Christmas memories/ celebrations

by Janet Wilcox
Contributing writer
Families throughout the world have unique ways of celebrating Christmas.  Because of its significance in our lives and the diversity of our traditions, Christmas memories are different for each family and person. 
Though the central focus is on Christ’s birth, our remembrance of him and our experiences are diverse, as well as how we celebrate. 
Here are some memories that others have of this holiday.
Gayle Shumway:   
When I was a Senior in High School, our Seminary teacher, Mitch Kalauli planned an experience for us that I will never forget.
Our class started raising money in the fall of that year for Christmas gifts to deliver to selected homes on the Navajo reservation.
We prayed to be guided in the gifts that we purchased; we bought mostly toys, wrapped them, and some of our class drove deep into the reservation.
Larry Lee was dressed as Santa Claus, and he waited outside the hogans and houses until we had been inside for a few minutes.
Those little hogans were sparsely furnished with the bare necessities, a cooking stove, bedrolls against the walls, table, chairs, a few shelves built into the walls, sometimes a weaving loom. They were bigger than they looked, and we all fit inside. 
I remember especially one hogan with wide-eyed, excited little children and a toothless grandma more excited than the children who loudly laughed with glee!
We sang Christmas carols and then pretended that we heard Santa’s Reindeer and Larry would make his entrance and present gifts. As we watched, tears filled our eyes, and joy filled our hearts.
We learned the spirit of giving; we also learned to appreciate the abundance that we were blessed with. I will always remember the love that I felt in those homes on the Navajo reservation. 
Janet Wilcox: 
I’ll never forget the year when our house caught fire just before Christmas break (likely from the fireplace door left ajar).  A bus driver called in the fire. 
Luckily all of us were gone, but it burned up all the gifts we had for our children; clothes and bedding were either burned or smoke saturated.
Interestingly, Rob’s mission call had just come and was on an upstairs table but didn’t burned. 
Our good neighbors and friends immediately set to work loading and hauling away debris. Others took inventory of all the things that were burned for insurance purposes. 
Others took kitchen dishes, pans etc home to wash.  Kay Jones  washed all of the clothes and bedding that was salvageable and we went to her place to get what we needed. 
Our family moved in with Bishop Dan and Glenna Webb until we could find a place to rent.  One of the tender memories I have from that time was going to the high school library with Jerry Adams and seeing the San Juan High faculty tying quilts for our family. 
We still use many of those quilts today and remember the kindness of the good people in this town. 
Rosalie Payne:  
Christmas and the winter season were one of the best parts of growing up in Idaho.  One of my fondest memories is that my dad would hook up our horses (Lady and Taffy) to the sleigh and we would ride around our little town, taking friends and neighbors of a special treat my mom had made. 
Of course, any holiday has favorite foods. At some point in the holidays, we would get Yorkshire pudding and huckleberry pie.
Sylvia Shumway: 
Ever wonder where the term “Christmas givet” came from?  I think my brother Craig introduced it to friends and neighbors after he learned it.
The origin came from a man, not sure if he was Navajo or Ute. But my father had hired him to work in the uranium mine dad owned.
Every Christmas Eve, my family would wait for his knock on the door. He would say “Christmas givet” to us. We would give him what he needed for his family if we had anything extra and usually, we would include food and snacks as mom always made extra just for him. That is when I learned the joy of giving and sharing.
Janet Wilcox: 
Another Christmas from long ago, I’ll never forget!  Six of my friends rode the school bus home with me to our farm which was 22 miles from Ririe, ID, where we attended school. 
The weather was perfect for sleigh riding and we anticipated a couple of fun days, before my father would take us back in his army truck. 
Unfortunately, there was a terrible blizzard that night, and we were officially snowed in for several days.  There were no phones on the farm so we couldn’t call their families. 
Fortunately, my mother was a great cook and she had chili and donuts and several things already prepared.  We had a large basement with multiple beds, a pool table and ping pong table so there were lots of things to do. We played fox and geese, had snowball fights, and sledded down the hill, jumped on the beds, sang silly songs and talked late into the night. 
After a few days the blizzard subsided and we bundled up and rode in the back of the truck back to Ririe! 
One tradition we did for years when we were raising our own children was to secretly deliver something which corresponded with each of the 12 days of Christmas. 
I believe it was the Eberhard family who first delivered 12 consecutive gifts to us when our children were younger.  As they got older, they helped prepare and deliver the items such as “golden rings” = donuts; partridge in a pear tree became a “dove” soap or a pear; 8 maids a milking= milk duds; drummers drumming = small decorative drum. 
The trick was to quietly come to the door, place the gift, ring the bell then run quickly or hide where they couldn’t be seen.  They also did a lot of snow shoveling for others (and sometimes snowball throwing!) in the neighborhood.  
When our children were young, we would go to the nursing home with the Stubbs family and give a short program.  The children would dress up as wise men or angels and they would sing 5 -6 Christmas songs. 
Afterward they delivered a simple gift to each of the residents there. Often Steve would make a pinata which the kids and residents took turns trying to break.  The home we lived in at that time, didn’t have any insulation so gigantic icicles would usually form. This was one of those memorable icicles!