Christmas Memories
Bill Grubbs (born Jan. 1945)
It is Christmas Eve and I have been thinking of past Christmas experiences with many fond memories. I thought I would share a few of them.
When I think of things I got for Christmas, the first gift from Santa I recall was an electric train. We were visiting grandparents in Georgia and I remember sitting on the floor after we had opened the presents. Santa had brought me an electric train and I was all excited about it. When we got it put together we found it would only go backwards for some reason. Dad was never very mechanical minded and I don’t remember if we ever got it running forward or not.
My next memory is the Red Rider BB Gun. Mack and I both got one the same year. They were the leaver action which took two hands. Mack had broken his arm and couldn’t cock his gun with his cast so we would go out shooting and I would cock my gun, cock his gun, and then we would shoot at something. I remember shooting at birds was fun until one of us actually hit one. It really got to me and I think that was the last bird I ever shot at. And yes, I do remember Mother saying, “Be careful and don’t shoot out someone’s eye.”
I don’t know how old we were, but I remember when we got our first bicycles. I think they were a little big for us, but came with “training” wheels. I put that word in parenthesis for a reason. We were trying to ride them on the country dirt road in front of Granny’s house. The dirt road is graded high in the middle and slopes to the ditches on each side so the rain will run off quickly. Well it may be good for rain, but it isn’t good for training wheels. As I leaned to the side, to stabilize myself with the training wheel, I would go right in the ditch. After several bloody accidents we finally took off the “killer” wheels and I was riding successfully in no time.
Christmas always included going to Grannys and Papas for the day. All the cousins would gather there with their Christmas gifts. It was not just a family day, but an extended family day. It wouldn’t have seemed like Christmas without all the cousins. Granny didn’t have much, but would give her all to make it a special time for all of us. The food was always out of this world and she usually stayed up until the early morning hours getting it ready, knowing that the family would be coming.
After Helen and I married and moved to Dallas, the small marketing research company I was working for ran into financial difficulties and had to shut down. That left me without a job. I was looking for work, but hadn’t found anything. I was doing odd jobs for friends and trying to make ends meet, but our savings were running out. We had two children at the time and Christmas would have been very meager. We came home one night to find several boxes and grocery bags full of Christmas gifts for us and the kids. There were also several bags of groceries. It was truly a humbling experience to know that someone one out there was watching out for us. It was a special Christmas.
After Jenny and Brandon married we got involved in a Sub For Santa for a needy family from some foreign country. We had each of the kids donate or provide a gift. After we wrapped the gifts we went to deliver them. The Mother could not speak English and after we had given them the gifts, we finally realized we had the wrong address. We didn’t have the heart to take the gifts away from the kids and returned home to gather gifts again for the right family.
Probably one of the most touching Christmas experiences ever is the year we asked the Young Men and Young Women to help at the homeless shelter downtown Salt Lake City. We arrived under the viaduct early in the morning to help. It was very cold and we worked outside serving a hundred or more men and boys food. They were most grateful. There was also a trailer full of blankets and coats we passed out to those who needed them the most. As I recall, we didn’t know where Ryan was at the time and I wondered how it would be to see him in the line for food. He had been there before, but was not there that day.
Bill Grubbs (born Jan. 1945)
It is Christmas Eve and I have been thinking of past Christmas experiences with many fond memories. I thought I would share a few of them.
When I think of things I got for Christmas, the first gift from Santa I recall was an electric train. We were visiting grandparents in Georgia and I remember sitting on the floor after we had opened the presents. Santa had brought me an electric train and I was all excited about it. When we got it put together we found it would only go backwards for some reason. Dad was never very mechanical minded and I don’t remember if we ever got it running forward or not.
My next memory is the Red Rider BB Gun. Mack and I both got one the same year. They were the leaver action which took two hands. Mack had broken his arm and couldn’t cock his gun with his cast so we would go out shooting and I would cock my gun, cock his gun, and then we would shoot at something. I remember shooting at birds was fun until one of us actually hit one. It really got to me and I think that was the last bird I ever shot at. And yes, I do remember Mother saying, “Be careful and don’t shoot out someone’s eye.”
I don’t know how old we were, but I remember when we got our first bicycles. I think they were a little big for us, but came with “training” wheels. I put that word in parenthesis for a reason. We were trying to ride them on the country dirt road in front of Granny’s house. The dirt road is graded high in the middle and slopes to the ditches on each side so the rain will run off quickly. Well it may be good for rain, but it isn’t good for training wheels. As I leaned to the side, to stabilize myself with the training wheel, I would go right in the ditch. After several bloody accidents we finally took off the “killer” wheels and I was riding successfully in no time.
Christmas always included going to Grannys and Papas for the day. All the cousins would gather there with their Christmas gifts. It was not just a family day, but an extended family day. It wouldn’t have seemed like Christmas without all the cousins. Granny didn’t have much, but would give her all to make it a special time for all of us. The food was always out of this world and she usually stayed up until the early morning hours getting it ready, knowing that the family would be coming.
After Helen and I married and moved to Dallas, the small marketing research company I was working for ran into financial difficulties and had to shut down. That left me without a job. I was looking for work, but hadn’t found anything. I was doing odd jobs for friends and trying to make ends meet, but our savings were running out. We had two children at the time and Christmas would have been very meager. We came home one night to find several boxes and grocery bags full of Christmas gifts for us and the kids. There were also several bags of groceries. It was truly a humbling experience to know that someone one out there was watching out for us. It was a special Christmas.
After Jenny and Brandon married we got involved in a Sub For Santa for a needy family from some foreign country. We had each of the kids donate or provide a gift. After we wrapped the gifts we went to deliver them. The Mother could not speak English and after we had given them the gifts, we finally realized we had the wrong address. We didn’t have the heart to take the gifts away from the kids and returned home to gather gifts again for the right family.
Probably one of the most touching Christmas experiences ever is the year we asked the Young Men and Young Women to help at the homeless shelter downtown Salt Lake City. We arrived under the viaduct early in the morning to help. It was very cold and we worked outside serving a hundred or more men and boys food. They were most grateful. There was also a trailer full of blankets and coats we passed out to those who needed them the most. As I recall, we didn’t know where Ryan was at the time and I wondered how it would be to see him in the line for food. He had been there before, but was not there that day.
posted by Bill Grubbs at 10:21 PM
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