Christmas ~ A Fond Remembrance
Perhaps the very first remembrance of Christmas that I have was about the age of 4 or 5. I know that I hadn't started the school year. We always waited for snow for Christmas even though living in North Dakota that wasn't the thing you would particularly like back in the late 40's, early 50's, but Christmas was special and nobody mind having snow at least for that day.
This year was very special for me because it is the only year I remember with my Father. My Father was a tall lanky guy with 6 children of school age and I remember he always had a cough and looked like he was cold and busy. There were chores to be done, jobs to do and besides working for somebody else, he kept a small farm with cows, horses, chicken, ducks, and geese. We always had homegrown canned goods and dairy products. Our 2 bedroom house was always warm when Dad was alive even if we had to pick 'cow pies' to burn in the pot belly stove. The boys had a room, and the girls slept on the sofa. My younger brother had a crib and I slept with my Dad and Mom. How we ended up in that situation is another story.
Anyway, back to the Christmas story. This special year, I got a doll. She had some kind of a "breakable" head and rubber fingers and a pretty blue dress with little blue ribbon bows. She cried when she was laid down and her eyes closed. As most kids I probably had her undressed by the end of the first day. That old doll went through a whole lot, but I don't know what ever happen to her. She was very special to me and I was oh so proud that I had a doll.
Now the special thing was that I remember sitting on my Father's lap watching him tip the doll over to hear her cry. "Listen, he said, this dolly is crying. Poor Dolly!" I remember giggling, but was more interested in the string from his "Bull Durham" tobacco pouch hanging out of his shirt pocket.
My Dad died a year or so later from cancer, but this had been my one and only Christmas memory I have of him. Love you, Dad!
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