one of my favorite days of the year. I have a lot of wonderful memories and thought this would be a good time to share another "Moccasin Holler Memoir".
A Moccasin Holler Christmas
Oh, it is magnificent…all the reindeer, with Rudolph in front, pulling the sleigh. Okay, so they aren’t the real reindeer, but that’s because the real ones are at the North Pole. They can’t be travelin’ all over now. If they did they would be too tired to pull Santa and that big ole’ sleigh around the world on Christmas Eve. So, its fine with us that the Pepsi truck is pullin’ the sleigh.
Santa looks so grand in his bright red suit. And, I have to admit he is the only fellow I have ever seen with cheeks that rosey. He sure is jolly, too. He laughs the whole time he is going by. His bag is full of candy that he throws out to all us kids. Most of us are being really nice about letting each other catch some of the candy. After all, Santa’s right there watchin’ and it’s still not too late to be put on the list with the bad boys and girls.
We watch as he travels out of sight. Santa has gone on to see all the rest of the boys and girls in the other towns. Although we wish he could have stayed longer at our school, it is okay because we know that it won’t be too long until Christmas Eve. Of course, we all have plans to stay awake that night and try to get another glimpse of him when he comes to our house.
My sister, brother and I always got a little antsy waiting for the 15th of December. That was the earliest that Mama would let us get a tree. She said it was because those trees dried out really fast and if we got one any earlier it would burn the house done. I never really knew who would set it on fire but Mama must have had someone in mind because we never, ever got our tree before 15th and it always seemed like it would take forever for that day to arrive.
Those trips when we would all go to town to pick out the tree were wonderful. But, the trip I liked best was the one we made on Christmas “Eve eve” night. This was the only time I can remember going into town at night. It would take my breath when we turned onto Main Street
Finally, Christmas Eve would arrive. Early in the evening we would head to Granny and Papa’s to exchange gifts and then head home. All the way home I watched the night sky trying to see Santa and his reindeer. I’m pretty sure I spotted them a couple of times. For the longest time I worried about Santa. We didn’t have a fireplace. Instead, we had a coal oil heater and you could see the flames thru the window in the tiny door on the front of it. It would be hard enough for Santa to get down our skinny chimney but how did he get through those flames and squeeze out that little door? Magic!!! Yep, that’s what Mama told me…magic. And, she was right. Because, even though we could never stay awake and catch him in the act, Santa always brought us gifts and filled our stockings with oranges, apples, nuts and candy.
