Some things to smile on, some things to think about

Oxford, PA., where I lived for 8 years.

Photo by Julie Lee Smith.

Santa over the Tug Fork River in West Virginia and Kentucky

 

My daddy worked at the sawmill. In the wintertime he didn't get to work enough to have anything to spare. With a wife and six little girls to feed, sometimes he had a hard time making ends meet. One year his boss owed him a hundred dollars in wages but for some reason he was unable to pay him in time for Christmas. Momma and Daddy were depending on that money for our family's Christmas. The preacher's wife brought us each a gift. The tag on mine said "Young girl." It was a small set of pretend makeup. Plastic lipstick. But everything was okay. Our family was together and we had some food, thanks to Momma canning garden stuff. But when we returned to school after New Years, the teacher went around asking us all to tell the class what we got for Christmas. All I had to tell was my little makeup set. So, I just said, "Makeup." A girl in the class said, "But it's not real! It's only pretend!" Years and years later, teaching kindergarten, I never made the children share what they got for Christmas.--Edie Davis/Appalachian Americans

TO THE MOMMA AND/OR DADDY LOOKING AROUND THIS MORNING THINKING IT IS NOT ENOUGH - IT IS!!!! If you love them more than life, if you did the very best your could, your babies will NOT remember being "cheated" or "shorted". As a kid some of my friends got more than me, some got less. As a parent there were times I struggled so hard. I wanted my daughter to have a TV one year so I bought a used one. It wasn't new, but it was a TV and that was what she remembered. Your unconditional love is the GREATEST gift you can give them. Teaching them to be good humans, kind, loving and with a strong work ethic is your gift not only to them but to humanity. So as they open their gifts, be all excited! Smile and tell them how much you love them, hug them and play with them and this will be a Christmas they remember forever Love you - keep your head up - you're doing great! I wrote this from my heart to yours - stopping stressing and enjoy every second. If you do, they will too.--Lori Nations Duckworth