Christmas
2009
Dear,
It’s
CHRISTMASTIME! And it is a good time for
remembering. I want you to know that I
remember you each day - you, my precious great-grandchild. And I want you to know that the older I get
the more precious my family, of which you are a part, is to me.
The older I get the more I enjoy
sharing Christmas greetings with you.
The older I get the more I treasure the oldest ornaments and older ways,
the more fondly I remember past Christmases, the more I enjoy giving rather
than receiving, the more wondrously beautiful the Christmas story is, the
deeper becomes my awe of things spiritual and eternal. The older I get, the more I know that Father
in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, love each of us, and I want you to know I
love them.
There’s a special warmth I feel at
Christmastime for my family, whether you are near or far away. Memories are more tender, feelings are closer
to the surface and we put away many of our daily thoughts and turn toward those
people and values that mean the most to us.
It is a time when we remember that every person on this earth is a child
of God and we are kinder and more thoughtful.
These actions are in remembrance of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
I want to give you a gift, but I
have no gift to give that I can wrap in a box.
And so I give you the gift of family and faith and love and heritage,
and a story. I have many stories,
because the first Christmas I remember as a child, we still were using candles
on the tree rather than electric lights. That’s how old I am!
Do you know where the twin
traditions of not arising until 7:00 AM on Christmas morning and eating
breakfast before going into the tree came from?
I will tell you. When your
grandpas and grandmas were young, your grandpas had to get up at 5:00 AM and go
out and do chores and milk the cows.
That took until about 7:00 AM and when they were through, they were
HUNGRY! So, since the men needed to eat,
I would prepare a scrumptious Christmas breakfast for all of the family and we
would eat together when the men came from chores. Then we did the dishes and lined up and
marched into the living room to the tree, altogether. I know that some of you still follow that
tradition and I still think it is a good tradition, even if you are not milking
cows in the morning. It also cut down on
the consumption of Christmas candy by the children!
When Great-Grandpa and I were young
and the children so little, we had not very much money. In fact we had so
little money that I would save things the children needed to give to them at
Christmas. I wanted them to feel like
they got lots of presents so I would put each undershirt (Do you even know what
that is?) in a separate box and wrap it with used paper and ribbon and make it
look so pretty to put under the tree. So
if your grandmas and your mothers still wrap each little item separately, you
now know why. Times are better, but
memories and traditions are good.
Love others, help others, build
sweet memories. That is what Jesus would have us do. That is our gift to Him. I love each precious one of you.
Great-Grandma Bateman
