As a child, Christmas was my favorite time of the year. Homemade stockings hung by the chimney with extra-care. Daddy was in a semi-decent mood. Yummy food spread on the kitchen countertop morning, noon and night. School was out for weeks. Sometimes knee high snow fell while I slept. Plus, Christmas was Jesus’ birthday which included certain church perks like singing Christmas hymns instead of regular hymns and receiving tangerines at the end of the Christmas program.
Brinkley Chapel Choir. (l-r Monica, Staci, Lesa, Mitzi, Me, Kim, Karen, Jamie)
But.
In my young mind, there was a scary side of Christmas, too. A dark side that adults glossed over or ignored altogether. Two worrisome things in particular kept me awake at night during the most wonderful time of the year.
Number 1 Scary Christmas Thing: Jesus was born to a very young virgin mother. Although the specific details of being an unspoiled virgin versus “one of those girls” were fuzzy, I had a vague idea of what it meant.
WHAT IF THAT HAPPENED TO ME?
I wanted no part of it.
When the angel Gabriel said, fear not for behold I bring you tidings of great joy, Mary and her whole family went right along with everything. Mary was so wonderful and worthy she even sang a song about it.
If Gabriel visited me in the night, such tidings would not be well received by Thomas Tate.
Daddy (Thomas Tate)
Not at all.
I also believed the more I stewed on something, the more likely a self-fulfilling prophecy would occur. So I tried to focus on other things—anything other than being a pregnant virgin child like Mary. Like trying to be extra good and not pouting because Santa Claus watched my every move.
Number 2 Scary Christmas Thing. The Naughty or Nice List that controlled Christmas. I knew Santa made a list and checked it twice, but that’s all I knew about his curious list.
When did he make the list?
What were the list guidelines?
Exactly how bad did I have to be to find myself knocked off the good list and onto the bad list?
I had lots and lots of questions that no one seemed qualified to answer.
Each year, I felt certain I had NOT been good enough. All throughout Christmas Eve night, I worried that I would wake on Christmas morning to no toys, no new Barbies, no clothes even. Nothing at all. After all, I wasn’t nearly as agreeable as Mary (see Number 1 Scary Thing above).
Worry-wart much?
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
[tweetthis]The scary side of #Christmas…Yikes! #VirginMary #BetterNotPout[/tweetthis]
Musical Pairing:
Mindy Gledhill – Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Love this!! Sooo funny, especially the #1 situation!!
Thanks June!
Funny our perceptions from childhood, eh? I had to smile at your recollections about Virgin Mary and how to stay on the nice list.
I imagine at the time you were terrified about such things, poor girl. Now you can reflect on it and share with us, which is what makes writing so wonderful. Thanks for sharing. Have a great Christmas, Talya!
Thanks Cat, you too!
Sooooo, you wanted to be bad enough to not be singled out like Mary but not to miss any gifts-that’s a fine line to walk! Great one, Talya!
Yes Bryan. It was stressful.
Love it!
I love your stories!!
Loved this & the pictures. Thomas was going through his “Rhinestone Cowboy” stage.
Yes the Rhinestone Cowboy stage was interesting.
Another great story from the past. I guess we all had our childhood apprehensions, if we were good enough or not, but I don’t think as a child I ever worried about being in Mary’s situation. 🙂 That sort of imagination must be why you are such a good writer.
I experienced those same worries as a kid!!!!
I think it may have been a fairly common worry Taylor. Thanks!
Yeah, that naughty list always was in the back of my mind from about October 1st on. Especially, since my Mother also would throw in that the Gypsies would take bad children then, too.
How bad?
Would she set me up?
Oh my. We had gypsies on the edge of town, but I never worried about being taken away by them.
Love the picture of your dad. I don’t remember worrying about being like Mary, but we were all about lists and being good the closer it got to Christmas. Another good one.
Wow! Those are pretty scary when you think about it. My mom always hated the good/bad list. She just didn’t think it was fair to the children of parents who didn’t make as much…
Hi Talya, so nice to meet you and thank you for stopping by and your kind visit and comment.I loved this post and the thoughts of a little girl. I can’t say I gave any thought to Mary’s situation or if that could happen to me. I do recall thinking, because of her holy nature and picked by GOD she was certainly special to be selected to be the mother of Jesus.
I do remember thinking I might be on the list that Santa was making, and like you, how and when did he make this list? How did he know each and every child??? LOL As kids we came up with wondrous questions!
Enjoy the season and thanks again for stopping by from Laurie’s blog. I have so enjoyed my visit here.
Merry Christmas from Texas!!
Hugs