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VOW |
Voices
of Orthodox
Women
IS IT REALLY CHRISTMAS?
The night was dark and drear. Rain peppered on the roof as lightening occasionally lit up the sky. The Old lady sat in her easy chair, dozing off at intervals. She could hardly believe it was Christmas. Seemed to her the country had just celebrated Labor Day. While the Christmas ads on TV had been late coming this year, due to all the politicking and all, the deluge of them the past month had brought her back to reality. It WAS Christmas! If she had her choice, The Old Lady thought, while neither of the ads were pleasing to her taste, she had rather watch Christmas advertising than to have had to put up with all that campaigning stuff. Never in her life had she seen it to be so dirty and disgusting. Being an independent voter, the constant scare tactics and threats had made up her mind real quick who she would vote for. And, it wasn't for THAT party! The rain picked up its tempo on the roof. The Old Lady turned the volume up on the control button so she could hear over the noise. An ad on the TV showed an array of toys at the toy store and kids sitting on Old Santa's knee with their Christmas lists. "One thing's for sure," she nodded quietly to herself. "All them kids expecting Santa Clause tonight are sure in for a mighty big disappointment. In this weather, he ain't gonna do no flying. His sled would fill full of water and sink and all his reindeer would drown. That is, if he could get the reindeer out of the reindeer house, or where ever he keeps them, to pull the sled in the first place." She picked up the remote and began surfing the channels. An ad for Celebrex flashed before her eyes. "Well, I don't need that stuff. My body couldn't take no more energy. It would collapse." The Old lady surmised as she continued the channel surfing. She stopped for a brief lent as the surfing came to a documentary on World War II. She watched the scenes from the e of the Bulge, as it was called, back in 1944. Yes! It was Christmas time then, too, and hearts were low in America that year. Her cousin was in that battle and he never returned home. The Old Lady thought back over the years. There had been many wars since that December long ago. Wars with American soldiers fighting for and dying for peace in the world... defending the God given freedom that America was founded on. "Will they ever learn? When will people quit following those who promise them everything and only use them? When will they see they are only being abused and kept down trodden by these monsters for their own gain? Why don't they wake up and see the real Lord, the Lord of love and compassion? The Lord who surrounds them?" The Old Lady's heart was sad. She said a prayer for opening of eyes that they may see the works of God ... for opening of ears that they may hear the words of God ... for touching hearts that they may respond to God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. The channel surfing began again. The Old Lady stopped the surfing on a religious channel. A holey-roller preacher stood before a crowd of rather sad looking people and was pounding his fist in the air. "Are you saved? Are you saved? It's the end, sinners! The end! Git down on yore knees and pray! Pray for the Lord to forgive you! Pray for salvation! Come now! When you leave this place to night, when you go out that door, you'll never have another chance! The end is coming!" He shouted in his high pitched voice, emphasizing every word with pounding on the pulpit with his fists. The Old Lady laughed as those gathered in the studio began to obey. "If it IS the end and you are not saved already, Honey, that man ain't gonna save you. It's too late now." The Old Lady thought back to the year 2000. Soothsayers and prophets were predicting on every news channel how the world would end. Headlines on news papers were asking the question. "Is It the End?" Some people quit their jobs and sold off every thing of value they had accumulated. Some ran up credit cards and bought everything imaginable in 'order to get use of them before time ran out. Others moved to mountain tops. Attics, closets, and additional storage areas were rented or bought in order to store food and water. In every city and town, throughout the land, huge stashes of food and water were stored. Even a couple of her "good Christian" neighbors had been caught up in the frenzy. One had chided her for not "being prepared. "The Old Lady shook her head. Her reply had been, "Well, God has taken care of me so far and I don't see no reason why He's gonna quit now. And, if He didn't even tell his own son when it would end, what makes you think He'd tell you?" There had been no food and water stored in her house back there in 1999. In the first place, her house was too small to do much storing. It was hardly big enough to contain what was necessary for her daily living. "And, besides," she thought, "If the world is coming to an end, why would you need food and water? Lordy! Lordy! If it was all put together, that stuff would probably have been enough to give every man, woman and child in the universe a good meal for a mighty long time. There would probably be enough to end all hunger, even today, in the world." A newsman broke in on the channel and announced Santa had left the North Pole and he had just crossed the Canadian border and was traveling fast. He would be in Texas within the next few hours. He advised all children who were not in bed asleep, well, they had better be so soon if they wanted Santa Clause to come see them. "You wanna bet!" The Old Lady laughed. "Not in this weather is he in Texas! If he don't get bogged down on trying to land that sleigh, he'll float away for sure." An ad for Bluebell ice cream appeared on the screen. The Old Lady sat up with a start. "That's it! That's what I have been trying to remember all night! I've been trying to remember to get me a bowl of Bluebell!" She rose unsteadily from the chair and walked over to the refrigerator and opened the freezer area. Her heart sank. No Bluebell ice cream on the shelf! How could she have been so remiss as not to put Bluebell on her shopping list when she had gone to the grocery store last week? Her "senior moments" were coming closer together lately but she never thought they would include her Bluebell. A growl in her stomach reminded her she had not eaten lately so she reached for the stryofoam container her young neighbor had brought to her around noon that day. He was going out of town to be with his family for Christmas and wanted to bring her something. What a nice young man! He had bought the house next door to hers in early spring. The Old Lady had been very anxious about who lived in that house when the nice couple and their two little girls had moved away. The man had been given a promotion by his company and it meant moving to another city. The woman had been like a daughter to her, always looking out for her. The two little girls could not have been closer had they been her own grandchildren. They "helped" her in the small garden and would come visit even when not given permission by their mother. Yes! They had been a very precious family and she missed them. The Old lady had watched the prospective buyers who came to look at the house. A particular trio scared the living daylights out of her. Three young men wheeled up in the driveway throwing gravel from the road all over the place, boom box blaring. "Please Lord! Please! Don't do that to an old lady like me." She had prayed frantically. The Lord had answered her prayer. She had not even known this young man had bought the house. She kept seeing a pickup truck over in the driveway every couple of days. One day her doorbell rang. It was the young man. He introduced himself and asked if she minded if he hauled some trash she had accumulated with some he was taking to the dump. She was grateful for the offer and invited him in. They talked quite a while. He was single, was working twenty-four hour shifts as a paramedic with the local ambulance service, and seemed lonely. She was lonely, too, and enjoyed his company. They had become mother and son. She looked out after his place when he was away and he would look out for hers. She shared tools to help him fix his place up and loaned him her mower until he got one of his own. They bonded. She had not been hungry when he brought the box so had put it in the refrigerator for later. And, now she was hungry. The Old Lady lifted the box from the refrigerator and opened it. "My! My! Chicken nuggets!" Her favorite! And, there was some slaw and a few fries. But! What was this? She lifted a little plastic cup from the corner of the box. Bluebell ice cream! Wow! What did it matter if it was melted? It was still Bluebell. She reached for a spoon but she didn't need it. She turned the cup up to her mouth and drank that heavenly vanilla Bluebell straight from the cup as she replaced the nuggets and other goodies back in the refrigerator and returned to her easy chair. They would make a nice Christmas dinner. "Wonder where that darn Cat is? I haven't seen her around and she's usually up in my lap every time I sit down." A boom of thunder reminded her, "Oh! She's hiding." Now then! Cat didn't like thunder. She immediately disappeared at the first sound of it or any other loud noise. She would suddenly disappear only to reappear when all was quiet again. "Oh well. I can have my blanket to myself for a change," The Old Lady said to herself as she tightened it around her cold thin legs and dozed off to sleep as the old clock on the mantle, a clock that was almost as old as the Old Lady, chimed eleven long, slow dongs. As if aging with The Old lady, the clock, whose dongs were once sharp and clear, were now slow and labored. Once again, the Old Lady dozed off. Suddenly she was awakened by a crash of thunder and rain so heavy it seemed as if the roof would surely cave in. The Old Lady shifted position to ease the cramps in her legs. "Hell's bells! Let it fall. There's not much I can do if it does cave in," was her reply to the latest downpour. The announcer broke in on the TV saying Santa had just crossed the Rocky Mountains and was headed to the Texas border. The scene was one of a big moon and bright stars with Santa and the reindeer sailing along smoothly in a deep blue sky. "Maybe he'll bring some sun with him. Ain't seen none around here for almost a week now. That'd be nice." She found a more comfortable position and began to doze again. The Old Lady woke to a thump in her lap. Seems Cat had come out from hiding and was now trying to find a comfortable place in which to rest. She scratched Cat's ear and looked at the TV. Scenes of a giant fire filled the TV screen. "Heavens to Betsy! How could there be a forest fire in all of this rain? Why, it looks like the whole woods are on fire!" It took a moment for her to realize it was scenes of the Christmas fires of South Louisiana, fires she had remembered so well from her childhood. What with sugar cane being a major crop, it was the custom in those days to burn the cane trash up and down the bayous on Christmas Eve. You see! Santa Claus didn't come to the Bayou Country in a sleigh pulled by reindeer. He came in a "pee row" pulled by alligators. Cane fires were lit to show Santa the way through the swamps to the children’s' houses so he could bring their presents. The night was usually very cold so they served another purpose. They heated up the bayous for miles around. The Old lady could almost smell the burning of all that cane trash. During the fall months the sweet smell of syrup being cooked off from all that cane juice filled the air in the swamps and bayous. Indeed! A heavenly smell! The scenes from the TV brought back many fond memories. The Old lady smiled when she thought about Papa and that one sided grin of his, especially when he was teasing. Did she really believe the story about the alligators pulling the pee row? Of course not! It was a joke Papa would tell the kids. He'd tell them they may not get any toys `cause the alligators ate up Ole Santa. She would laugh but the younger kids would cry. Then, Mama would give Papa one of those looks she gave him at such times. Later on that night, The Old Lady would hear Mama getting on to Papas pretty good when she thought all the kids were asleep. As usual, their conversation was always one sided 'cause Papa was always very quiet at. such times, at the times of Mama's private lectures to him. It was many years later, when Papa had been transferred to Texas, had The Old Lady learned a "pee row" was the same thing as a canoe. The only difference was you didn't use a pole on a canoe. You used oars. She had much preferred the pole as you could also use it for a fishing pole. The Old Lady was brought back to reality with Cat, digging her claws into The Old Lady's leg as she spied a mouse running across the floor and prepared to give chase. Now then! Mice were not something usually seen running across the floor. Scorpions were the most likely thing one saw crawling around out here in the country. However, Cat left them alone after she tied up with one a few years back. The Old lady hadn't minded Cat's respect for the scorpions privacy as that vet bill that had resulted from the one encounter had ran pretty high. But, now here was a mouse. It ran under the stove just as Cat was about to pounce on it. When it came out from under the stove, Cat almost caught it to until The Old Lady threw a book from the coffee table by her chair at Cat and distracted her. ."Hey! Doncha know its Christmas! That poor little creature looks half drowned and probably came in out of the rain to warm up. Leave it alone," she admonished Cat. What did it matter if there was a mouse in the house? At least something was a stirrin' this miserable Christmas Eve night. She would wait until the day after Christmas to get out the mousetrap. The Old Lady continued to surf the channels. Cat was now curled comfortably in her lap. She scratched Cat's ears again and began to doze off. Another TV ad showed a family sitting down to Christmas dinner. There would be no family dinners for her. She'd had a blessed Thanksgiving the few hours she had shared with her son and his family that day. It was a perfect day, a day that only the Lord could have made. The weather was cool but the wind and rain from the preceding week had let up and the sun had shown brightly. They had talked and laughed and she was reminded for the thousandth time how important family was. It did not matter her Christmas would not come with her son and family until the end of the year. After all! This was the way it had been since her son married. Christmas for them was spent with her daughter in law's family. The Old lady smiled as she thought of her granddaughter building memories with cousins and maternal grand parents. She too, had built memories with her own family. And, she had the memories of her own 'little boy and their Christmases together. These memories could never be taken away. So many beautiful memories of sharing in his life, watching a little boy grow into manhood. Wow! Tears of sweet memories filled The Old Lady's eyes. The Old Lady laughed out loud as she thought of some of the memories with her child that had not been so sweet. Her laugh startled Cat, who jumped out of he lap, but not before digging her claws deep into the thin wrinkled flesh of the Old Lady's leg. "Ouch! Watch it, Cat! just for that, Ole Santa ain't gonna bring you no catnip for Christmas," she admonished Cat. Yes! The memories! A particular one came to mind. The memory was of the time she was ready to go to the grocery store and couldn't find her list and money she had laid on the dining table as she checked the grocery sales in the newspaper. She looked everywhere until she realized the table was clear of the newspaper and other things. She finally found the list and money in the garbage can but it was too late to go shopping. The stores had closed early for Christmas Eve by that time. You see! Her little three year old boy was very helpful around the house. He was always cleaning. Sometimes she had wished he was not so helpful. Like the time he washed the den windows. Unfortunately, not finding paper towels to wipe with, he had used toilet tissue and it just happened to be the last roll in the house. And, it had taken quite a while to wipe all that wet paper off the window panes and clean the carpet. Come to think of it, tho, those red beans and rice weren't such a bad Christmas dinner. At least, it was different and she never did like turkey anyway. Oh! There were so many memories. Memories of the time his dad bought that nice big fire truck for his son. Unfortunately, the kid didn't play with the truck but the two year old had a ball climbing in and out of the huge box and rolling in the paper it came it. Needless to say, the kid was happy but his dad was very disappointed. And! Her little boy had been very sensitive to animals. He was most thoughtful of them, especially his cat he had named Angel. Now then! Angel was anything but angelic. He was a big yellow cat and would go hunting around the house in the middle of the night waking up even the dead if any happened to be around to wake up. Sometimes he would bring presents to the door, calling loudly for you to come and receive a big sewer rat or snakes he had brought for you. He would drop them at your feet and purr loudly as if to say, "Look what I brought You." Unfortunately, most of the "presents" Angel brought were not appreciated by the "presentee." One Christmas Eve, when he was about four years old, The Old Lady's precious little boy let the cat in because he thought it was too cold for it out in the garage. He was told not to do so but, what the heck! That kid was told not to a lot of things he did anyway. He meant well. however. She had finally given in and said the cat could stay in the house. Everything was going fine until the middle of the night. There was a tremendous noise, lights were popping and Angel was squalling at the top his lungs, or what ever cats squall at. The cat had chased a mouse that had run behind the Christmas tree. Angel followed, tangling himself in lights and hangings and scattering presents all around the room. It took a good hour to get things settled down and in place. It was a good thing the tree would be thrown out in a couple of days because it was never as tall nor looked the same after that night. Yes! The memories. The Old lady shifted her position in the chair. Santa Clause had reached Central Texas. Or so the announcer on TV said. Cat purred contentedly in her lap. She began to doze off as the rain beat down on the roof and the lightening flashes became more frequent. A clap of thunder jarred the house, waking her up again. "That one's pretty close. Right on top of the house, as a matter of fact. '`Hope that sleigh ain't made out of metal and it didn't get Ole Santa," she said to Cat as it, too, rose from her lap with a start. The lights and television went off momentarily and the room was dark. The room began to fill with a soft glow. After the darkness of the room, The Old Lady rubbed her eyes and blinked in order to make sure she was awake. "I never saw lightening like that before. Oh, I've seen it light up the whole sky but never come in the house. And the thunder! It's gone. It is so still and quiet in here. What happened?" The Old Lady questioned her present surroundings. What was going on? The light became brighter. She heard soft music playing. It wasn't like records, or church music, or any kind of music she had ever heard. It was soft and distant. Harp music! The Old Lady was mystified. "Where is that music coming from? The TV ain't on. I think the lightening knocked it off the air. And the light!" She got up from the chair and went over to the window. The rain had stopped. The sky was bright with a million stars. The light became even brighter. The Old Lady opened the door and looked up in the sky. The high winds had died down and only a sweet cool breeze filled the air. The light appeared to be coming from one big star, a star so big until it dwarfed the others. The music became closer. The old clock on the mantle began to chime. Dooong! Dooong! Dooong! Dooong! Dooong! Dooong! Dooong! Dooong! Dooong! Dooong! Dooong! Dooong! Twelve long slow dongs! Twelve o'clock! The Old Lady fell down on arthritic knees ... knees she had not fallen on in many years, but there was no pain. She gave thanks to God. Thanks because… IT REALLY WAS CHRISTMAS! Christ, our Saviour was born! May you and yours know the joys of Christmas. May you share them with family and friends. AND! May your memories of Christmas 2004 be ever so sweet. God's blessings!
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