Meanwhile with McKiever : Remembering and smiling at past holidays
Posted on Sunday, December 16, 2007
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/56749/
In 1944, my dad was 19 years old. Serving with the Marines in the Pacific Theater, he remembers Christmas of that year clearly.
I asked him how the holiday was celebrated and he explained there wasn’t much celebrating going on where he was. “ I was in New Guinea on Christmas Day that year, ” he said. “ There were some Army guys there who shared some canned peaches with us. We appreciated it because we had been eating canned kangaroo — so tough you couldn’t swallow the stuff. ” That was it. No gifts exchanged. No twinkling lights or carols sung. No turkey with all the trimmings but he hasn’t forgotten the soldiers whose simple act of sharing made Christmas 1944 a holiday he remembers.
My mother taught school several years. She reminded me of a Christmas holiday several years ago she especially liked. She had bought a little 3-foot tree to decorate and have in her classroom. Mother said she hadn’t gotten a stand for the little tree yet. “ I just propped it up in the trash can in my room and thought I would get a stand after school that day, ” she said. “ I went to the school office for something during my preparation period and when I came back, the tree was gone. I couldn’t imagine what had happened to it and I wondered about it the rest of the afternoon. ”
Mother had her answer when the last bell rang that day. “ When I walked by the custodians’ breakroom, ” she said, “ I saw the little tree on their table. They had decorated it and put lights on it. I know they saw it in the trash and thought I was throwing it away. I was so glad they were using it. They had it looking beautiful and I knew they would enjoy it in their breakroom. Of course I never said anything to them or anyone about it, but I had a happy feeling every time I saw them around that little tree. ” The very best Christmas memories and the ones we keep for years aren’t usually about big screen TVs or laptops or even the bicycles Santa left. What favorite Christmas memories have in common is a theme of sharing. Canned peaches and tiny trees are only the props. It’s the people we remember who make our unforgettable Christmas memories.
••• Tonya McKiever is a reporter for The Benton County Daily Record. Her column appears on Sundays.