Stars Were Gleaming

Advent - Day 10

And behold there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you. And behold this is not all, there shall be many signs an wonders in heaven.
                                                                Helaman 14:5,6

The Unexpected Christmas

by Enid O. Ellis

     With wind howling down from the Cascade Mountains, December 1969 was bitterly cold and snowy in  Wenatchee, Washington. As a single mother, I and my children struggled just to stay warm and fed. I worked at minimum-wage jobs and attended nursing school, and often I went two or three days without eating at the end of the month to give the children more food. At times even the children went to bed hungry, and none of us had adequate winter clothing.

     Wendell was in grade school, Brent was in preschool, and my three year old twins, Michael and Michelle, stayed with a state-paid babysitter while I was gone. Just four months before, Wendell and I had joined the church, and as a result my parents, brothers, and sisters wanted nothing to do with us. With the holidays approaching we really had no one to turn to for help; as a new convert, I didn't know I could ask my bishop.

     Ten days before Christmas, after a great deal of whispering among themselves, my children approached me one evening while I was studying. Nine-year-old Wendell tugged my sleeve and asked, "Mama, when are we going to get a Christmas tree and some presents?" Brent piped up and asked, "Or are we going to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas this year?"

     These were the questions I'd been dreading. I swallowed a lump in my throat and blinked away my tears and said, "I'm afraid we're not going to have any Christmas presents this year."

     "Why not, Mama?" they asked.

     "Well, Grandma and Grandpa have asked us not to come over since we joined the Church, and we just don't have any money for our own Christmas," I answered.

     "Oh Mama, nothing?" asked Wendell. "Santa won't forget us though, will he?"

     I replied that Santa probably wouldn't be able to stop at our house that year.

     For the next few days the children seemed somber. They often stood by the front window and looked out at passers-by and neighboring festive houses. While their playmates bubbled with excitement about the presents and goodies being prepared in their homes, my children quietly accepted the fact that no packages or decorations or other signs of Christmas were appearing in our house.

     Our ward had a Christmas party planned for Saturday night, 20 December, but we decided not to go because the meetinghouse was a mile and a half away and walking was our only means of transportation. However, a car pulled up at our house on the evening of the party, and our home teacher knocked on our door.

     "Come on," he said. "Let's go to the Christmas party! Get your coats on, kids."

     The party was the first real Christmas flavor to come into my children's lives that year. I don't know what they talked with Santa about, but they appreciated his gifts of candy and oranges, and their spirits seemed much uplifted afterward. Buoyed by my children's renewed enthusiasm, I used their watercolors to paint a Santa face on our front window. Now we had some decorations.

     When Christmas Eve arrived, I had only $1.25 in my purse. We walked to the grocery store, where I bought each child two tangerines and the cashier handed them each a large candy cane. Along with the story of Jesus' birth, that would be the extent of our Christmas. As we rounded the corner on our way home, Wendell shouted, "Hey, Santa came!" The other children echoed his cries upon seeing a beautifully decorated Christmas tree on our porch. Mounting the steps, we saw two large boxes, previously hidden from view, placed next to the tree.

     One box was full of food, and the other was full of presents. I could hardly believe my eyes. Wendell plugged in the Christmas tree lights as soon as we moved the tree inside, and the children pinched and shook each present as they set it under the tree. Their eyes were full of wonder.

     Next we unpacked the food in the kitchen. The children had never seen so much in one place except at the grocery store. Even Wendell couldn't remember having a whole turkey in the house.

     "We won't have to go to bed hungry tonight!" said Brent.

     I fixed the children a special Christmas Eve supper. Afterwards we sat around the Christmas tree and enjoyed the lights while I read the story of the birth of Jesus. "We have a lot to thank Heavenly Father for tonight," I said. We knelt in a circle and said a prayer of gratitude.

     When we opened the presents the next morning, each child received exactly what he or she had wanted. In addition, each child got a warm outfit, gloves and mittens, and money for boots. Someone had made clothes for the doll my daughter received. The food was enough to last us several weeks beyond Christmas.

     I may never know who played Santa that year or how they knew what the children wanted. Everyone in our ward denied involvement, but I'm certain it was some of them. I'll always remember that Christmas as the best of my life, and my grown-up children feel the same way. We felt the Spirit of Christ that day more than we ever had before and realized that our Savior does watch over his children.

Ten Questions for Ten Things of Thankful

Kristi, over at Thankful Me, invited others to answer these questions in a post. For once these are questions I can answer: 

1.  What small act of service have you received that has meant a lot to you?  
At a time of marital crisis a friend sent me a gorgeous floral arrangement. She knew I couldn't announce the crisis in church so was having to face it alone. When it arrived I bawled over her thoughtfulness and generosity.

2.  What was your favorite meal when you were a child?
My mother's tacos and enchiladas. She had learned how to cook authentic Mexican from the ladies in the Spanish Branch where she attended because of my dad's assignment early in their marriage.

3.  Do you enjoy camping?  
Yes. I enjoy the quiet, the fresh air, the challenge of "playing pioneer" and the stars overhead at night.

4.  Have you moved (changed houses) more as an adult, or as a child?  
I never moved as a child, except to change bedrooms. As an adult I've moved twenty-three times. I've become a gypsy. Actually, I moved some as a young adult, as a missionary, and then I married a Marine and have moved following him around. I'm so used to it that every three or so years I get an itch to move again. I like the challenge of a new place.

5.  Where would you like to retire, and why?  
Somewhere close to children and grandchildren, hopefully somewhere south of where I am now so the winters would be milder. But maybe we'll stay here and just be snowbirds travelling south for the winter. We're about ten years from retirement.

6.  If you had a free day next week, how would you spend it?
If I had a WHOLE day free I'd use it to re-organize my Family History paperwork. I need to, but just can't quite get to it.

 7.  If you could suddenly develop a new talent or skill, what would it be? 
In 2008 I enjoyed four months of violin lessons. I regret that I couldn't continue because I thoroughly enjoyed it and wish I'd had the opportunity when I was young to develop that talent.

8.  Do you know where your grandparents and/or great-grandparents were born?
Grandpa Joe was born in Dundee, Scotland, his wife Grandma Fern was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Grandpa Hansen was born in Kvitver, Norway, Nana Hansen was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Joe's parents were born in Scotland, Fern's parents were born in England and Salt Lake City; Grandpa Hansen's parent were born in Norway, Nana's parents were born in Denmark.

9.  What is one trait that describes you?
Knowledgeable. My children think I'm an encyclopedia; the people at church believe I know everything (they've never met anyone like me); and a dear friend informed me that one of my spiritual gifts is the gift of knowledge, I never knew that, I thought everyone who studied or read knew what I know. I'm not bragging, sometimes it feels like a curse.


10.  What is one of your family traditions?
Using brown paper bags for "wrapping" presents. That got started when our first two children were two and one. We went to a friends home for Christmas Eve dinner and I expected to be home in time to wrap presents. Wrong! We enjoyed ourselves so much that we didn't get home until almost midnight. I stuffed the presents in brown grocery sacks, stapled them shut and wrote names on the bags. Noble and Lt. Lehi enjoyed the bags so much that I never worried about wrapping things again. They played with their presents, putting them in and out of the bags all day. I use wrapping paper for gifts for other's because they don't follow our tradition, but I don't use much wrapping paper for our family gifts. A couple years ago I began making reusable gift bags for our Christmas presents and that has been a fun new tradition, based on the older one.