Nostalgia has Set In

Last night I served in Preschool and because it was our last Wednesday night before Christmas, we told the Christmas story and sang Away in a Manger. Listening to those sweet voices sing Away in a Manger took me back. Waaaayyy back to Christmases when I was that little child loving Jesus. And I still do. Singing that song brought sweet tears to my eyes.

Liking this doll - guess it tasted good!

The angel costume my Mother made for me

to be in the Christmas play at church.

Mother made the little bears my sister and I are holding.

Their Christmas greeting, probably 1954-55.

My family above and

with my Granny and Grandad and cousins

at Great-Grandmother Sander's house.

Going to my Granny and Grandad's home was always a treat, but my Great-Grandmother's home ... well, that was another story. Very strict rules there. Pretty much sit in a chair, keep your hands to yourself, cannot go upstairs (a place which held great mystery for me) and only speak when spoken to. Now doesn't that sound fun?

Grandma and Grandpa McCoy lived in the hills of Arkansas out in the middle of nowhere. But my memories of Christmas are of a crowded living room because everyone was sitting around the pot-belly stove trying to keep warm. Warm lights and lots of talking ... later, big feather beds loaded with quilts in a very icy cold room. If you got up your courage the next morning to get out of bed and touch your feet to the cold floor, first place to run would be the kitchen where the big wood-burning cook stove would be blazing heat.

My brother and sister and me around 1960.

Christmas was not complicated when I was a child. The main thing was the excitement as you waited, the tree, candy, some presents and lots of good food.