Dick Ham
I was just thinking the other day about the fact that we will celebrate Christmas in just a few days. That thought brings back memories of Christmas from my childhood and from the time when my daughters, Terry and Wendy, were small.
Even though gifts were few and usually pretty small, Christmas in the home where I grew up was a very special time. We always had a rather small tree with multi-colored lights and a few ornaments. It was in our living room, and was the first thing one would see when coming in the front door. Gifts were placed under the tree for several weeks prior to Christmas. My brother and I would slip around and shake packages to try to figure out what was inside.
As we grew older, my family opened gifts on Christmas Eve night. We would sit in the floor in front of the tree, and before anyone was permitted to open a gift, Dad would read the account of Jesus’ birth from Luke’s gospel. Then we would open gifts, one at a time. We would tell who the gift was from and thank them for it. Then, the next person could open one. The joy and love we all felt is difficult to describe with words.
When Terry and Wendy were small, we were living in Hendersonville, Tenn. My office was in Nashville, but we lived in this suburb near Old Hickory Lake. In those days, our parents still were living, so we spent Christmas Eve with my family in Louisville, and Christmas Day with Nancie’s family in Owensboro. Since we would not be at home on those days, we wrote a letter to Santa, explaining where we needed to go and asked him to please come early. He was always kind enough to do that for us.
On the evening prior to our leaving town, I would put the girls in the car, and we would drive around our neighborhood and look at the beautiful Christmas lights and decorations. When we would arrive back home, Santa (Nancie) would have been there. The girls would get excited and opening gifts was a joy.
When the girls were older, they told us we fooled them with that ruse a few times, but most of the time, they knew what was happening and just humored us. There are often times when I wish I could turn the clock back and experience those happy times again.
As Christmas approaches this year, I, like many of you, are concerned about so many problems our country is facing and hoping and praying for a solution that will be good for all our people.
KET has carried a number of wonderful programs of Christmas music. There always are several of those on Christmas Eve on KET, as well as the other TV channels. Those make the season joyful and beautiful
Permit me to take this opportunity to say thank you to my wonderful readers, and wish you all a blessed Christmas.
Trivia answer
Louis Marshall Jones of Henderson County, Ky. is “Grandpa Jones” of Grand Ole Opry fame.
Trivia question
In what country did the custom of Christmas trees originate?
Thought for the day
Remember Jesus, whose birth we celebrate.
