CHRISTMAS: Night to remember

It was a Christmas night a long time ago in a tar papered house sitting in the center of an almond orchard. My mother and us four kids were spending Christmas Eve with my Aunt Ivy, Uncle Audi, two young cousins, our grandmother and grandfather. The house was love filled and convenience poor. The stove demanded wood be chopped everyday. A bucket from a well house beckoned water from across the yard. The house had no plumbing, just a path to a small back house with catalogue in hand. Kitchen cabinets were built by grandfather’s hands with eyes that could not see. Grandmother’s paintings hung in beauty on smoke covered walls. In this setting the Christmas tree was bright, and presents few. Uncle Audi opened the Bible to read to us of the first Christmas day. He whispered that it was Christ’s birthday, and not our own. Santa came later, and just for fun.

ROBERTA McSPARRIN

Post Falls