Thanks for the personal stories reminding us of some of what’s really important during christmas.

SB

These are great stories. Each has a useful message.

I am reminded by your story of your family accepting gifts during hard times of a family my wife, then a teacher of Grade 5 students, and I visited during the holidays of December 1969. Some of her students skipped school on the day the holiday gift exchange was being held. My wife provided gifts in the names of the missing students and delivered gifts to the homes of those who were absent.

When we arrived at the one family shelter, we were warmly received by the entire family. Their shelter reminded me of a chicken coop on a share cropper farm on which my family had resided in 1949-1953. It had cardboard walls and ceiling attached to flimsy studs and tarpaper covered the exterior to block the wind, rain and snow. There was a bif steel drum being used as a stove in the center of this firetrap. We recognized immediately that the boy we had come to visit and his siblings had skipped school because they could not afford the small cost of gifts for their classmates. Neither of their parents, nor their grandparents were employed.

We provided a gift for each member of this family and alerted ministers, charity leaders and local service clubs of their light. I believe this was the poorest family I ever met in the USA. My family was poor when we lived on share cropper farms, but we had plenty of food, clothing and sturdy shelters. We raised the food, preserving much of it for winter months. Our clothes were handmade, handed down from older to younger and often patched. Our houses had no electricity or plumbing, but they were solidly built to resist the elements. Oviously, there are different levels among the ranks of the poor.