MOST MEMORIABLE CHRISTMAS GIFT

 

Me with our new swing set 1947

I remember the fun my brother Jay and I had one Christmas morning when we followed a string from our Christmas tree out to our backyard.  We were delighted with a new swing set complete with a slide and climbing bars.   The playset was my favorite gift of all time as I could climb and swing as much as I desired. I was able to "fly-away.” Apparently I had also received a new blanket as seen in the picture.  I can imagine the softness on my face.

For some, gift giving comes naturally.  My Aunt Jeanne was an expert at finding just the right gift.  For others like me we struggle to stay within our budget and yet choose presents that will please others. I have two whammys against me.  First I deal with chronic pain every day and dread the pain shopping will bring me.  Second I'm cheap and don't have a clue as to what would be received, appreciated and be within my budget.  

But shopping for some people is made easier if they are clear on what they like. For instance, shopping for my Grandma Isabel, in her later years, was easy.  She asked for gifts that would be consumable. One year I bought her a 5 lb box of mandarin oranges.  She ate so many of them she developed canker sores. But she did appreciate my gift.

But the greatest gift is Jesus who gifted Himself to us this Christmas and through all time-- Ephesians 2:8  "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God..."

What was your most memorable Christmas gift?  What gift you gave pleased others the most?  

As for my favorite gift of all time I'm reminded of one of my favorite poems "The Swing"  written by Robert Louis Stevenson:

How do you like to go up in a swing,

   Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

   Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,

   Till I can see so wide,

Rivers and trees and cattle and all

   Over the countryside—

Till I look down on the garden green,

   Down on the roof so brown—

Up in the air I go flying again,

   Up in the air and down!

Granddaughter Natalie. 2012 Photo by Chris. 

 

DREAMS

 

Heather on the left.  Photo by Chris.  Dance recital 1977.  Might have been "A Midsummer Night's Dream." 

When I was fifteen I didn't have a dream.  I didn't need one as I had home, school with extra curricular activities, church and youth group.  I was busy -- but I lacked one thing.  A dream.  

The world was recovering from World War II back then.  Families were settling down.  Schools were being built along with new housing and new churches.  At Groveton High School we were a bunch of middle class kids.  I had no ambition but to do the least amount of homework while watching TV.  My parents planned for me to attend college at the end of high school.  I had no objection to that.  Still I had no dream.  

Then I met my long time friend Nancy in biology class at Groveton.  We discussed many things and then somehow settled on the dream of traveling to Norway.  We started a business selling sticks of gum at school.  We made 1 cent on each pack.  I think that at the end of our senior year we had enough to buy cherry cokes at the soda fountain in the drugstore in Belleview shopping center. That was the end of that dream.

It was the summer after my junior year in college that I realized I would have to make some plan for what I would do after college.  I had worked at everything from waitress, to janitor, also switchboard operator, and library assistant.  Of course, with no advanced training, and being an eternal optimist, I settled on becoming a "Rockette" in New York.  Another idea was to travel to Korea and work as a "Gray Lady" with the American Red Cross. So these were my new dreams.  First I sent a letter to the Director of Rockettes in New York.  This is the reply I received:

I was 5' 4 3/4".  Could I pass as 5'5"?  In the fall of my senior year I met Chris.  He was the campus yearbook and newspaper photographer. We went out one time.  But then in January I needed a photographer to take a picture of me that made me look tall.  So I contacted my friend Chris and asked if he would photograph me.  He would.  

But then even with the full length photograph in hand I did not want to travel to New York alone. 

(I found out recently that two of my high school classmates had moved to New York after college.  One has recently passed away.  Her good friend wrote this tribute to her. Here is their story: 

"After college she followed her interest in dance and in 1968, she became my roommate in the East Village. Freddi and I took dance classes at Merce Cunningham studio. I still do some dance exercises she showed me. She and I would often dance and do yoga in the empty apartment across the hall. One day as we tried to go in, we realized that Dean Evenson (my future husband) had moved in. Life evolved and when Freddi met Alan her life changed in a wonderful way. I appreciated that we were able to stay in touch when I came to New York and even got to stay in their lovely flat on 10^th Street.")

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