hard earned money and gave it to the Communists, she said!
Well, that is how it went for them for years, but in spite of that, my mom was the validictorian of her graduating class and she won the state spelling championships over the years.
Back to my story. My uncle watched his mom on her knees praying and wondered what was wrong. Surely something, because he had never seen that before. The next day, however, he went to school and opened his lunch bag to find two fish heads....all she had been able to scounge for his lunch. If you ask my uncle today if he wants fish, he abruptly says "NO!"
But he also recalls another time when they had no food and his mom asked him to please take the 2cents they had and go to the grocer and ask him to break a loaf of bread because they could not afford the entire loaf. It was winter time again. My uncle was proud and embarrassed that he could not go buy the entire loaf. It was 3 cents and he only had 2. He stumbled along to the store, walking slowing and praying to God that he would be spared that embarrassment. Suddenly he tripped and fell in the street. Right there in front of him was a penny! He checked his pockets to see if it was one of his pennys! It was not! He now had 3 cents and could run to the store and buy an entire loaf of bread!
Hmmmm... I think we're looking at 75° today. Maybe you should come on home to the Texas Gulf Coast!
(((((HUGS)))) to you!
FReegards...MUD
Nonetheless, from earliest memory I was taught to cherish them and the lives they lived, and respect them.
Not one of them - having numerous progeny and grandchildren and great grandchildren - ever, ever gave me a Christmas present - but I never equated that with love!
They gave me examples of triumph, and the sense of reverence - especially my minister grandfather and his wife, beloved by all in the small town to which they retired.
What they gave to life in their many years was imparted to thousands in towns and big cities all over South Carolina.
The gift they did give was precious special letters on my birthdays - and the one for my birth my grandfather penned to my parents with his wish for my life!
The commandment is to honor your Mother and Father... and all those before them - in thought and deed.
We become the giver of the gift that is passed down.
Among my best memories is when I won the Florida Spelling Bee in 1947 to represent the state in the National one in Washington, D.C.
My grandparents in South Carolina listened to the competition on the radio, and I was elated they could be proud of me.
There also was the Sunday in 1952 during the Korean Conflict when I visited them on a weekend from Parris Island, and they insisted I wear my U.S. Marine Corps uniform to the service and sit in front.
My stately grandfather was still preaching and my dear grandmother playing the piano - a cousin sang, Bless This House.
Yes - memories of the heart at Christmas, and of those who shaped our hearts ~ ~ ~
(thanks, Mom & Dad, long gone, but still cherished and remembered.)
But I'm gonna before this week is out!
I'm only able to get on the internet from my computer at work as I'm not hooked up at home yet. but I did have some suggestions of how I could get around that I think I'll try.
Back atcha, Pip! ((((((Pip))))))
: )
Wish you hadn't told me that. LOL
How about you? Do you have a place of special memory or a time of special memory that really gets to you every Christmas?
My mom would tell us lots of stories about when she was a little girl growing up during the Depression.
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