Christmas in the Projects

By Lisa Marbly-Warir

I can remember when I was a girl looking out my bedroom window at the snow coming down and dreaming of Christmas day. Christmas time always holds a lot of warm memories for me—memories of bygone times that are forever etched in my mind.

A lot of us may not like to relive our early years—especially if those early years were less than ideal. As children we didn’t know it wasn’t ideal. It was our normal. By the time you’re a teenager or even in your early twenties you may look back in shame and embarrassment at the fact that you were poor, or that you were raised by a single mother when other children had their daddy.

However, a funny thing happens when you get even older. You begin to look back on some of those simpler struggling days with fond memories as some of the happiest times of your life.
     One thing about my mother, she made sure my brothers and I had the best Christmases ever. During that time of year we didn’t know we were poor.

The day before Christmas my mother would prep the Christmas dinner—a turkey would be thawed, cakes and pies would be baked, greens washed and she did it all by herself. To this day, the smell of chopped celery and onions takes me back to my Mama’s kitchen.

     By Christmas Eve we would be too excited to fall asleep, but we knew if we didn’t go to sleep it only prolonged the long awaited Christmas morning. Sometime during the night my mother would add more Christmas gifts under the tree and by Christmas morning we would get out of bed and run downstairs.

We would look in amazement at the sparkling multi-colored lights dancing off of the glass ornaments and the Christmas presents stacked high with different colored wrapping paper and stockings with hollow chocolate Santa’s and foil wrapped chocolates. To say we were on cloud nine would be an understatement.

     Before we could tear into those presents we had to get washed up to have our pictures taken and then have a small “family altar” service—where we sang a few Christmas songs and were told the real meaning of Christmas and why we should be thankful.
    
What are your fondest Christmas memories?
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