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Show THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Page 12 Volume IX Issue V December 15, 2003 MEMORIES cont. from page 5 Marilyn Brown, from Nordic, has a favorite Christmas memory of a story that she read many years ago in the little Guideposts Magazine. It impressed her so that she kept it. And that morning we were Nativity scene. so fortunate to hear her read it to us all between the snow covered Wasatch Mountains. The story is about a young boy, named Wally that was a bit slow. When it was close to Christmas the town’s Sunday school teachers started casting the children in roles for the Christmas play. They knew that Wally could not do much or have a lot of talking lines. So they made him the Inn Keeper. He stood behind the Inn’s door and when Joseph knocked he opened it and yelled: “Seek elsewhere, the Inn is full” Then Joseph begged and said that Mary was pregnant and very tired and if the Inn Keeper could not please find a corner where they could sleep. Wally shouted: “No! Be gone!” Wally stood looking as Joseph and Mary turned away. His face was full of compassion and that was when the age old story changed! Wally shouted: “Don’t go Joseph, bring Mary back - you can have my room!” Angela Leonard, who also lives in Nordic and originally came from Columbia where the majority of people are Catholic, said she was amazed when she came to America and saw how people put Nativity Scenes up and immediately put Baby Jesus in the manger—weeks before Christmas Day. This was strange to her because her very special Christmas memory was of how she went to bed on Christmas Eve and awoke Christmas Morning to find that the Baby magically appeared in the manger. Elaine Gonino, our Pastor’s wife, held up a Christmas Table Cloth that she inherited from her Mother. “It’s not the most beautiful tablecloth on earth, but there is something amazing about it.” Elaine’s thoughts traveled on distant roads as she absentmindedly smoothed out the wrinkles on the now worn and tattered tablecloth. “After 50 years of washings, the colors are still so vivid. Those enduring reds & greens symbolize something that my parents gave us that never faded from decade to decade, generation to generation. Family values and Jesus.” Elaine said that kids from the neighborhood called them the Waltons because they played board games together and always had dinner together and were nice to each other. “This tablecloth endured time just as the family values and the message of the Savior that my parents passed on to me.” Jackie Philips, Trina’s daughter proudly held up her precious Christmas memory—a beautiful creamy colored Christmas stocking with exquisite embroidery on the front. She looked over to her Mom with a loving expression, and with a touch of melancholy in her young voice the 16-year-old blond haired girl explained, “Mom made this for me when I was ten years old, and every time I look at it I am amazed at the work she put into it—just for me!” Amy Duffield from Harrisville is always reminded of all the wonderful Christmases she and her family spent together every time so goes to her mother’s house in Liberty and sees all the Christmas Ornaments that her mother gave each of them every year since they were small. Then something awful happened! They were dismayed when the box of ornaments disappeared! But this year, when Amy moved from her apartment to her new house, she discovered the box! Now she cherishes it even more! Becky Smith from Liberty brought a white candle for her special Christmas memory. With eyes that glistened she told us of long ago Christmas Eve candle light services when she was a child in Minnesota. She can still recall the excitement when she was at last old enough to go to the midnight candle light service and be part of it all! The church was dark, where only a single candle glowed. And then, the light started to spread as the flame from that one candle lit the one next to it, and the one next to that, until the whole church was glowing with thousands of tiny flames. Then the notes of Silent Night filled the sanctuary. Dreinie with her family enjoying the holidays at the beach in Durban, South Africa. Then it was my turn. I circulated my pictures that represented my Christmas memories. Outside the mountains were covered in a fresh blanket of snow, and even though I was sharing wonderful Christmas memories with my friends, I knew that I was busy making a brand new memory. Years from now when I looked back, this would be one of my cherished Christmas memories—sitting there with my dear friends in this little church in Liberty. And when Becky talked about Christmas Eve Candle Light Services, a warm feeling engulfed me as I thought of this coming Christmas Eve when our new church would have its very first Christmas Eve Candle Light Service! My friends urged me to share my memories. I took them to a distant land—crossing oceans to the crooked point of Africa where I was born. Christmas is right in the middle of summer vacation in South Africa. The first weekend in December we all got together at our Grandparents’ house in Delarey—a small town just outside Johannesburg where we all lived. That’s when we received our Christmas presents. I was surrounded by my parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was usually the first weekend in December, just before the schools closed. Then a couple of days later my sister, brother, and I dressed up in our new Christmas clothes. Miemie and I put on our new dresses that our mother made and our new shoes that we got once a year. We caught the bus at the corner and met mother in downtown Johannesburg where she worked. Then we went to her office where her co-workers gave us little presents and candies. Afterward, we met our Aunt Maggie and our cousins who were also dressed in their Christmas best and we all went to the OK Bazaars (like Target) and sat on Santa’s lap while having our picture taken. Afterwards, we told Santa what we wanted for Christmas. We had lunch—hamburgers and milkshakes at “Greatermans”—a fancy department store in Johannesburg. The next week everyone would take off to the ocean—to Durban on the Indian Ocean or to the Cape on the Atlantic Ocean. Mom and Dad’s summer vacation also started then, and we would be off too—three whole weeks at the seaside! Christmas Day was spent on the beach! I was amazed at the diversity of our little group. We did not only belong to different cultures but our backgrounds included an array of different churches—Lutheran, Catholic, LDS and more! The Christmas Memories we shared were as diverse as we were, but we discovered that our love for family and the Christmas message is universal. But that wasn’t the end of sharing! We each took a tray and filled it with cookies that we had baked especially for this beautiful snowy day. We all chose recipes that were special to our families. Some recipes had been passed down through generations, and were still made every year. There were cookies made from an age old recipe from Japan and cherished recipes from Texas, all the way from Italy and from my Ouma’s big warm kitchen in Johannesburg, South Africa. When we were done our trays were filled with colors and aromas from all over the world! And our hearts were filled with love and goodwill that we experienced that day by sharing our Christmas memories. We left our little church and disappeared into the cold beautiful Utah day, walking slowly as as not to damage our beautiful laden trays. 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