Christmas Memories--The Lost Doll

Christmas memories are sometimes hard to pull out of the recesses of our minds. We all have them. Sometimes they are happy ones, sometimes they are memories we would like to forget. Even sometimes, they are so harmful, we only remember them in bits and pieces. My earliest Christms memory was when I was a very little girl--five or six, maybe even younger.

The United States was coming out of the Great Depression. World War II may have still been going on, because I can't put a date on this one. My parents and I lived with my maternal grandparents in an apartment. People in those days lived together to share the rent, since money was so hard to come by.

I remember getting a doll, one of the first ones I received, I think. I don't remember what it looked like, but I remember being happy, holding it and playing with it until, like all little children, I became distracted by something else and left my new doll on the floor. Or maybe it was thrown askew on the couch. Whatever happened, my grandmother must have thought I needed to learn a lesson. Because later in the day, when I looked for my doll, it was not there.

I looked everywhere and finally cried out, "Where is my doll?"

My grandmother said, "You threw it down. I guess Santa Claus came and got it because you didn't take care of it. He probably took it to a little girl who would love it and not throw it down."

I began to cry. I said I was sorry. But the doll was gone. I thought it was gone forever and I cried bitterly.

Later in the day, I found the doll. It was on a chair or on the couch, I don't remember where, but there it was! I grabbed it and hugged it to myself, rocking and cooing words of pleasure. My doll was back. I looked up and saw my grandmother's eyes. She said, "Well, Santa Claus was watching and he saw that you were sorry you didn't take care of your doll, so I guess he brought it back. He's always watching you, you know. So you'd better take care of it this time."

I'm sure my grandmother didn't intend to be mean. She wanted me to care for my things, but I was too small to understand the concept. Perhaps my parents could not afford to buy the doll, and my grandmother wanted me to appreciate it. However, I learned to watch my back, because a powerful person was watching me. This experience gave me a fear that I carried with me for many years.

Do you have a Christmas memory that you would like to share on my blog?  It may be happy or sad, just something that you remember that made a deep impression on you. I'll be adding more of my memories, too.

Leave a comment on the blog or email me at rev.nobles701@gmail.com with a short summary about your memory. I'll get back to you and perhaps we can agree to put it on the blog. I'll help you "beef it up" and we'll swap memories.

Names of those who contribute entries to my blog for the month of December will be in a drawing to receive a free copy of my book, A Heritage of Faith. Drawing for the book will be held December 31. I'll post the name of the contributors and of the winner. If you win and you already have my book, I'll send you a copy of my unpublished book--the one about Bible characters, Ordinary People Come Face-to-Face with Extraordinary God.

Merry Christmas!