December 23, 2005

Readers share favorite Christmas memories

Christmas means finding hay for the Nativity crib

By Helen Stephon
Special to The Criterion

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year—a time for remembering and a time for making new memories.

As a child, I remember the excitement of putting up the Nativity crib every year. It was a Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa Cahill.

One year, when my brother, Ed, was old enough, he thought it had to have some straw so he went to Ted’s Feed Store and bought a whole bale of straw. It cost $1. We had enough straw for all the cribs in the whole town of Beech Grove.

Ed said, “That’s the only way they sold it.”

During the Christmas season, we would visit Santa on Main Street in Beech Grove then shop at the Ben Franklin Dime Store. My family would always purchase a real tree from the Beech Grove Jaycees for $5.

We would attach our biggest cotton socks to our beds with safety pins on the night of Dec. 5, the eve of St. Nicholas’ feast day. He brought us tangerines, nuts and small pieces of hard candy.
My father only shopped for my mother’s gift, and he never started until Christmas Eve. As the oldest daughter, I got the privilege of going with him. I especially remember all the crowds of shoppers and my father wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas.

(Helen Stephon is a member of St. Barnabas Parish in Indianapolis.) †

 

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