It's a quiet Christmas Eve at our house this evening. I have so many wonderful memories of Christmas Eve's of the past. One memory not so wonderful was 21 years ago tonight when our when our barn, silo, and cattle facilities burned to the ground. Another Christmas Eve memory I have is from when I was a kid. I would like to share that story with you. It's called A Ponderosa Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone. 
I was excited. We were going to move again. I remember my dad talking to me about tractors and chores. We were moving to a cattle and hog farm near Union Mills. We loaded up the family and headed out to check out our new home. When we pulled up to the house no one said much. It wasn't new by a long shot. In fact it was kind of run down. Behind the house was a small pasture surrounded by a huge grove of Ponderosa Pine trees. My dad talked to the landlords about the condition of the house for a family of seven and they agreed it needed work and promised to hire a carpenter to do a little fixen up. It was a small farm and cattle prices turned sour. My dad used to call this farm a financial loss but a spiritual gain. We would drive 25 to 30 miles twice every Sunday to our old church where we used to live in Pella. I don't remember skipping ever being an option. One Sunday when we arrived home we found all our fat hogs in the cemetery rooting up flowers and bumping over tombstones. I'll never forget chasing hogs in our Sunday clothes and dad setting tombstones straight and replanting flowers in a big hurry before anyone showed up. One year as Christmas was approaching our parents told us that there would be no presents. Life on the farm was financially tougher than us kids ever realized. We did however put up our prized Christmas tree. I'll never forget the excitment us kids had when mom got out the tree. It had aluminum foil tinsel branches and we would add very breakable ornaments. Finally the moment we were all waiting for. Dad would get a drop cord and find an outlet always at least 40 feet away it seemed and plug in the revolving colored light. When that light was on it was officially Christmas at our house. We went to bed Christmas Eve with not one present under that tree. When I got up Christmas morning and came downstairs to thaw out there were gifts under the tree. During the night Uncle John and Aunt Marge had come unexpectedly with gifts. The boys received a train set. Dad got a rifle. There were more presents but I don't remember what they were. It's interesting that as a kid we had many Christmas's with gifts though I don't remember any of those but the one I do remember is the one where we didn't expect any. The spirit of Christmas isn't about presents. It's the intentions behind the presents. Presents are our expressions of our love and care for each other. Just like God loves and cares for us enough to give us the present we celebrate.
I was excited. We were going to move again. I remember my dad talking to me about tractors and chores. We were moving to a cattle and hog farm near Union Mills. We loaded up the family and headed out to check out our new home. When we pulled up to the house no one said much. It wasn't new by a long shot. In fact it was kind of run down. Behind the house was a small pasture surrounded by a huge grove of Ponderosa Pine trees. My dad talked to the landlords about the condition of the house for a family of seven and they agreed it needed work and promised to hire a carpenter to do a little fixen up. It was a small farm and cattle prices turned sour. My dad used to call this farm a financial loss but a spiritual gain. We would drive 25 to 30 miles twice every Sunday to our old church where we used to live in Pella. I don't remember skipping ever being an option. One Sunday when we arrived home we found all our fat hogs in the cemetery rooting up flowers and bumping over tombstones. I'll never forget chasing hogs in our Sunday clothes and dad setting tombstones straight and replanting flowers in a big hurry before anyone showed up. One year as Christmas was approaching our parents told us that there would be no presents. Life on the farm was financially tougher than us kids ever realized. We did however put up our prized Christmas tree. I'll never forget the excitment us kids had when mom got out the tree. It had aluminum foil tinsel branches and we would add very breakable ornaments. Finally the moment we were all waiting for. Dad would get a drop cord and find an outlet always at least 40 feet away it seemed and plug in the revolving colored light. When that light was on it was officially Christmas at our house. We went to bed Christmas Eve with not one present under that tree. When I got up Christmas morning and came downstairs to thaw out there were gifts under the tree. During the night Uncle John and Aunt Marge had come unexpectedly with gifts. The boys received a train set. Dad got a rifle. There were more presents but I don't remember what they were. It's interesting that as a kid we had many Christmas's with gifts though I don't remember any of those but the one I do remember is the one where we didn't expect any. The spirit of Christmas isn't about presents. It's the intentions behind the presents. Presents are our expressions of our love and care for each other. Just like God loves and cares for us enough to give us the present we celebrate.
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