Each stocking was bulging with oranges, apples, clusters of big raisins, hard candy, nuts"
I have one of my framed letters to Santa Claus and I mainly wanted fruit.
Christmas can be both a wonderful and awful time of the year for many
of us. The holiday has become one associated with worries over holiday
debt, sadness from loss, concerns over gatherings, and add into that
the calamities of the last few years: the pandemic, politics around the
dinner table, and now, worries over the supply chain. Contrary to the
limited horizon of many in this modern age, the holiday is not simply a
chance to get out of classes, engage in gluttony, and play video games.
We must remember the joys and losses of our shared family and
cultural histories, and part of that is sharing the memories of
Christmases past. The following was written to me by my much beloved
great aunt, Mrs. Mary Paul [Pittman] Smyrl, 1899-2006. She was one of
many who sparked my interest in our family history, and I have taken up
that task gladly. The following is a letter that she wrote to me in the
1980s after I asked her about her memories of Christmas in northwest
Alabama. Let this be a reminder that we share with one another the
bonds of heritage, family, and tradition and it is up to each of us to
shoulder the burden to preserve the bonds which our ancestors gifted to
us.
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