A beautiful Christmas memory that was posted today in the King Bottoms group Mike Ingles 9 mins · Edited So it’s time for the 2nd annual telling of my family Christmas story having to do with my two older daughters, Michele and Rebecca, when they were tots back in 1976… As was our custom, as was the custom with thousands of families in 1976, we’d make our annual trek to the F & R Lazarus, Co. on Town and High Streets in Columbus a few days before Christmas so that the kids, Michele 6 and Rebecca almost 4, could shop in the Secret Santa Shop and see Santa Clause who resided on the 6th floor, coincidentally where the toys happen to be displayed. We’d park in the parking garage adjacent to Town St., a cold windy five story concrete garage that always reminded me of what an American Dickens’ Christmas might seem like, full of indiscriminate holes and indifference to the season. Lazarus was divided into Lazarus West and Lazarus East with a domed alley that split the two halves; each entrance with its own glass revolving door. We’d walk to the display window at the corner of Town and High and watch the animated snow scene and then turn and bundle up against that terrible winter wind that attacked our red faces to find the serenity of that alley that led to the East entrance. Just before we entered, there was an old man, blind, dressed in a ragged cloth coat and rubber galoshes sitting by the revolving door at a makeshift table and chair. On his feeble table sat two tin cups: one with sharpened pencils ready for sale, and one to collect any coins that passersby would leave in payment of his meek offering. Jackie stopped and took a pencil and dropped in a few coins—Rebecca was mesmerized by the old black man with white bristled whiskers who wore sunglasses in the middle of a dreary grey day. She asked ‘why’ as four-year-olds will do and her mom told her it was his job and she was trying to be kind. We had read a story the night before about “Father Time” and about how he gave up the New Year each year just after Christmas and a baby was born to carry on. Maybe she was confused about the story and about the birth of Jesus and what Christmas was really about. I don’t know. But she became sullen and thoughtful until we reached the 6th floor and then her mood brightened and she examined the many baby dolls and toys. We made our way to Santa’s lap and Becky and Michele confided in him their deepest secret desires and he nodded and assured them that they would not be forgotten this Christmas. Next was a long long line waiting to enter the Secret Santa Shop, just beyond a smiling and singing Mr. Tree, where kids entered accompanied with a helpful elf who shopped with them—parents were not allowed inside. Both girls had been given $5 to buy their gifts for mom and dad. After what seemed to be hours the two tots came out; Michele had a half-dozen brightly wrapped gifts in her small arms and was smiling broadly, her glee was undeniable; Rebecca had only one small gift, wrapped in gold paper held tightly in her two innocent hands. We did not ask why the disparity, we’d find out on Christmas Day we thought. Down the escalators, people were shoulder-to-shoulder and there was that certain hum when hundreds of people are buzzing about the Holidays in a small space and time. At the exit to the alley, through the revolving door, we bundled the kids up in coats and hats and gloves and made our way out to face that bittersweet wind. Outside the old blind man sat quietly. Rebecca went to his table and took a pencil and dropped all the money she had into the tin cup. There is a great echo inside that domed alleyway and the coins rattled like jingle bells and the old man said Merry Christmas to her—her face lit up like a Christmas tree. We started to walk away, had walked just ten feet or so, when Rebecca broke away from my hand and ran back to the old man. She put the bought pencil back into his tin cop, “Merry Christmas” she said. And it was. https://youtube/watch?v=w9QLn7gM-hY Bing Crosby - White Christmas (1942) Original Version White Christmas is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the version... YOUTUBE.COM Like · ·
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 12:41:24 +0000
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