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Show Area Residents Recall Christmas Christmas time is the time for reminiscing, showing love, close family association, beautiful and fun loving music, dance recitals, cantatas, merriment and remembering the birth of our Saviour. Jesus Christ Christmas means something different to everyone To one il may mean a burden, thai of getting the most ex pensive presents, to another it may mean closeness of the family as they unitedly make presents for their loved ones, help decorate together or address cards of good will to be sent to their friends To some it means preparing for that special Christmas trip together, with the few presents they may be receiving way down the list To another, baking cookies, candies and making that fruit dish may mean a special deal to them as they give these tokens of remembrance to the families of their choice There are many beautiful programs presented that give students and mothers a lot to do to get ready It seems when one spends time caring and doing for another it makes that Christmas more special than cithers Mrs Ella Adair recalls two special events, one she had as a teacher and the other as as child with her father One of the happiest memories that I have as a teacher, pertaining to the Christmas season, was one that I shared with the girls in the FHA. It was a custom for the club to have an apron sale right after Thanksgiving, and the proceeds were to go toward their Christmas project This one year, there was a family in the community that were needy , one of the girls mentioned in school one day she had never had a doll and that she would give anything if she could just ha ve a doll for Christmas. She was in the eighth grade, and had missed this one precious thing that many a little girl thought nothing of. The girls contacted the local merchant and he didn't have a doll that they could purchase. He did donate a pair of levis for each of the boys in the family, that they could put in their box The girls had brought toys and games they had remodeled; painted a wagon for the little boy, had an apron for the mother, but the doll was a mystery Finally one of the girls said. "I know what we can do, I have a beautiful doll that was my last doll, I will have my mother make some new clothes for it and we will give it to her " Her mother very graciously came to the call and made a beautiful wardrobe for the doll. Christmas Eve the girls came to school and we packed the boxes and went to the home. As they went to the door they sang Christmas carols and when the mother came, tears came to her eyes as she saw the girls with their packages The older girl stood back as her little brothers and sisters thrilled with their gifts . then, when the girls handed her her doll it was the most touching scene I have ever witnessed She hugged the doll, then hugged the girls, then hugged the doll, saying: "Oh, my prayer has been answered . . . I have a doll." There was not a dry eye m the home ai we left to go back to school to have our Christmas party I don't know when I have ever heard carols sung so tieatitifully as that night that the KHA took a gift to the needy . the true spirit of Christmas was in the heart of every girl that night Some of the happiest memories that I have of Christmas when I was a child were shared with my father He had I grocery store in Salt 1 . k . City and every Christmas Kvr he would prepare a basket of food containing oranges, apples, bananas, potatoes, candy, bread and butter, and always a chicken, and take them to the widows who were his customers I would spend the morning helping him fill the baskets and get them ready About 4 p m he closed the store and we would put the baskets in the old car and make the rounds to the homes He was a happy Scotchman and played the bagpipe He took his bagpipe with him. and as we went to the home there was always a Scottish tune played for them, as they received their basket As we left he hugged each lady, and gave her a card with a $5 bill tucked inside, telling her to buy something for herself, a gift from Andy. After we finished our deliveries we went home, there we decorated our tree with popcorn and cranberries Our neighbor children were invited in and my mother had gingerbread men. candy canes and hot chocolate for us to enjoy as my father read the Christmas story and told us about his childhood in Scotland On Christmas day we went out to Hunter, and there the family gathered and enjoyed a true Christmas dinner goose and all the trimmings. In the evening we all donned our scarfs, mittens and coats and caps, and went lor a bobsleigh ride singing carols as we went, returning home cold and happy for we had had a wonderful time as a family. It is always a special Christmas to have young ones born around the season As they get older many times they feel cheated because their birthdays are so close to Christmas but at the time there is no better gift than the love a young one brings into one's home. California Christmases tend to be different than those we have in Utah with snow, snow sleds and rubber boots. Peggy Bagnell remembers the year her son got a surf board and they took him to the beach to go surfing, poor guy would have frozen his you know what off, if he tried such a stunt in Utah. Micky and Don Kidder had two years full of enjoyable experiences as they sailed the waters. Their first Christmas after they set sail Dec 3, 1973 was in Matazlan, Mexico At about this time, they were lonesome, tired and not sure they had done the right thing setting sail! They did nothing either The second Christmas was spent on a little island, Moto Tapu. just off Bora Boara, so small you could walk around it in five minutes Many of the sailors got together and spent their time together on the island Each ship's residents brought part of the meal It was raining After spen dinR the day together each went to their own ship feeling a very fulfilling feeling of Christmas An inflatable Santa Claus was used for decorations. The third Christmas occurred shortly after they returned home, "It was wonderful to be with our family again," Carol said They still exchange letters with the people they spent the day with Ardis Evans of Hatch said. "All I can remember is the worst Christmas " It was when their son. Mike was in the service, his first Christmas away from home He had been transferred from Texas to Alabama and eouldn t send his package soon enough He was away from home, didn't get his package before Christmas and was all alone He called Christmas morning and when Ardis found out he hadn't received his package she broke down and started crying, she felt so sorry for her son When he did receive his package all his friends helped him enjoy the bo:;, for inside the Christmas stocking she had stuffed little toys Bob Evans, Hatch, remembers the most fun he had at Christmas time. He had bought a much needed coat for his wife. He had wrapped the package several days before Christmas and set it under the tree Mrs Evans knew she wanted and needed a coat very badly but when she picked up the box to shake and try to decide what she had received, she couldn't guess what she had, but remembers she surely was disappointed because it couldn't possibly be a coat because fhe package was too heavy; she just couldn't decide As it turned out it was a new blue coat with a bunch of wall boards in the bottom of the package to make it so heavy. One person told of the time when they were quite young and they strung popcorn on the string to hang on the tree and during the night the mice ate all the popcorn, makes her shudder to think about it now When Dallas and Diane Barnhurst, Hatch, got engaged, Dallas didn't have enough money to buy a diamond. On Christmas she had a huge package under the .tree, she unwrapped and unwrapped then unwrapped some more When she finally reached the small box inside it was the diamond she had been looking for Mammie Hatch remembers the time she and her sister were both sick just before Christmas Their mother, Rea Drds, Panguitch. would let them tear apart and redecorate their Christmas tree every day. "What patience she had with her children'" Huby Worthen said her happy memory of Christmas occurred each year as their children were young and ihey would put on plays as a family One year they made up a play about "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," costumes and all What a fun time they had Judy llenrie remembers as a child they were living in a basement with the front pari of the top floor being built They aweke Christmas morning, looked out on the roof of their basement and saw prints and marks of runners like from a sleigh It was all the proof they needed to assure them of a real Santa Claus Merle Stowell recalls the time her father. Myron Proctor, and Frank Haycock each won $25 from the Southern Utah Equitable at one of their Christmas drawings Both men bought a bunch of groceries and took it to a widow's house in Panguitch When they arrived they were greeted by one of her children and were in formed their mother had gone out to see what she could do about Christmas since they were unable to get a thing liecause they were so poor Merle remembers thinking to herself, "Why did daddy take all that food to the widow woman when their family was so poor and could have used the groceries equally as well'' Years later a young man, just returning from the armed services saw Mr Proctor uptown, stopped him and thanked him for bringing that Christmas basket to them Christmas Eve It was the only Christmas they ever had It made the family very happy Clair Baldwin said in Sun Valley on Christmas eve it is an exciting and beautiful sight to see ISO ski instructors late in the evening come down the hill with lit torches They then go to the mull area and see Santa Claus actually arrive in a sled with real live reindeer. |