A Christmas Eve Memory
It was one of those holiday
seasons in the Northern part of New York
State that makes shopping
easier and travel better
but doesn't do a thing for
the Christmas spirit.
Those years came few and far
between and that was all right with most folks.
Black River is a small community
that in the early 70's was still a sleepy little town at the doorway to
Fort Drum.
This was before the Military
decided to open the Army Base full time and that changed a lot of things.
We were all long gone from
there by that time
but we keep up with the changes
through relative and friends we left behind almost 35 years ago..
Nestled in the pine trees and
rolling sand hills is the split level home of the Crandalls,
It is one of those self -built,
split levels homes, popular in the 60's.
Not anything special but new
and fairly roomy for a family of 6. Since the newest baby, Rebecca ,
turned out to be the 3rd girl
with 1 older brother
it made the bedroom arrangement
of 3 a little lop sided but in those days it wasn't a priority to anyone..
That Christmas Becky had just
turned 2. Rather a Ma's girl ,she didn't venture very far away from me,
ever. If she managed to let
go of me it would be to be with her brother, Wayne.
She was friendly and liked
people a lot, but just from the safety point of behind my leg.
Tiny with dark hair and big
brown eyes, in our family of blue eyed blond kids, we joked she was our
little Elf.
You could have possibly called
us a traditional little family back then.
Maybe not the Brady
Bunch, but Waltonish, in a modern setting.
There were Grandparents, Aunts
and Uncle, cousins from both sides of the family all living close by.
Not a clan, but a good family
feeling was always there.
We belonged to the Episcopal
church. That sounds funny to me today, in an
it makes me laugh kind of
way, but that's what we said back then," we belong to the church".
It was a new church building
and it was even more special because my father in law ,
Howard, " Pappy", to the grand
kids had over seen the building of it.
He was a well know contractor
in the area, and part of the reason we had a split level ranch in suburbia.
This was the first Christmas
service at St. John's so it was a celebration indeed. We had invited the
entire town,
especially the Methodist and
Catholic churches. Service was at eleven PM, with each church taking part.
The choir was
singing Oh Little Town
of Bethlehem and we were all wrapped up in the moment.
A mummer started up and down
the pews and I felt my husband nudge my arm and point to the window,
it was snowing, it was beautiful.
Everyone had been wishing for Christmas Eve snow.
You could hear the music level
lift as everyone sang along. My older sister Beth and her family were one
pew over.
Her and I made eye contact
and I know it made us as excited as when we were kids.
After the service we went to
the beautifully finished lower level for refreshments and to exchange
gifts.
There were cookies and coffee,
candies and cakes.
Every cook brought her best
Christmas goodie. The tree was trimmed, a real tree,
hardly anyone we knew at that
time had a store-bought tree.
Santa was there, looking a
lot like Ray Oshier, to hand out gifts to the kids.
Things were different then,
today folks don't seem to take time to linger and enjoy each other,
especially on Christmas eve
after a midnight service.
We talked and ate and laughed
and hugged and wished each other well.
I made sure Wayne had Becky
and Their Dad had Robin and Hope, they were going to get coats on
and say their good -byes.
I helped tidy the kitchen before we left.
I had empty food dishes
and arms full of packages
and wrapping to stow in the
car. People were out in the snow, the excitement was high,
there was laughter and singing
and calls of Merry Christmas, God Bless and more and more hugs.
Time for us to go home and
get the kids settled for
the night so Santa could come
visit them. Food had to be prepared for tomorrow when
Pappy would be there to spoil
the grand kids and share dinner with us.
As we pulled into the driveway
the snow was so heavy we could hardly see.
I asked Wayne to hand me Becky
so he could help his Dad carry in the things from the truck.
"Mom, I don't have her."
"Now don't be silly, this
is no time to play, Son"
Silence.
"Mom, she isn't here,
I thought you have her."
Silence
"Holy Crap!" I gasped
Father was speechless
I could feel a redness blush
up my entire body , "She must be at the church"
"How could we left her at
the church? how could we, how could we?"
I was in a panic the
entire ,slow ride, back to town and the driver
was not to happy over the
entire incident.
I was picturing her standing
in the cold ,crying her
eyes out for her Mommy. The
other three kids
were just tired and crying
for the general principle of it.
Off we drive, the six miles
back, in the snowy weather, back to the church in Black River.
There were still a couple
of cars there. Thank goodness! I ran in the door...
The organ was playing christmas
music and there was Becky, sitting on the organ bench
next to the Catholic priest
singing "Sleep in Heavenly Peace" at
the top of her little
voice. She never even knew we had left.
And when she saw me she waved,
but she wasn't really ready to leave then.
She turned back to look straight
ahead at the organ, steadily swinging her little legs and singing louder.
Edna and Bill Gosier were standing
by the door.
"We knew you would be
back, real soon" Edna smiled
Bill chuckled " and
That's a sneaky way to get out of doing Christmas for your baby, leaving
her at the church
Christmas eve."
I was so thankful Becky was
there and happy and I was so embarrassed for going home with out
her, the unthinkable, because
I never even went to the bathroom she wasn't with me. Father Carole
stopped his
playing and thanked me for
the great and grand audience, he said it made his best Christmas ever.
He didn't know
we had left the there and
went home either.
My sister had left just before
we did and she got a good laugh over it the next day. She said she didn't
know
what they would have done
because they knew Becky wouldn't have left with them with out a fight.
For years and years we got
teased about the Christmas Eve Rebecca got left at church. That was
a long time ago. Our kids
are all grown. A lot of the family are no longer with us. Becky has a grown
son herself now
but she will always be remembered
by the good folks in Black River, Upstate New York,
as the little girl that
got left at church Christmas Eve.
