Today there seems to be an epidemic of child abuse and often extreme cases that result in charges of murder. As a high school guidance counselor, conferences with students who were doing poorly I learned of this problem and cases which frequently ended up in court. I frequently find myself brimming "How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood, with fond recollections I bring these to mind." Such as the measure of the ghost of Xmas past. As a child I did not yet know about the famous 19th. century cartoonist Thomas Nast who created the picture of Santa Claus. But I knew I would never be abused and never had to be afraid. Memories were in one vivid at Xmas. My mother _____ Xmas a few weeks after butchering to say that I was not afraid of the Devil. Many of these memories still come back especially during the Christmas season, when xmas came which was shortly after butchering. There was a lot of preparation going on in the kitchen-mince meat pies, pumpkin pies, apple pies, fruit cake, cookies, candy, and the smell of one of those sugar cured hams baking in the oven and it was it was not one of the new hams, but one of old baking hams from the year before or sometimes two years before and those of course were the best and cured the longest. We always had a cedar tree. There were thousands of them growing on the farm. During a few Christmas' later in the later 20's and early 30's we had a pine tree. We were ordered by the Dept. of Agriculture to cut all the cedar trees on the farm. They were supposed to be infecting the apple orchards with Cedar Rust on ripe apples and the Eastern Panhandle of W. VA. was large apple producing area. I remember several weeks after we had cut all the trees I rode over the farm with torches and burned the large piles of trees. It was an eerie sight to see in the gathering darkness hundreds of fires burning on the farm. We were led to think in early childhood that Santa Clause trimmed the Xmas tree so we had to go to bed early and tumble and toss all night with anticipation. We did not dare go downstairs in the morning until all members of the family were up and we were called. We had left the night before candy and apples for Santa Claus and one of the first things we noticed was that the candy; and apples were gone. I don't know why we never thought to leave some hay and corn for the reindeer. There were gifts of toys and useful things such as boots and clothing. We always noticed first the sleds and air rifles. We never engaged in any conspicuous consumption. The biggest gift of all was not anything tangible but parents who gave evidence always of their love for us. It was a tradition in our family to have stewed oysters on Xmas morning. Our house was less than a hundred miles from the Chesapeake Bay in Baltimore, and consequently oysters were always plentiful in season and very cheap so we would buy them by the gallon. I don't think my father ever bought less than a gallon and many times two gallons. We always got an orange for Xmas and another for New Years and we believed Santa Claus left them when he came with the gifts and trimmed the tree and when he came New Years Eve, removed the trimmings and left another orange an some candy.*1 We put something out for him on New Years Eve also. It was a little sad to come downstairs New Years morning and see the tree bare again. There was one item on the tree I remember well. It was a long string of pop corn. There was a large trunk in the room I slept in and I was curious to know what was in that trunk. I knew that extra blankets and comforts were on top but one day when I was about six years old and investigating the entire content and there on the bottom was that string of pop corn and all the tree decorations. There was the shock of realizing there is no Santa Claus trimming the tree and leaving gifts, but my parents using the same trimmings over over again. I didn't divulge my secret for several years to my two brothers who were younger than I and who still believed in Santa Claus, and of course then knew who Santa Clause was and that they could always be trusted to keep Xmas alive. I gradually learned that it may be better to forget about Santa Claus because as long as your parents are around you will have a faith that they will not left you down and destroy your faith in things what mattered most.
*1 Martha MORROW said Christmas was the only time of the year that they received oranges as children.(DWM)
RETURN to CONTENT