My Grandpa was a furniture builder. He was delivering a chair for a
customer. While walking down the road with it on his shoulder he was struck
by a automobile and was broken up quite a bit. he was in his seventies and
lived alone. He needed constant care and wouldn't move in with us. My
daddy couldn't wait on himself so Mama moved us in with Grandpa.
Now Grandpa's house was a one of a kind. The dining room and kitchen had
been torn down to the floor and used for firewood and the kitchen was moved
into a bedroom. The house was so old, when the toilet was installed they
were not allowed in the house, it was built in the back yard. it sure was a
funny looking thing, there was a cement slab with a toilet bowl and pipe
standing behind it with a square water tank on top of the pipe with a chain
hanging down. it sure made an awful lot of noise. Grandpa didn't have to
go far to get firewood, just pull a few boards off and burn the. Most of
his windows were broken out, so Mama and my older brothers nailed cardboard
to the windows. The walls were tongue and grove boards. Mama and the girls
made flour glue and wall papered the walls with newspapers. not only did it
help keep the wind out, there were a lot of different pictures to look at.
Daddy could read the Daily News while in bed.
One day while I was playing in the yard, my oldest brother came by driving
his employer's truck. It was a 1929 Chevy flat bed, no body or door just
two front fenders, a hood and windshield. They sat on a fish box for a
seat. On the back of this truck was a little green tricycle. It had no
seat and just one pedal and about that time Mama told my sister to take me
around front for awhile but it was to late, I had already seen it.
The next
day my bother brought home a little skinny pine tree with extra limbs to
wire on. My sisters cut out and colored stars, trees and boxes. I helped
them make paper chains to wrap around the tree. Christmas Eve we hung our
stockings on the mantel behind the cook stove. Grandpa was on one side of
the stove and Daddy was on the other. There was a big fat goose in the oven
and Mama and my older sister were baking a chocolate cake. The aroma from
the cooking and the smell of the little pine tree in the corner were
wonderful and every now and then someone would open the door of the stove to
add more wood and the little sparks would jump out when the wood fire would
pop.
There was a hot tub of water cooling down so the girls could get their
bath. After they were bathed, then it was my turn. My older sister led us
to bed carrying a kerosene lamp and hot brick to keep our feet warm. She
heard our prayers, tucked us in and turned down the lamp and told us to
hurry to sleep so morning would come faster.
We couldn't sleep and it seem
they talked all night in the kitchen. When I woke up the house was as quiet
as a mouse. I woke my sisters up, quietly we slipped out of bed. The lamps
were kept burning low all night except in the hall. We tiptoed across the
cold floor to the kitchen. It was still warm in there. We got our
stockings down from the mantle. They were full of nuts and fruit. I looked
over in the corner where the tree stood and there it was . It was that
little green tricycle, gee it was a beauty. The seat was still missing and
there was only one crank and pedal but I knew what to do with it. I stepped
on the rear axle with one foot, bent over grasped the handle bar and started
pushing with the other foot. My sisters were looking at their paper doll
books and enjoying their candy. Boy this was a great Christmas. Mama came
in and put more wood in the stove. She sat down with the girls and gave
them a big hug. She was smiling but there were tears on her cheeks. the
girls were holding up their little paper dolls saying look mama look and I
was trying to show her my beautiful little tricycle.
The older kids were
coming in and looking at their little gifts and I was trying to get someone
to go outside with me. I was ready to explore a whole new world on my
beautiful tricycle.
Grandpa and Daddy I am sure were awake and listening to
us in the warm kitchen having a wonderful time, sharing our stocking and our
love with each other Mama leading us in prayer, thanking God for such a
wonderful Christmas and asking Him to let everyone have as good a Christmas
as we did.
