Christmas Joy

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement
Christmas Joy

Christmas Eve excitement in the girl’s bedroom made it hard for Louisa to get her four younger sisters in bed. Louisa hung the last of her sisters well-darned stockings on the two double bedsteads where the five of them slept. Because the stockings covered their legs from hip to toe on Indiana’s wintery days, they were roomy enough to hold lots of treats. The girls kneeled and said their prayers interspersed with giggles of anticipation. She gave each girl an extra tight hug before turning out the kerosene lamp and joining her parents downstairs.

Finally, the excited whispers from upstairs gave way to soft breathing, and Louisa slipped up to stuff the stockings with Christmas surprises. She felt grown up for Mama to trust her with this privilege. Walnuts from the farm’s trees fit into the foot sections. Then a juicy orange fit in the heel part. Louisa remembered the first year she had a whole orange to herself. She kept hers to prolong the delight of owning such a treat. One day a white mold covered it, and the insides turned mushy. Instead of tasting its juicy flesh, she had to throw her treasure away. As she wondered how Papa managed to pay for an orange for each child, she decided she would make sure her sisters ate their oranges Christmas day. On top of the orange, Louisa tucked in the mittens mother knit from leftover yarn and last, the finger puppets Lousia made herself from fabric scraps.

Pausing at the door, she clasped her hands to her heart picturing the girls’ excitement over their gifts. She wanted to run her fingers through Ruth’s blonde curls on her pillow but resisted lest she awaken her. Her throat swelled with love for her family. The Bible was right. It was more blessed to give than to receive. Being on the giving end instead of the receiving side made her thoughts skip with a joy she never had suspected possible. Her sisters would love their Christmas this year, and she loved her eleven-year-old passage from receiving to contributing to their joy. If this delight was the reward for growing up, why did adults groan so about their birthdays? Each birthday brought new reasons to rejoice.