Giving spirit found in Christmas past, present

Christmas is timeless. The ghosts of Christmases past rise and bring with them the memories of youth, and a time when the holidays were brimming with anticipation and wonder. A time when our biggest concern was composing the perfect letter to Santa and finding the perfect Christmas tree.

Reliving the memories with family and sharing them with friends over a plate of red-and-white frosted cookies is a new memory-in-the-making for Christmases future.

One of the best gifts you can give yourself is to listen to an elderly person reminisce about what life was like “back in the day.” This is my gift to myself and to you.

“My first Christmas memory was of my sister Lillian [Davis, 77] and I going into the woods to pick out the Christmas tree with our father,” said my mother, Margie (Leland) Higgins, 78. “We were only 6 and 7, but always picked out a round, full tree. Usually it was big enough to fill a town hall so after we scaled down and chose a smaller one, Daddy would cut it, and Lillian and I would hang onto the top part, and Daddy the bottom, and we carried it out of the woods in the snow.”

Times were lean in 1934 in Trenton, Maine, and children learned to get creative with decorations.

“We didn’t have many ornaments back then so Lil and I and the smaller kids [Mom is the oldest of seven] would use milk caps, the cardboard ones that came on a quart of milk, put tinfoil on them and hang them with string,” she said. “At that point, we did not string popcorn because we kids would eat it all, but we made garland by coloring strips of paper and pasting them into a chain.”

But some things never change.

“Christmas mornings, Marge and I would creep ever-so-softly down the front stairs so as not to wake our parents, to peek at the tree,” said Lillian. “I remember Mom’s command, ‘Get back in that bed,’ which we did, as we knew what would happen if we didn’t. We’d have to stand to eat.”

Then it was off to Grandma’s, said Margie and Lil.

“After having our tree, we would all climb into Daddy’s old Model T pickup and head to her house to have her tree and dinner, Margie said.

“Grammy would cater to us kids,” she said. “She’d call us into the kitchen, telling us she was going to feed us first, so we would get the good stuff. We were delighted. Then when we were finished, we all went outside to play. Only years later did we figure out she did this to get rid of the kids while the adults, numbering upwards to 20, could eat in peace.”

“The most memorable gift I ever got was when I was 8,” she added. “Mom and Daddy bought me a guitar. It was ‘The Singing Cowboy,’ a Gene Autry model. Lillian’s favorite was a 10-inch doll, dressed in pink with blonde hair and blue eyes. Occasionally we would get ice skates.”

From family to friends, sharing memories is sharing a part of yourself.

“I was about 11 or 12 and I loved to ice skate, but I always had used hockey skates,” said Juanita Taylor, 52 and best friend. “Then I saw the most beautiful pair of ladies’ white figure skates in the world, but I knew they were way too expensive for Mom and Dad to buy.

“That Christmas Eve a knock came on our door and Dad said, ‘I’ll take care of this.’ We kids went to bed. And Christmas morning there was a beautiful box under the tree with my name on it and inside were the ladies’ white figure skates. I wore them for years until I just couldn’t get my feet into them anymore. But I can still remember how excited and amazed I was.” And she still is.

Amazed at the true giving and loving spirit of Christmas, past, present and future.

Carol Higgins is director of communications at Eastern Agency on Aging. For information on EAA, call 941-2865, e-mail info@eaaa.org or log on www.eaaa.org