By Charles Conway Crenshaw
We are approaching Christmas 2016. The Christmas season changes as our age changes. Remember back to childhood?
My earlier years during World War II were spent on my grandparent’s farm in Earlysville. With no television and no radio, Christmas was not commercialized. I was thankful for anything I received. Since there was no electricity, there were no lights on the Christmas tree, but there were pretty glass bulbs and tensile on the tree. Seeing the Christmas play at Church was always special. There was no Black Friday and no Cyber Monday.
In Christmas 1949, we were a family again and lived in Albemarle County just outside of Charlottesville. There was still no television, but we had electricity. That meant we could listen to Christmas programs on the radio and we had lights on the tree. For me, Christmas was mostly about receiving presents, looking for a toy or two, and getting treats we didn’t normally receive during the rest of the year -treats like oranges, hard candy, raisins and maybe some clothes.
The first thing I checked was to see if Santa ate the cookies and drank the milk that Mom left out. Somehow, it would be mostly gone when we got up on Christmas morning. I could tell Santa was in a hurry. There would be one cookie left with a bite out of it and a little milk in the bottom of the glass.
It was Christmas 1951 when I got my first bicycle. It snowed, so I wrapped twine string around the rear tire for traction. We could see how other families celebrated Christmas on television and watch the parades. Mom drove my sister, Linda, and I around town to see the Christmas lights and decorations. Main Street, where the downtown mall is now, had lights strung across the street and store display windows decorated. We had neighbors now, so there were often children’s Christmas parties attend Christmas became quite different than that on the farm.
Then came the teenage years when we had rather be with friends than at home. Back then, we could get our driver’s license at fifteen so we were on the go. At our house, Christmas Day was kept family. We had our present openings, our traditional Christmas breakfast and then off to grandmother and granddaddy’s on the farm for dinner at noon and supper in the evening. I received a promotion for the Church Christmas Play, since my girlfriend at the time was Mary, I quickly volunteered to be Joseph rather than a sheep, donkey or wise man and even had a talking part. I sure didn’t want some other guy being Joseph.
Then it was away from home in the military in Germany. Oh, how I longed to be home for Christmas where I missed home and family. Rather than being around the tree and traditional Christmas breakfast, it was breakfast in the mess hall with a bunch of guys who were homesick just like me. Some of us, of course, had duty. Most of the others would go to bars and party but that scene was never for me. I always received a Christmas package from home. The cookies may have been all crushed but the crumbs tasted great.
Then it happened. I found a young lady named Heidi who agreed to marry me for better or for worse and we have a son and a daughter. Everything changed. What I got for Christmas was no longer important. It was watching our children in the church Christmas play and making sure everyone else had a nice Christmas. Then came six grandchildren with Heidi having to shop for everyone and prepare the Crenshaw family traditional Christmas breakfast – oyster stew and in later years steak was added since we had several who did not care for the oyster stew.
Now, we prepare for my Christmas number seventy six. Hopefully, all will be able to come, including my 97-year old mom.
Some of us will go to the Christmas Eve program at Church. As the years have passed, I place much less emphasis on the Christmas holiday and much more on why we celebrate Christmas. It is the birthday of Jesus, the man who changed the world. The man who taught us how to live, the man who taught us to love our neighbor, the man who taught us it is more important to give than to receive and most importantly, the man who taught us we can have a personal relationship with God right here on earth.
Now, I wish you the best Christmas ever and may you have a safe and healthy 2017.
Charles Conway Crenshaw
