.......Gerald's Pin.......

We weren't at all disappointed that we received only a very small gift from Santa, and some fruit, candy and nuts. Christmas was the most wonderful time of the year. Wonderful to have Christmas breakfast of things mother had saved for Christmas morning, such as the pork tenderloin from the hog she had helped the neighbors kill. Eggs saved from our chickens who were on strike because of the bad weather. Homemade biscuits straight from the oven of the old wood stove, homemade plum jelly and hand churned butter. Smelling the "Oh so wonderful", aroma of the hen simmering on the stove readying itself for the dressing to follow for lunch. The smell of pies already cooling in the cupboard.

So many of those Christmases seem to linger in my mind as I reminisce. Memories of my childhood Christmases and then memories of when my children were small. How excited they were to arise on Christmas morning and find that Santa had indeed visited. Not because they got much, they were very lean years for us.

I remember one year when my son was about 10 years old, he asked if he could go to town to shop. He had been saving his allowance. It was nearing Christmas and he had been saving his allowance so he could buy gifts for the family. He went and came home being very secretive about what he had bought. He hurried to his room and hid his packages. Over the next few days he guarded his room as if he were guarding a gold mine.

On Christmas morning as we exchanged gifts, he handed me a large envelope. The smile on his face was gigantic and his eyes were as big a silver dollars as I opened the envelope. Inside was a beautiful card that said, "Merry Christmas Mother" and inside the card as I opened it to read was a beautiful little Christmas tree pin attached to the card. It was gold with a rhinestone in the very top of the tree and an opal in the center. The beauty overwhelmed me. I immediately turned the card over and glanced at the price on the back of the card. $5.00, an unheard of price for a card. I thought, why did he spend that much money on a card but I was indeed thrilled that he thought enough of his mother to spend his allowance on such a gift.

Through the years I have kept that little Christmas tree. That little tree has survived raising two sons, the death of two husbands, many moves and jobs yet it still brings cheer to me at Christmas time. As the season approaches I think of that little Christmas tree and reminisce it's origin as I wear it with pride. My sons are both grown, married and away and I am alone but the season still brings joy to me remembering the Christmases past and the joyous times.

I also remember a Christmas past when a little child came into this world sent by His father to save us. Born in a lowly stable. He also received gifts as those came to witness His birth. He also received gold as in the little pin. The rhinestone on top of the tree reminds me of the star that led the wise men to the Babe as they brought gifts to Him. Though the little Christmas tree pin stands out in my mind as one of the greatest gifts I have ever gotten, no gift is as great as the gift in the form of a Babe in Bethlehem on that night in the stable.