The Special Little Christmas

Aunt Beth sent me an email the other day. She sent me a letter that my great-great-aunt wrote to her grandchildren...

Beth's email:
Hello,
I was going through my papers and ran across this letter .Aunt Margie sent it to me a few years ago . Aunt Betty Harwood ( My Mom's brother Buzz's wife ) wrote this to her grandkids , and Aunt Margie got a copy sent to her . Aunt Margie got Aunt Bettys' okay to share this beautiful memory of grandma Harwood at Christmas time . I ask Aunt Betty if I could pass it on and sher said sure . I lost it , now it is found . I hope this comes through and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did . I will always keep it and read it over at this time of year . Anyhow I wanted to share it with you all , and give you a chance to share with your loved ones .

The Letter:
THE SPECIAL "LITTLE" CHRISTMAS
Your Grandpa Harwood and I decided that year we should spell his sister Margie and Sister-in-law Pat so they wouldn't have to spend another Christmas away from their homes. We would take ours for the first time away from our home and stay with Grandma Harwood in Elgin, Oregon. It seemed to be the right thing to do. I sure made our plans with a heavy heart. It would mean we were away from our home, children and grandchildren for the first time at Christmas.
We took our favorite tree ornaments and left two weeks before Christmas. The road seemed even longer than it really was and it took such a long time to get there. We drove up to the simple little white house and parked under the huge leafless limbs of a sugar maple at the edge of the yard.
The street and sidewalk was frozen iron hard and our breath frosted out in front of us. It was COLD! Grandma Harwood and your great uncle Ross was happy to see us and welcomed us.
Ross would have a chance to get out of the house more now that we were there, and Grandma enjoyed someone different to visit with.
Our days were filled with small chores, cleaning, cooking meals and helping Grandma with baths and other things she could no longer do alone.
I decorated a little plastic tree, that in my opinion didn't much resemble a tree. I sorted through the decorations in a back closet and picked out a few to brighten the rooms, but that didn't help much.

Then one afternoon when everyone except Grandma Harwood and I had gone somewhere, we sat down and visited. I told her I was sad, but made a little joke out of it because I didn't want her to feel I resented being there helping her.

She then told me about her feelings every Christmas.
She was eight years old and her mother had been quite ill for a long time. Just two weeks before Christmas she died, leaving behind five heart-broken children and a husband who could barely cope. Grandma Harwood had not had time to grieve - and had no one to help her face that grief. She told me that thereafter every Christmas she thought of her mother and how very hard it was to lose her. Every Christmas was tinged with sorrow which she would set aside so she could go on and make a nice holiday for her own family.
As we talked, I began to see what a small easy gesture it was to spend one Christmas away from my home. I was grateful that Bethel had shared her story with me. It allowed me to see this particular Christmas in a different light, and I began to think of Bethel and how I could brighten the holiday for her.
I started with Cinnamon Ornaments. I made a big batch of cinnamon & applesauce dough to roll out and cut with Christmas cookie cutters. The kitchen smelled wonderful.
Grandma had the pleasant job of picking out exactly the right cutters to use: a tree, leaping deer, star, an angel and so forth.
We put the shapes on racks and the racks on a high shelf on the enclosed back porch. They could cure in the dry air. When they were hard and leathery I strung ribbon through the holes in the top of each one. The ribbon then was threaded on a wire hook ready to hang. The tree was too small so I hung them all along the lace valance at the top of the dining room window.
It was Bethel's special fun to greet people coming in the back door and try to get them to try one of "Betty's cookies"!
It was Bethel's last Christmas and I will always be thankful I shared it.
It turned out to be one of my best Christmas memories.
* * * *

I remember those cookie cutters. My Grandma had the same ones... and so did my mom. Making and hanging these types of "special cookies" has been a tradition in my family for many generations... and it's something I plan to do with my grandchildren, too.