11-25-08...CHRISTMAS BLUNDERS
I'll bet that most memories of Christmas for most of us is warm and loving.
Mine too. I have a memory of a Christmas in 1952 that could have been very different had it not been for the Great Love and forberance of my close knit family.
My Daddy and Brenda's Daddy worked away from home in a coal mine. They left for Okla. on Sunday night and came home on Friday night. The one night of the week that we got to stay up late till Daddy got home.
We had a Christmas eve service at our little Church every year. No matter what day of the week it was we were in Church on Christmas eve. Daddy would be always home for Christmas but sometimes couldn't be there till late on Christmas Eve night. So it was left to Mama and Brenda's Mama to get to the Church. Mama had the car that week. She never was a good" driver but managed. Well what always happened when Daddy wasn't home was that Mama would take us to the car then say. I forgot something in the house. You all sit here and I'll be right back. Sit still and don't touch anything or get out. OK Mama. See What Mama was doing was rushing back to the house and laying out our presents under the tree so they would be there when we got home. Then we'd rush in and find what Santa left. Magical time, but not to be so simple this year. Nope, not with all four of us kids in the car. My auntie was at her house doing all this and would meet us at the lane and we'd all be off. Can you imagine all four of us kids sitting in the back seat together in such close quarters with no adult in sight? SURE YOU CAN!
The gear shift was in the floor between the two front seats. I climbed over the seat in to the drivers seat and pushed in the cigarette lighter which always stuck. Brenda and my brother tried to climb over at the same time and bumped heads. She pushed my Brother back down and he started crying. I reached up and slapped the heck out of Brenda and raised up on my knees to see about Norman. That was my baby brother and I was supposed to take care of him. He was 4 at the time. Brenda came on over on her head and we started squabbling in the same seat just as Her Brother Paul came over the seat too.
Somehow we knocked the car out of gear (I think Paul was sitting on the gear shift and my foot(or maybe it was Brenda's foot) hit the starter in the floor. The car lurched forward just as Mama opened the door and it knocked her down. I guess I still had my foot on the starter because it was making a terrible racket, like a calf bawling for it's Mama kinda.
I heard Mama holler, Clydene Put Your Foot on the brake. Well luckilly for all of us I knew what that was. Daddy had often held me in his lap as he drove and I picked up a few things. Yep thats how we all learned to drive back then. Right there in our Daddies laps. Dangerous? Probably but we are all still here to tell the stories. That is how we learned to survive out in the world. We were tough. Yep! Kids today are too coddled I think. My opinion. Don't jump on me for it.
Anyway back to my story. I did get the car stopped but I had to face my Mama and when I saw blood on her arm I started bellering (like that lost calf again) When I started bellering the other three started bellering just as my Auntie ran up. I tell You I was scared spitless, breathless and every other way you can be scared. Oh My Gosh, we were all scared to death. I'M OK KIDS, my Mama was saying. Auntie was saying, What in the world happened Lucille? Then she looked at us all standin' there and though she didn't really know what happened I guess it dawned on her that we kids were very heavilly involved.
We all got ourselves together. Mamas scratch only required a handkerchief with spit on it.
We got in the car and went on to Church. I was an Angel on top of the Christmas tree that year, but I sure didn't feel much like An Angel,if you get my drift. Daddy got home later that night. We had already discovered that Santa had been there but we were not allowed to touch anything till Daddy got there. Wow! This worked out pretty good> DIDN'T IT? Well not exactly. We knew we would still be in trouble, and when My Auntie showed up on Christmas Morning with Brenda and Paul in tow we knew what was coming. When Daddy Or Brenda's Daddy was home there was never any problem. They did the work inside while our Mama's waited with us in the car. Our Parents recognized this fact even if we didn't and had decided not to be too hard on us. We didn't know why for many years later but at the time we enjoyed the reprieve and was relieved for all of an hour. Yep! This was not to be so easy. An hour later Daddy went out to Start the Car and guess what? Remember that cigarette lighter that got pushed in the night before? Yep. You guessed it. The car wouldn't start. That dad blamed thing always stuck and I knew it did when I pushed it in. UH OH! Yep the battery was down. It wasn't so simple then when the battery was down. Nope sure wasn't. It had to be taken out and took to the station in town to charge. Now the crap would hit the fan for sure. If we'd'a' had a fan. The jig was up. The reprieve was over Yep, I might as well fess up. Daddy I was the one who pushed in the lighter I said, (bellering again). I got my tanning right there and knew I needed it. That is the way it was. We knew we needed the tannins' and we accepted them. We learned from them too else why would we still remember them for all these years. It was good for us in more than one way. YEP!!!! Our wonderful Parents were the very best. SURE NUFF! YEP!
