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RETURN TO NEW STUFF OR TO HOME PAGE CHRISTMAS 2003 MY
HERO by Bill Johns As
a young man, and as young men usually do, I had my share of heroes.
Tarzan Of the Apes, the heroic figure as depicted by Edgar Rice
Burrows, was my early-on favorite. Next was Joe Louis, the heavyweight
boxing champion of the world. This man who was so competent in
the ring but who carried himself with such quiet dignity elsewhere;
this was my hero. As I grew older, my heroes became other people,
and for a whole laundry-list of reasons. Merry
Christmas
by Bill Johns I
was eight years old and on a trip to Ohio with my Grandmother
Nellie. We were on an eight-hour layover in Lake City, Florida
when the news reached everybody that Germany had capitulated.
Something involving World War Two. Japan was only about two weeks
behind-thanks to the B-29 Superfortress, The Enola Gay, and Col.
Tibbets and company. "What the hell does capitulate mean,
Grandma?" "Watch that mouth, boy. Capitulate means to
surrender. The war's over. Your daddy's coming home."
In the meantime, and far across the ocean, another daddy was in
Germany and advancing on a small German town when the news reached
both the German and the allied forces. Mr. Brown, the dad of my
longtime friend and working buddy, Thomas, was tired of the fighting,
the death, and constantly missing his family. Nothing official
in the field yet, but these troops, both German and American,
knew. The war was over. Japan, of course, held out for a week
or two more, but for these troops, it was finished.
As previously mentioned, there was nothing official yet. Procedure
called for these American soldiers to advance on the town, take
all of the German soldiers prisoner and to kill anyone who resisted.
The Americans advanced, the German soldiers laid down their weapons,
the American soldiers stacked their arms alongside of the German
arms and every last one of these soldiers advanced on the local
village pub and tried to drain every last keg of German lager
on the premises. These troops roundly and soundly toasted each
other's bravery, strength, courage, families, ancestors, cousins,
aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and when all
of these categories were finally exhausted, they started at the
top of the list and drank their way back down the list again.
Some wiser, older, and more-sober American officer, with more
brass on his collar than common sense in his head, ordered these
drunken American troops to take these drunken prisoners prisoner.
This officer was invited to either belly up to the bar and drink
a toast to the war's end or to hike his backside up the street.
Every last one of these soldiers, American and German alike, had
already seen enough carnage to last several lifetimes. A court-martial?
Find somebody sober enough to conduct one and have at it. These
brave, stalwart, drunken soldiers of both nations, for this one
all-to-brief time in this small German village pub, were able
to sense and to take part in the true meaning of Christmas: Peace
On Earth And Good Will To Men
christmas........
2002 Barb Burdett Slaughterbeck's Yard - Fostoria, Ohio |
Barb
Burdett S's 60' blue spruce with 2000 lights
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Gator Johns at home in Ohio 2002(Nellie/Wm>Isabelle>Lois>Gator) CHRISTMAS MEMORIES by Lois Smith Miller Nellie/Wm> Isabelle Pearl>Lois To me Christmas is the most special day of the year. Daddy always made Christmas special.He would get so excited. We were too poor to get over one or two gifts, but as far as Daddy we were having the best Christmas we would ever have. If we had got the things that children get today we would have felt like Prince and Princesses. Mama would not let us get up until Daddy came and woke us up and told us Santa had come. Sometime I would wake up about 4:00 or 5:00 and just lie there until he called us. It was so exciting. When I was 12 and Curtis was 6, Daddy was working a lot and he bought us each a bicycle. Boy I felt like a Queen. Curtis learned to ride before me. There is a bar across a boy's bike, and he was too small to throw his leg over it, so he just put his leg under the bar and pedaled it that way.Though we only got a few things Daddy would act like we got the best Christmas there was, and so did we. We always had a bunch of People over to eat with us. Either Daddy's family or some of Mama's family. When it got dark, Daddy would shoot off fireworks. To this day I love to watch fireworks. Trust me , it was the best day of the year. I tried to continue the same thing with my children except for the fireworks. When I got married, when I was in Tampa, I always went to Mama's and all the married and unmarried went Home for Christmas (Daddy & Mama's), and had a feast. These are days I never will forget. My Brother Wesley died on Christmas morning, None of us had Christmas until a week later. Believe me it wasn't the same. A
Wonderful Christmas Blessing Nellie/Wm>Isabelle Pearl>Lois Smith Miller>Kevin>Kimilee One
November day a baby in the town of Jacksonville, Florida was born.
He weighed 5 pounds and 7 ounces. He was very healthy and ate
very well. Nothing was wrong with him. One month passed and on
December 24, 1998 as the baby was sitting in front of the fire,
when a spark flew and hit the baby's clothes. They caught on fire
and burnt the baby's skin and clothes very bad. Soon the fire
spread everywhere in the family room and the baby's parents were
alarmed. They ran to the room to find the little baby laying on
the floor with burnt skin and clothes on fire. They checked his
pulse over and over again but got nothing. They called 911 and
when the ambulance got there they rushed the baby to the hospital.
They hoped he would live so they removed the burnt skin and operated
to save the child. Soon after the operation to remove the skin,
they got a pulse, The baby was breathing well again. The parents
were so happy they started to cry. Soon the baby's skin was beautiful
again and they got to head back home. The parent's spent the baby's
first Christmas together because of a wonderful Christmas blessing. All
I Want For Christmas We
never worried about such things as meals and Christmas gifts and
such when we were little kids. You see, Mom and Aunt Isabelle
and Grandma Burdett possessed the stuff of magic about themselves.
I faintly remember telling this before and it may have involved
Thanks Giving, not Christmas, but all of these holidays were always
special. These ladies really did have magic about themselves.
Forgive the failing memory of a no-longer-young son and nephew
and grandson, but of the core story here, I'm absolutely sure.
And if this didn't involve magic, then call it what you will.
To us young ones, it was nothing short of magic. GRANDMA KNOWS BY BARB BURDETT SLAUGHTERBECK Last year at Christmas I told the story about my Christmas decorations being stolen. This is the aftermath. I had Christmas two or three days after the 25th so as not to conflict with my kids and grandkids Christmas's at their own homes. Everyone was here and we had a great time. The next day, I decided to take all the new decorations down. I went in to the closet to get the the storage boxes and there sitting on top of the Tree box was the old Christmas decoration box. At first I didn't realize what it was, I removed it from the closet to take a look inside and lo and behold, it was all the decorations that had been stolen. Evidently, whoever had taken them (or borrowed, whichever the case may be), had used them and then returned them the night that I had Christmas. I have a strong hunch but my lips are forever sealed. Everyone who came thru the door that night was carrying bags and boxes so it is almost impossible to point a finger at one particular person, BUT , GRANDMA KNOWS !!!!!!!!! 12-21-02
Light Catchers by Virginia REPRINTED FROM BRYBURCON.COM FIRST EDITION CHRISTMAS
AT OUR HOUSE Pat and I just loved Christmas time at our house when we were young kids. Mom made fruit cakes, soaked for 3 months in Rum They were delicious, not like the ones you buy today. I remember all the little bowls sitting on the table. Each one having something different in them. I'd sneak a taste and she'd smack my hand with the spoon. When it was time too mix all the ingredients into the cake batter, Dad had to take over. It was so stiff, Mom couldn't get it all stirred together. No electric mixers or food processors back in those days. She made brown sugar cookies and big Pecan Rolls with real cream and smothered in nuts. She baked the most delicious Pumpkin Pies surpassed only the Lemon ones. I have never ever anywhere ever tasted a Lemon Pie like my Moms. She made cut-out cookies in Christmas shapes and spent hours and hours decorating each one individually. I remember being so very excited when it was time to decorate the tree. Dad always put the tree in the tree stand and put the light strings on, with Moms supervision. Then it was up to Mom to finish it. The Library table was moved to the other side of the room and the tree took its place in front of the side window. The table moved, the tree went up and the excitement began. Mom hung big paper bells from the chandeliers and smaller ones hung on the ends of the window blind pulls. We had one wreath with one light bulb candle and it hung in one of the front living room windows. Nothing ever showed up under the tree until Santa arrived. He appeared on the front porch, tapped on the window and when Dad went to the door, lo and behold, there sat a bushel basket or two full of wrapped gifts. Sometimes he was gone by the time Dad got the door opened but sometimes Santa himself in full regalia would be standing there. He would Ho Ho Ho and Merry Christmas and then leave. The baskets would be brought in and the presents put under the tree. Sometimes something too big to be wrapped was brought in too. For instance, the year that Uncle Bud bought us a kids a maple table and chair set. Just as soon as the presents got under the tree, Mom would sit down on the floor and start passing them out. When we all had our pile in front of us, paper and ribbon mayhem would ensue. The year of the table was 1940. I was 6 ½ yrs. old and Pat was 3. Before the table arrived, Santa appeared at the front living-room window. He tapped on the window and put his face right up to the window so we could be seen. Pat saw him, screamed bloody murder and ran into the dining room and hid behind the heating stove. She sat down on the floor and hid her face in her hands. No amount of coaxing could bring her out. When attempts were made, she just screamed and cried all the louder. That's where she was when Uncle Bud showed up with the table. I immediately sat down at the table. I thought it was just beautiful. What a place to color and paint and play games. A place all our own to play Old Maids and such. Pat was still behind the stove. Uncle Bud tried to coax her out. She finally peeked around the corner and saw me sitting at the table. I don't remember whether it was Dad or Mom who finally got her into the living-room and sitting at the table but someone finally managed it. She sat there as stiff as a board with her hands over her eyes. Every now and then she would tweak the hands apart a little to sneak a peek at the window then she'd close them up again. The next day, Moms sister Hazel, who lived next door, came over to see what we all got for Christmas. Mom told her about the Santa episode with Pat. Aunt Hazel asked Pat what happened. Pat related as follows. SANEECAUS CUMA WINNOW, SHUTEE EYE BAKEE TOVE. Pretty
precise relating for a 3 year old, if you ask me. YOU
DIDN'T SEE WHAT YOU THINK YOU DID by Reatha Johns Albury We were living in a small, rented house when Cheryl was three or four years old. The woman we rented from also rented out apartments. There was a long row of probably ten garages and everybody living there had one. The garages were all under the same roof, separated only with a few wide boards with large gaps between them. One Christmas, we bought a swing set for the kids and as Lloyd did not want to spend all Christmas eve night putting it together, he did it early. He worked on it and left the finished product out in our garage. One day Cheryl came running into the house, excitedly telling me that she had found a swing set out in the garage. Being young parents faced with a dilemma, the two of us put our heads together to figure out what to do. Finally, we came up with an idea. While I made sure Cheryl stayed in the house, Lloyd went outside and moved the swing set to a garage down the line. He put up cardboard so you could not look from one garage to another. We then took Cheryl out to our garage and did a lot of fast talking to convince her that she had not seen a swing set. Cheryl being Cheryl, I wonder how convinced she was. My parents may not have seen a swing set, but I know I did.
One year when Bud was very young, we gave him a bag with about 50 soldiers in it for Christmas. He loved to play with them in the bathtub. He used a plastic banana split dish for a boat and would ride them around and around the tub as he carried on an imaginary game. One time as I came into the bathroom, he was swishing the boat with his soldiers around. "I have to be careful so the boat doesn't turn over because it will smuficate them." he said to me. Another Christmas we gave him a second-hand bike. It was the fastest bike in the neighborhood. One day he was riding up on the sidewalk and came home all upset because a boy had made fun of his bike. "Do you like your bike?" I asked him. "Yes", (smiff, smiff), he said between tears. "Then it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks about it," I told him. CHRISTMAS One Christmas after my dad had died, Mom invited some soldiers from Ft. Lewis in Tacoma for Christmas dinner. I was single at that time, and I was close to their ages. I was lighting candles, trying to look cool. I accidentally caught one of my acrylic fingernails on fire, and I wasn't very cool as I frantically shook it to put out the fire. One Christmas more recently after Tad and I were married Mom and a boyfriend of hers had Christmas dinner with us. Nothing went very right that whole year. I had managed to get a ham, and I thought I would pick up some of the rest of the food Christmas Day at a convenience store near where we live. For more than twenty years Mom had used an exposed 2x4 in the house that Tad and I now own to measure our heights - mine, Lloyd's, my kids, hers, Dad's, other relatives including Great Aunt Isabelle when she visited us from Florida. Without telling her we removed the 2x4, and Tad attached legs and brass hooks to make a coat rack out of it for her Christmas gift. Tad laid his hand open on the table saw as he was making the coat rack, and he oozed blood throughout Christmas dinner. All I had been able to find at the convenience store was corn nuts, chips and olives. We excused ourselves early to take him to the emergency room in Tacoma and left Mom and her friend to clean up. I must say that, although that Christmas was pretty much a disaster, Mom cherishes that coat rack. This
year, in hopes of establishing something like the 2x4 tradition,
I have made a stepladder tree which we will sign and date each
Christmas.
CHRISTMAS
FOR A FOUR YEAR OLD Living
in Ohio Reatha, Edna and Dorothy would look down the grate on
the floor of the upstairs bedroom to watch their mother and father
put up a Christmas tree and place presents under it. Reatha was
the wise one as she was really grown up at the age of seven. "See,"
she would say, "there really is no Santa as Mama and Daddy
are the ones who bring the toys." This went on for several
years until one Christmas Eve their father sat in the living room
reading his paper. The girls were in the dining room talking in
low tones, "Daddy won't bring in the presents until we are
in bed," whispered Reatha. The girls heard sleigh bells outside.
Suddenly the living room door opened, and Santa rushed in with
a bushel basket of toys and put it down near the Christmas tree.
Then he rushed out again. That certainly stirred up a lot of excitement.
"See," said Dorothy, "there really is a Santa Claus.
We just saw him." "He didn't come from the North Pole,"
declared Edna. "He comes from the South Pole since every
Christmas we get an orange in our stockings, and oranges grow
in Florida." The belief in Santa Claus was renewed. In fact,
the Santa who rushed in with the toys was their brother, Gerald,
dressed in a Santa Claus outfit. For a long time we thought it
was a real Santa Claus. I don't remember when we found out it
was Gerald. At that time we lived in Ohio, and no oranges grow
there, only apples. I was the four-year-old.
Gerald
James Burdett When I was five years old I got both a train set and a tomahawk. That was a bad thing because I beat that train set up and wrecked it with the tomahawk. When my twin daughters were little we got them some really nice play kitchen stuff, and I got up at 4AM to put it together. They took the boxes and as far as they were concerned that was Christmas. They didn't want to play with the kitchen stuff. My
wife, Dot, and I went to Pennsylvania when her son was about twelve.
She got us toy machine guns, and we had fun all day playing with
those toy guns. THE GRINCHES
WHO ATE CHRISTMAS My daughter, Mindy, usually finds us something different and special to do on Christmas. One year she arranged for us to deliver meals to needy individuals through the Meals on Wheels program. The food was prepared by Sheraton Hotel kitchen staff in the huge downtown Tacoma hotel, and we reported to the lower level ballroom on Christmas morning. There we saw huge long tables piled with everything Christmas dinner called for; sliced turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, rolls, steamed vegetables, fruit salads, pumpkin pie slices, mashed potatoes and gravy. We received the names of our clients, and then we walked alongside the tables loading plates and boxes. The plates were covered with plastic tops, and the rolls, pies and drinks were boxed in individual containers. Mindy, her companion and my grandson, Nathan, took one list of clients and went out to deliver their meals. My son Lloyd, my granddaughter Hillary and I took another list. We were instructed to attempt to deliver the meals, and if any of our clients were not home we were not to bring the meals back to the Sheraton. We should discard them or eat them ourselves. We followed our directions to the first client's house, and an older man took the food from Lloyd and Hillary as I waited in the car. He smiled shyly as they wished him a Merry Christmas. Then we drove away to search for the second client. No one answered Lloyd's repeated knocks, so we left. By then it was afternoon. "Grandma, I'm hungry," Hillary said as she held the missing client's food. "We're supposed to eat it, Mom," Lloyd said. "Okay, guys, let's eat," I told them, and we greedily scooped up turkey, dressing and all of the trimmings. It was wonderful food that had been prepared by professional chefs. We found the third, and last, client's address. Lloyd and Hillary took the third meal to the door, and a sad faced woman answered. A lengthy conversation followed, and finally Lloyd and Hillary handed the woman the food and slowly walked back to the car where I waited. "Mom, that lady said they ordered two meals. She has a roommate" Lloyd said. "Grandma, I could have just DIED" Hillary whispered fiercely. "Mom," Lloyd said softly, "I told her we would bring them another meal." "Okay, guys, we will go back to the Sheraton and ask for another meal. If they won't give us one, we will go out and buy those people some food," I said. It
was a rather long drive back to the Sheraton, but we went back.
Lloyd and Hillary went inside, and after awhile they came back
out with a big box. "Mom, they gave us two extra ones,"
Lloyd said. ":Let's give it all to those two ladies."
And give it all to them we did. Then we laughed at ourselves all
the way home. "We're lucky we didn't have Nathan with us,"
Hillary said. "He would have told those ladies that we ate
the third Christmas meal." AND THEN HE STUFFED
UP THE TREE… What
a great story. (The Grinches Who Ate Christmas) I'm still laughing.
Sounds like something that would happen to me (but didn't) LOL
What happened to me is this. While I was gone ( to the reunion),
someone stole all my Christmas decorations. Right out of my house.
Everything, including the tree stand. I had to buy all new. Police
were here, but so much for that phase. I have a hunch but without
definite proof, I'm silenced. What is so sad about it is, some
of the things were my mothers and they were old. Isn't this just
a great world! Well most of the time it is. Later luv BARB
A
CHRISTMAS MIRACLE by
LOIS SMITH MILLER Raymond, my youngest brother, was born November 30, 1950, less than a month before Christmas. Mama, Daddy and the family were living out near Aunt Alta in the Thonotosassa area. Mama was just home with Raymond when Daddy had to go into the hospital for surgery. He was laid up for six weeks, unable to work. I was married to my first husband who was gone with the military. My allotment for the kids was snarled up, and I hadn't gotten any money for September through December. Aunt Alta's family was having as hard a time as we were. I went to the Red Cross, and they gave me ten dollars. Social Services gave me another ten for Mama and Daddy. The church in Thonotosassa collected groceries for all of us. Jaeb's Store gave us some more. What they collected filled up the whole back porch of Mama's house. They didn't give us any meat, so Mama killed a big buck rabbit that Wesley had raised, and she fixed that for Christmas dinner. I cashed the last two savings bonds that I had to buy gifts for my family, and I think Aunt Alta made some things for hers. We all had Christmas dinner at Mama's, and there was enough left over for supper that night and on into the following week. The
day after Christmas my allotment check came in.
THELMA We were poor, and we got very little for Christmas. Then one year Gerald was working, and he bought us things. He got me a beautiful bracelet that had several strands hooked together and had green stones in it. It was the first really nice Christmas gift I ever had. Isabelle wanted to borrow it and to wear it to school. She lost it, and it was turned in to the teacher who held it up and asked whose it was. Isabelle didn't want to go up to the front of the room to claim it, and the teacher said he was leaving it on his desk, that whoever it belonged to should get it. Isabelle never did go get my bracelet, and I've never forgotten about it. One
year Ray, the kids and I went out into the woods to hunt for a Christmas
tree. Mother stayed in the car with Janet and Clifford, the baby.
I decided after Ray, Harvey and Glen started out to go with them.
They must have been walking really fast because I lost sight of
them, and I didn't know where the car was either. It was getting
dark, and I was panicky. Finally I found the car. CHRISTMAS STORIES GERRY
Johns Fay When Jim got a job working on a dredge boat he came in with presents for all of us. He brought beautiful baby dolls for me and Virginia. Mine was blonde and hers was red headed. Before that our dolls had been legs off cast iron wood cook stoves. We would dress them up and make cradles out of round oatmeal boxes. We would cut half of the round box out, put the cardboard end back on, and they would rock that way. During the time I was divorced and living in the woods by myself here in Washington, I didn't want to have anybody feeling sorry for me. Erik had gone to Florida for Christmas visitation with his father. I made myself a Christmas dinner, and when Virginia called to ask me to come for dinner I told her I had fixed mine already. She and Mindy brought all of their food down to my trailer, and we all had dinner there. The place was packed with food. When
we were kids I remember going to Aunt Isabelle's for Christmas dinner.
We must not have had much to eat, so we ate there. Gerry
Johns Fay-More Christmas Memories
Gladly The Cross-Eyed Bear made by Alta for Virginia circa 1950
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