Many folks have their own story that brings a smile to their face. I will never forget 1975. I have quite a few holidays that bring me joy and some sorrow. The 1975 Christmas I think of every year. It was a special time. It is so planted in my brain and would shame some Hallmark holiday movies.
I was working very hard as a single Mother. I was not getting child support but was supposed to. Kids do not understand civil matters and child support. They do understand family gatherings and most kids do not even know the struggles their parents go through but they understand what they have been used to all of their lives.
I was working two jobs from September until November to make ends meet and gather up Christmas Santa Claus for my little boy. I never really cared if anyone else got anything as long as I could provide joy to my young boy’s face. I always managed to get folks token gifts if nothing else. I may have told this before but it never gets old.
I used to put all of the Santa Claus in the trunk of the car. I made my rounds to family on Christmas eve but Christmas Day was reserved for my son and me to play with the toys Santa brought and me resting until I had to go back to work, usually the next day.
The day was December 24th. I was supposed to be at my Dad’s for Christmas and his wife ( Daddy was remarried as he and Mama had divorced a couple of years before). I have two sisters. One lived in Mississippi and the other to this day is a right winged evangelical and all that goes with that. Her husband was a union man but he was not one to go out of his comfort zone. He worked for GM. Everyone was to be at Daddy’s at 7:00 PM to exchange gifts and have a Christmas Eve meal. Their children would have a huge Christmas as compared to my low wages, they had plenty at union scale. I was happy for them but what happened that night took me a long time to regroup and truly reassess our relationship with my older sister.
I had picked up at gift to give Daddy about 10 miles from my destination and it was cold. Baby, it was cold outside. I did not have time earlier in the day and it was snowing. Yes, it snows and gets cold in Ga. I also had to work the better part of Christmas Eve but I had all of the Santa in the trunk of my not too dependable car. I had small gifts as well for the nieces and nephews.
My Daddy had just gotten out of the hospital from dental surgery. He had gotten out the day before. He had not yet gone blind but his teeth removal hospitalized him for several days. I had to get to his house on Christmas Eve. I did not have a real coat, just a shawl and sweater. I was running late, due to the weather. Roads were slippery and snow had started up again. The wind blew and the snow was coming down pretty hard Christmas Eve.
Here was the temperature I pulled from that year. Christmas Day had 2” of snow on the ground. It started up on Christmas eve around 6PM.
1975...December 24th www.almanac.com/...
25.2 °F |
36.9 °F |
45.0 °F |
No data. |
18.8 °F |
0.00 IN |
14.2 MI |
No data. |
6.10 MPH |
13.58 MPH |
The lights were getting dimmer and dimmer as I drove through the little town and there were no cell phones back in the day. I noticed the panel lights were getting darker as well. I remember asking my son who was six and sitting in the front seat with me, did it look like it was getting darker in the car and he pointed to the road and said, “ I don’t know, but it looks like it is getting darker out there”. The car stopped and I managed to get it to the side of the road.
I locked the car and got him out of the car and he had a jacket and gloves but I had just a shawl because I had no coat. I was also dressed up with my red Maxi dress that had been given to me and if I remember, the sweater and shawl I bought the year before. At least we were in town and I had some presents in my hand and started walking towards the police dept. I knew Daddy’s brother in law that was a Captain was probably heading to Daddy’s but I had to get that car started and get that Santa Claus to my apartment. I was shivering cold and had presents in one hand and him by the other hand. We walked in the melted snow and snow was peppering down. The snow was peppering while the temperatures were dropping. The walk seemed endless. I was dressed for a party not a walk in the cold. My eyes were tearing up not only from the cold but I kept glancing back at the old car sitting on the side of the road disappearing in the night and snow, the longer we walked.
We caught Dave, ( Daddy’s brother in law) just before he left and as we hitched the ride, I begged him to try and get my car started. He said, “It’s probably the alternator and nothing is open tonight or tomorrow”. I felt my stomach churn and holding back tears. I was hungry as well as I had not eaten all day from working and running my last minute errands. I saw my little boy in the back seat smiling as he was going to Grandaddy’s and it was Christmas Eve. Few words were spoken on the 4 more miles to go to get to the gathering. The meal had already been started and almost gone and I made us a plate and hugged Daddy who was swollen and was using his hankerchief to wipe his stitched mouth. He was concerned that I did not arrive in my car so I told him the whole story of why I wasn’t driving my car. My son was playing with his cousins but I could not stop thinking that Santa was not coming that year due to that car. I could not talk anyone into going by the car to get his presents. The whole gathering was even ending early after presents were opened. The weather was getting really bad. I faked smiles and everyone wanted to go home and not be out in the weather and did not want to bother with us. My sister and her husband hurried their kids in the car and said they could give us a ride home but that was it. They were not going into town and make another trip to get presents. I looked at Daddy who said, “ Can’t someone go get that baby’s toys” and no one was willing. Daddy said, “I’ll go” and his wife said “Oh no you won’t. Amanda will just have to figure this out”. I asked to borrow her car and she said, “No, it’s too bad outside”. The Captain had been called back into work so that was a non starter. I could not enjoy the gathering as all I could do was worry and fret. I was more than disappointed, I was heartbroken.
This was a time I felt my two jobs and working was all for nothing. I felt let down by my older sister and her husband and all except Daddy and when I tried to call My Mom, the phone lines were down and the lights were beginning to flicker so I figured we would lose power soon. Mama was holding at her house some of the Santa Claus as well. I was stranded with my only child who was beginning not to believe in Santa anyway and as I crawled in the car with my sister and her husband and kids I felt like crying my eyes out. She only lived 1 mile from me.
I was a single Mom, my car was broken and Santa was hid in the trunk miles from my apartment. I have no idea why I handed Daddy my car keys and house keys but I said, “ If you can think of anyone, please ask them to bring my toys out of the car”.
I got through that gathering with a fake smile and worry.
I was disappointed with my sister and her husband and just hurt. My son had gotten some presents at Daddy’s as did I but as I but it was not Santa and I used my one extra apt key to go inside as I noticed the bare and absent presents under a beautifully lit Christmas tree. I walked to the window and looked outside after pulling back the curtains and saw an empty street and snow falling. My son said, “ Santa is not coming tonight is he”? As I stared towards the street and looked down where my car usually was parked, the tears were welling in my eyes. My answer was , “I don’t know, son”. I instructed him to go get his PJ’s on and get in bed but he seemed slow to walk to his room. I could not keep my mind from racing. I had no phone of anykind. At least, it was warm inside my little apartment and the lights had not gone out. Before I strolled into my bedroom and got dressed for bed, I will never forget the last look at the tree and twinkling lights as I closed my eyes to try and sleep. It was around 11:00PM. I could hear the sleet hitting the window. I kissed him on the forehead and sat on his bed and sung this song...as tears streamed. I thought, this may be the only present he gets for Christmas morning. I sang while he slept.
x xYouTube VideoI was awaken by a noise that sounded like a clatter from old St. Nick himself. I jumped out of bed as I knew I had locked my front and back door only to see my sister from Mississippi placing the last present under the tree. She and her husband had decided to come back home to Ga from Mississippi but had run into bad weather and visited Daddy first and he handed her my keys and told her where the car was. She wanted to surprise everyone as we had not seen her in two years. Without any kind of hesitation, she and her husband (and they had a van) got everything out of my car plus went to my Mom’s and loaded up what was at her house and came directly to mine. They set up the Christmas presents and there was a record player turning playing, “ It’s a Small World”.
x xYouTube VideoI rubbed my eyes and ran to her with tears and hugged her tightly. I did not even have to put anything together. It was done. It was 4:30 AM Christmas morning and they were just about to leave when I caught them. They were going back to Mama’s. She whispered, “Merry Christmas” and I love you. I hugged them both as they had driven all day and night from Mississippi in that bad weather and had more driving to do when they found about my car. She said, “Hubby said it was the alternator so we left the car and will get you an alternator as soon as the stores open Saturday. I didn’t care about the car being home, I cared about my son’s Christmas and maybe a few more Christmases of belief in Santa.
The baby sister of mine who rescued Santa from the trunk
When he got up around 9:00 Christmas day, he saw his presents and ran to the window and saw no car. That was it. He believed one more year. There was no car outside. He was jumping up and down and saying, “ Santa did come, Mama”.
I smiled and said, “ I guess Santa knows Christmas is about more than giving of presents. I think the Christmas is about caring and showing up when someone needs it. My Santa sister showed up that day and brought some turkey and dressing and she and her daughter of only 4 spent the whole morning with us.
She lost that daughter November 2000 in a car wreck in and has taken care of two special need grandsons for years. She is still their caretaker. She never seemed to enjoy Christmas the same way again but I will never ever forget her love and compassion for her nephew. She has experienced much tragedy in her life but I always think of that year in 1975. I always try and be with her at Christmas although now unmarried and taking care of the young fellows she helped raise but she prefers to spend Christmas with just them. I understand. I will make a journey I hope Christmas day about 60 miles up the road to give them a present this year. She stays pretty much to herself.
1975… The Christmas to remember and it makes me smile to see love in action. There never has been or ever will be a Christmas like that again. Just when I had lost all hope and was so in despair, good won out. I will never forget how Christmas was almost ruined over people putting their own interests first. Selfishness did not start just recently but it has been become normalized. It will never be normal to walk past a person in need. Never.
Happy Holidays to all.