A Christmas Memory
A letter for a Grandchild….
Dear Genevieve Miriam,
I am so glad that you asked me and Rowdy to share our favorite Christmas memories.
I will tell you some of mine and Rowdy will write you in a separate letter. This letter is for all of our grandchildren. Many thanks to your third-grade teacher for initiating such a lovely school project for everyone to enjoy. Please tell her thank you!
One of my favorite memories is that of our daddy (Your Grandon who now lives in Heaven), driving us around to deliver gifts and food to family and friends. Christmas was about giving to others, sharing meals and time together. My sister Beth and I always got something really fun for a gift. A few favorite Christmas treasures included a minibike, a go-cart and a surrey with the fringe on top. We had neighbors who looked out their windows on Christmas morning to see what the Burkhalter girls got from Santa. Needless to say, we shared the plunder and the laughs.
Our neighbor Mrs. Brown always cooked Gumbo and she would have us over to enjoy the wonderful southern Gumbo that she served from her New Orleans recipes.
But maybe my favorite memory of all might be the gigantic Christmas dinners at my grand momma’s house. We lived behind her in the old renovated barn and we walked about 40 steps to her back door almost every day. We had Christmas dinner at the ‘Big House’ which was her house and the house that my momma (Mamie – your great grandmother who is in Heaven) grew up in. The big dinner consisted of all of us gathering around to pray and sing songs of the holidays, followed by a wonderful Turkey and dressing dinner with all of the fixings. Cousins galore were there! We usually had about 100 gathered for these Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at the ‘Big House’ on Vienna Street in Ruston Louisiana.
Your family is now making your own wonderful Christmas memories! And just remember, we will still eat all of the favorite foods when we get to Heaven. How do I know? The Bible tells us that we will have the Marriage Supper of the Lamb…AND in Heaven our gifts and abilities go with us to Heaven. There will be cafes and coffeehouses and restaurants all over Heaven because some people’s God given gifts include making and serving food to others. How about this? The smells created by the foods in Heaven, will lead us like an “Olfactory highway” to these wonderful and fun places. I can’t wait to go to “Thelma’s Place”. Thelma was the main cook that administrated the kitchen for Grand-momma James at the ‘Big House’. She was one of Grand-momma’s best friends and co-workers. We even have a recipe book full of her own recipes thanks to our cousin Fran, who oversaw the recipe gathering of Thelma interviews, that eventually became the “Big House Cookbook”. In Heaven there will be no clean up duty because there is NO waste in Heaven. There will be NO food allergies or tummy aches or weight gain because we ate too much. The food in Heaven is made of light and digestion is instantaneous. No waste! No bathrooms! Heaven is fun and Heaven is real and one day we will all be there and have some more turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce.
I love you so much darling Genevieve Miriam,
MayMay
Thelma
