Once Upon a Christmas 1954 Part 3
. Oh – the glorious things we saw – shelves full of toys and household goods, glass
counters with hundreds of bottles of perfume and cologne, shaving gear, tropical birds and
fish and mountains and mountains of candy. What to do – what to buy?
We scurried from one counter to the next, overwhelmed with the endless things to
choose from as we stammered and stuttered like a couple of idiots. Finally, we decided on a
bottle of ‘Lily of the Valley’ perfume and a pair of gloves for mom and ‘Old spice’ cologne and
gloves for dad.
We then separated to buy presents for each other agreeing to meet at the soda
fountain afterwards where we decided it was only fitting we should have a banana split and a
Coke to celebrate the occasion.
As we sat three with our lips covered in butterscotch and ice cream, the gravity of
the situation began to sink in. We had spent our entire savings and with that realization, we
licked our lips and decided the bicycles would have to wait another year.
Finally – it was Christmas Eve and we put the presents under the tree and hung
our stockings at the foot of the bed. In a few hours, those stockings would be filled with
barley toys, ribbon candy and chocolates. I could hardly wait! As mom tucked us into bed,
I looked out the window and saw it was snowing again. It snowed all through the night as I
lay in my cozy bed dreaming of that glorious bicycle again.
---
Christmas morning we awoke to the sound of the radio; home for Christmas after
a long stay at the pawn shop as ‘Joy to the World’ rang over her airwaves.
We dashed to the living room where mom and dad stood beside two bicycles with
gleaming chrome and multi-colored streamers; not the ones from the store window, but the
most beautiful bicycles I have ever seen; a red one for me and a blue one for my brother.
There I stood, my heart overflowing with joy and love as I remembered my
mother’s blood stained hands and my father’s blue and red stained hands - these hands of
love that changed two second-hand bicycles into the greatest gift I have ever known and
taught me the true meaning of Christmas.
• May the love from that Christmas of 1954 find you and fill your heart with joy.
Merry Christmas
To you and yours
Lainie
Copyright © Elaine George | Year Posted 2008
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