We Have Entertained Angels Unaware

I’d watch Mother stick that needle through another piece of pop corn and marvel at her patience. Piece after piece after piece…. I’d tried it once or twice those first couple of Christmases. Too slow for me! But those “pop corn strings” were a big part of our decorations. As were those silver icicles Mom would untangle for hours on end. I never even attempted that! Mom’s steady hands never wavered. The smile never left her face. The just right looking tree was important to her. Christmas was important to her.

Getting the tree was another whole story. Leon would throw that double bladed ax over his shoulder and march as important as all get out across the pasture by Archie Moore’s house toward the distant railroad tracks. Me and David would be near ’bout be running to keep up. We were on a mission. “Let’s get the tallest one we can find.”

“It can’t be too tall, it’s got to fit in the house.”

“It has got to be shaped right. We can only turn one side to the wall.”

“Let’s don’t get a crooked top like last year. The star was pointing more toward the kitchen than the ceiling.”

“I think Mother would like this one.” With hardly a conscious thought or overture we paid homage to her. It was the same every year. We searched for the tree that would be acceptable in Mother’s eyes. We couldn’t disappoint her! Most Christmases it would take us a whole day to find the right one. Leon carried the big end. Me and David took turns toting the ax and holding on to the top of the tree so it wouldn’t “get messed up” before Mom could see it.

In all those years guess how many trees Mom turned down. She’d hold up preparing supper and race out the back door to greet us. She’d hug Leon and tussle    Dave’s hair as we stood it up in front of her. “I believe this is the best one ever.” She looked it over carefully. The smile, and the glow, never left her face. “Boys, this tree is beautiful. It is just the perfect size. God surely put it right in your path.”

I was tempted to shout, “God didn’t have nothing to do with it! We looked at a hundred trees down there! We liked to have never found this one! I’ve got cuts on my hands from pulling limbs back so Leon could see if the trunk was straight!” But Mom was so excited about the “God sent” tree that I let it slide. 

As we ate our brown beans and cornbread Mom would go on and on about the excellent tree we had to decorate and prepare for this wonderful Christmas season. She would commend us over and over for our efforts to “add to the season”. And she would somehow move from our new tree to that story of how Jesus came to be born. She would tell us about the kind innkeeper and lowly stable and humble birth. I wanted to interrupt and say if the innkeeper had really been kind he’d a’given the pregnant lady his room and he’d a’slept in the barn…..

Mom was almighty sure this birth was the special one! She loved those angels and shepherd’s and donkeys and wisemen. She explained fifty times why we were so carefully placing that guiding star on top of our tree. Mom knew things about Christmas that no one else knew.

We had more pop corn strings and icicles on the tree than presents under it but Mom never seemed to notice. She would laugh and try to pass the fruit and walnuts off as gifts but she wasn’t fooling me! She told us stories about boys who slew giants, ate wild honey and became kings. She taught us to be thankful, “There are so many folks in the world that have a lot less than us.” Me and David Mark and Leon couldn’t hardly believe that! And she would end up back at that lowly manger and that little child. I kept thinking she’d give it a rest! But in all the Christmases we spent down at the end of Stonewall Street, she never did.

Santa always made it, bearing more than fruit. It was a pair of Red Ryder gloves. Or a baseball. Or a gun and holster set. One Christmas it was a shock resistant, anti-magnetic Timex watch with a red sweep second hand. It cost nine dollars and ninety-five cents! I had been admiring it up at Cannons’ Rexall Drugstore for weeks but the price didn’t even allow room for hope. I stared at it in disbelief. It cost more than Leon and David’s presents put together! Nobody said a word about money. Leon and David were happy for me and cupped their hands over the dial to see it “glow in the dark”. You could give Mother a crooked stick with a dead leaf on it and she would hug you and tell you how much she liked it and how precious of you to remember her. And I’m wearing a ten dollar watch when we didn’t have ten dollars!

I remember the sacrifices made on my behalf that Christmas long after that watch quit ticking……  

Mother’s hands are not so steady this Christmas. She couldn’t get a needle through one of those kernels of popped corn if her life depended on it. She won’t be buying any watches. And her tree decorating days are over for good.

But it is going to be our families best Christmas ever! I’m going to put my arms around her and I’m going to tell her about that kind innkeeper and that baby born in that lowly manger. We are going to experience the miracle of Christmas. We’re going to smell that stable and we’re going to hear those angels singing…..

           Blessed,

              Kes