On the first day of the last month of the year a blizzard blew into town from the north west. It happened while we were all in school. When we left the house in the morning the sky was a dull gray color.

"Bad weather is coming," declared Uncle Cyrus.

Mama made sure we were all bundled up as best we could. We did not have any rubbers or galoshes.

When we left the house there were a few snow flakes flying in the air. I tried to catch some on my tongue. Mac cupped his hands but if the flakes fell there, they melted and he could not see any. By the time we reached Mr. Ben’s store the snow was falling more heavily.

When we got to school, all the students were allowed to take off wet shoes and socks. We hung socks and black ribbed stockings on the radiators to dry. Many pairs of shoes were lined up near the radiators.

In the janitor’s room was a pot-belly stove where my teacher made cocoa for boys and girls. Sometimes if there was no milk she made hot tea.

About noon snow was falling fast and being whirled around by gusts of wind. We all ran to the windows to look outside but we could not see anything, not even the tree in the school yard.

"How are we going to get home?" one of my friends asked the teacher.

"Dear," she replied, "I think we will all have to stay overnight if this weather keeps up. Maybe it will stop snowing soon."

It did not stop snowing, it snowed all the afternoon and the students were set in for the night. Marcella and Mac came to my class room. Marcella was crying and Mac seemed disturbed but there were not tears.

"There, there, child," said Mrs. Hayes in a comforting voice. "It won’t be so bad for us to stay here in this warm school house tonight. You could get awfully sick if you went home in this weather."

Some of the parents living near the school house made their way through the snowy storm, and carried their children piggy-back home.

"We won’t have anything for supper," complained Mac.

"I’ll find something in the school cupboard," said Mrs. Hayes. "I think we have several boxes of crackers and some potted ham."

Staying there with so many children might be fun, I thought. But I’ll miss Mama.

Just before nightfall someone knocked on the door of my classroom. It was Uncle Cyrus who had made his way through the blizzard with the help of a broomstick. He was covered with snow and would not come into the room but he handed my teacher the bag he was carrying. It was an oil cloth bag Mama h ad made that day and it was filled with gingerbread and chocolate drop cookies.

"How nice!" said the teacher. "The boys and girls can have a party."

Oh goody! Everything was gong to be fine. Uncle Cyrus returned home to be with Mama. And everything did go smoothly at the school house that night.

We all had to sleep on the floor after an evening of singing and games. We slept in our coats. The floor was hard but it was warm and cozy and before long it was morning.

The snow was piled up on the windowsills and the walk outside. It had quit snowing and the sun was beginning to shine.

We had a very short school day because we had stayed at the school overnight.

In our class each of us had to write a composition on what we liked about winter. I wrote on my paper that the thing I liked best about snow in winter was when Mama made ice cream by setting out on the porch milk with sugar and vanilla in it. This would freeze and make the best ice cream. Of course it was made with evaporated canned milk but it was still good.

Then I added that I did not like walking on the frozen ground because my feet got cold and stayed cold all day.

Last of all I wrote I like to sit near a roaring fire and listen to Papa tell wonderful stories.

Since Papa had been gone, Uncle Cyrus had become our story-teller and what tales he had for us. He told of blizzards and how as a young lad a rope was tied around him so that he could find the barn and find this way to the house again without getting lost in the windy snow.

When he had found the barn, he took the rope from his waist and tied it to a pole by the barn door and the other end was tied to a board on his house. After feeding and milking the cow with cold hands then he p8icked up his bucket of milk with one had and held carefully to the rope and found his way back home where his ma was in the kitchen making hot cakes. How good the hot cakes tasted with butter and molasses in the warmth of the kitchen.

Uncle Cyrus showed us an old picture of a family. "That’s me," he said pointing to a child of five in a long dress.

"That’s not you," argued Mac.

"Yep, it is, boy," said the old man. "boys wore dresses back then – sometimes to seven or eight years of age."

"Funny! Funny!" said Terry. "I wouldn’t be a sissy."

"I remember when I was seven that my ma made a red-striped pair of overalls for me," said our uncle. "I proudly wore that outfit to a 4^th of July picnic."

"You youngsters must go to bed," said Mama.

"One more story, please," I said to Mama and Uncle Cyrus."

"Just one more," he returned.

"In 1885 when I was a young man," began Uncle Cyrus. "I was riding our buckboard through the town of Gury Mill. There was only one seat on the backboard as the other seat was being repaired by Nathan, the blacksmith. I had come to town to pick up the back seat. Just as I was about to tie up the horses near the blacksmith shop, this noisy contraption came rolling by. It looked like a very large wooden box with a seat on top nailed down between four wheels. A man sat in the seat. He squeezed the rubber ball on the end of his horn to let everyone know he was coming. That crazy machine was making enough racket without the horn. It was going along without any horses pulling it. I had never seen the likes of it.

Man, he must have been traveling 25 miles an hour. This horseless carriage scared the day lights out of my mules, Pete and Cliff. Those critters reared up on their hind legs, neighing in strange sounds. Then they dropped their front legs to the ground and away they went, almost flying. It was five miles out of town before I could stop my mules. Well, kids that was my first sight of a car."

"All right, children," Mama ordered, "To bed with all of you."

I went to bed that night wishing I had a picture of the first car my uncle saw. Our uncle always gave us things to ponder in our minds.

When we were in church the next Sunday, Mrs. Blabberson stood up and announced that there would be a meeting at 3 o’clock for children who wished to be in the Christmas pageant.

At home over the noon meal we talked about the Christmas program.

"I’m not going to be in any old play," declared Pledge.

He seemed surprised when Mama said, "That is all right, you do have your newspaper job and your homework to keep up with."

"I’m not going to be an old shepherd either," joined Terry.

"Boys, the shepherds were special men," informed Uncle Cyrus. "They were chosen by God to hear the herald angels announce the coming of Jesus."

"All the same, I’m not going to be a shepherd and have the boys in Miss Genny’s class laughing at me," declared Terry.

"Maybe you can pass the collection plate," I said.

"I’m going to be an angel with long white wings," said my little sister.

"Marcella, you will be a beautiful angel with gold tinsel around your head," I told her.

"Mrs. Blabberson hasn’t picked out who will be the angels or anything," reminded Margaret. "We will know this afternoon."

In the afternoon thirty-two children gathered at the church to learn what part each would play in the Christmas pageant.

I thought that I would be the best girl to play the part of Mary, the mother of Jesus. After all I loved her son Jesus so much. In my heart I knew other girls loved Jesus, too.

"Quiet," shouted Mrs. Blabberson above the noise we were all making. "Take a seat. I will read your names and the part each one of you will play in our Christmas program. Let’s make this the best program ever presented in this church.

She read from her paper:

"Joseph will be played by Benny Goodwall

Because Victoria Chasely has such poise and is at ease anywhere she will be Mary."

How come I don’t have poise, whatever that is? I thought.

"I haven’t decided whether we will have a real baby or use a doll for the baby Jesus," said our director.

"Now we need six angels," said Mrs. Blabberson.

The angels are Minnie Mae Huddle, Marcella Huddle, Ruth Hannah, Blanche Beacon, Della Wise and Nona Lyn.

Shepherds – Mac Huddle, Ben Williamson, Bruce Taylor and Jerry Doverly.

Wisemen – Fred House, Lee Corners and Will Freesman.

Visitors at the manger – old woman is Margaret Dexson

Little girl – Beulah Scott, little boy – Junior Blake.

The rest of you children will be the choir singing four Christmas carols.

"Meet here at the church, Friday night at 6:00 o’clock for practice. Then I’ll tell each of you what you are to wear. Thanks for coming and I have a cookie for everyone at the door.

Mrs. Blabberson stood by the door of the sanctuary holding a white sugar sack filled with cookies. All of us had a big cookie to munch on the way home.

The next Friday night Terry decided to go to the practice with Margaret, Marcella and me. He wanted to be in the choir and sing Christmas carols.

Our director promised us a New Year’s Party if we behaved well at the rehearsals. Most everyone listened to her but she did have to scold the shepherds for pushing and shoving each other.

Mama sent Margaret and me to aunt Beulahs’ house. We asked Aunt Beulah if she had any old sheets that Mama could make our costumes from.

Our relative was glad to give us the sheets. She had been wondering what to do about them as the centers had worn thin. You could almost see through the middle of the sheets. But the rest of the sheets were strong.

Mama made a pattern from the newspaper. She laid a gown on it and cut around the gown and there was a pattern. Margaret and I cut out the gown from the old sheets, leaving the thin centerparts.

Margaret helped sew my costume and Marcella’s costume which were to be angel gowns. Mama would let Margaret wear her old dress and tie a shawl over her head. She still had to make a costume for Mac.

On two Friday nights we went to practices. Every one was good because we were all thinking of the promised party on New Year’s Day. In between practices we were busy with school, homework and chores.

Uncle Cyrus kept the wood chopped but Mac and Terry had the job of bringing it in the house and stacking much of it on the back porch to keep it dry as possible.

We did have two big snows in December. Mama allowed us to play in it after dark and after we had finished our homework. Near our house was a big hill, perfect for sledding. Uncle Cyrus built a bonfire for us to warm by as we took turns on a big old sled that Mr. Theo let us borrow. Terry had an idea and borrowed Mama’s dish pan. That was almost as much fun as riding the sled but we couldn’t hold on to the sides as well. We often jumped off landing in piles of snow.

It was past 8:30 p.m. when Uncle Cyrus came and took us to the house and Mama had hot tea and tea cakes waiting for us.

We were all so hungry and were glad that Mama had made tea cakes. We felt so comfortable and at ease as we sat around the fireplace munching the sweet cakes. I felt happy not even thinking of Papa at that time. I’m sure he was always on Mama’s mind.

This pleasant time was interrupted suddenly by Uncle Cyrus announcing that in a couple of days he would leave to visit his son and other relatives.

"No! You can’t leave!" cried Marcella. "We need you!" She was afraid he would not return.

"Child, I’ll be back by Christmas Day, and maybe I’ll get back here in time to see the program at church," he said, trying to comfort my little sister.

"We’ll miss you," said Mama.

"Please don’t stay away long," we all begged. "We felt he was the strong arms of our family now.

"There are people I must see and things I must do before the holidays," he returned. Then he whispered to Mama. We never knew what he said but we saw her smile.

The following days were long without the old man we had learned to love but we had plenty of work to do, especially, since he was gone. I was grateful for the chores. It would help pass the time until Uncle Cyrus came home again.

We children talked of Christmas but Mama never said that it would be any different from other days. I wondered if we would hang stockings as we had done at Christmas in past years. There was no need to wish for Christmas gifts. Money was scarce. The money Mama made sewing for townsfolk plus Pledge’s profit from the newspaper job was used to buy groceries, stockings and vicks salve to rub on our chest when we were croupy.

"I bet we will get something from Santa Claus," said Mac. "Because I saw Uncle Cyrus tell Mama a secret."

"That secret probably wasn’t about Santa Claus," said Marcella. "It could be a secret about anything."

We sure did stay busy with our uncle gone. He had helped Mama with many things. He even washed the clothes sometimes. Now Margaret and I had to do the laundry and iron. Terry and Mac kept wood by the fireplace and stove. Marcella did most of the dishes. We went to bed early because we were always tired and there was no one about to tell us tales.

In a few days Mama received a penny postcard from our great uncle. He was sorry that he would not make it to our house in time for the Christmas program at church.

"Well, he’s got folks to see," explained Mama but she had a satisfied look on her face. We children were very disappointed. We really wanted him to see our costumes. The gowns trimmed with tinsel and wings made of card board and white crepe paper made us look pretty. Marcella and I admired our images in the mirror in Mama’s room.

Mama stayed up very late, getting the costumes made for many of the children that went to our church.

It was the last week of school before Christmas. We didn’t study lessons as much as usual.

My teacher passed out red, green and white construction paper to the students. We cut the papers into strips and made paper chains to take home and decorate our houses. We traced around patterns of bells, stars, snow men and snowflakes. The class room was decorated and the left over bells and snow men we took home with us.

Marcella’s class had made paper gingerbread men to decorate the school windows.

Finally, it was the Sunday night before Christmas and we were gathered at the church for the Christmas program. Everything went well except some of the little ones fell on the steps to the platform. When we were leaving two men stood by the door, handing out treats to every child under fourteen. We each got a big red apple, an orange and a small bag of hard ribbon candy. I could hardly wait to get home and tear into the orange. The only time I had ever had an orange was at Christmas.

There was no school on Monday because it was a holiday. We kept going to the window looking for signs of Uncle Cyrus coming.

"You young ones had best keep busy," advised Mama. "Let’s get the house real clean for Uncle Cyrus. Anyway let’s have a clean house for Jesus. It’s His birthday."

Tuesday was Christmas Eve. Some people at the church sent us a food box containing a ham, canned sweet potatoes, canned cherries and a stalk of celery. Mr. Ben brought the box inside our house and wished us all a Merry Christmas. We returned the greeting and thanked him.

Mrs. Pearl came with cookies and a fruit cake she had baked.

"How sweet of you, Pearl," Mama said giving our neighbor a big hug.

I thought Mama would be very sad because Christmas was almost here and still no sign of Papa, Maybe she was acting happy just for us. I didn’t know but it seemed strange there was an almost happy glow on her face. Maybe it was because of the nice things folks did for our family.

Uncle Cyrus was not here yet. All afternoon we watched for him. Then it was dark and no uncle. This was going to be a bad Christmas even if we did get good food.

"It’s not supposed to be like this," I said to Mama. "Uncle Cyrus is not here. Papa is not here."

"I believe Uncle Cyrus will be here," said Mama. "He promised that he would be here on Christmas Day. He can come anytime during the night."

I looked at the clean house with the paper bells, paper snowmen and paper chains hanging about the dining room feeling anything but happy. We did not hang up any stockings.

Mama made tea and served us the cookies that Mrs. Pearl had brought. Then Margaret led us in singing Christmas songs. She had a nice voice.

Mama went into the parlor and got the bible from the library table where the book rested most of the time. She asked me to read the story about the birth of Jesus.

After I read the scripture telling of His birth, I wondered how I might have felt if I had been a real angel in the sky over Bethlehem that night long, long ago instead of a girl wearing a white sheet gown with gold tinsel on it.

Mama kissed each one of us and wished us a Merry Christmas, saying our uncle would most likely be back when we awoke on Christmas morning. Then all of us went to bed, including Mama.

I lay there thinking of times past when we had hung stockings and received candy and nuts in them. Sometimes there were little surprises like beads or jacks. This year was different in many ways.

Late in the night I fell asleep and about 4 o’clock in the morning I was awakened by a noise outside. I slowly made my way in the dark to Mama’s room.

"Mama, wake up," I said.

She awoke and reached for the light string. "What is it, Minnie?" she asked.

"Mama, I think someone is outside," I replied. "I heard a noise out there."

Mama grabbed her flannel robe and the two of us went to the front door. When she opened the door we saw two men standing on the porch.

"Papa!" I cried. "You came back! You came home!"

Mama flung herself at Papa and held on as if she would never let him go.

I watched. Then I said, "Can I wake the others?"

"Not just yet," returned Mama. "Let’s go into the kitchen for tea."

Uncle Cyrus wasn’t saying much of anything, he was enjoying this burst of happiness.

While Mama made tea I sat on Papa’s lap and he kissed my forehead. That was the best time I ever had in my life, knowing Papa was alive.

"Why did you stay so long, Papa?" I asked.

"Minnie, dear," explained Papa, "I fell and hurt my head badly. When I came to myself in the hospital I didn’t know who I was. My memory was gone."

"Honey, I’m so sorry," said Mama. "I knew that something terrible happened to keep you away so long."

Mama and Papa hugged again.

"I’ll make it up to you," Papa said to Mama. "Uncle Cyrus found me in a boarding house after much searching and asking questions of many people. Then he took me to a café for lunch. While we were eating, someone put a nickel in the juke box and our song was playing, Let me call you Sweetheart. That’s when I began to remember who I was and that I had a family.

"Can I wake up the others," I asked Papa.

"Let’s do it another way," he said. "Wait here."

Papa went out to the car and brought in a wooden crate. Inside the wood box was an Emerson radio. He set it on the table and found a station where people were singing Christmas carols.

"Turn this knob," he said to me.

When I turned the little knob, a big blast of music filled the house. My sisters and brothers came running into the kitchen.

"Papa!" they shouted. All ten arms trying to embrace him at once brought tears to his face. Mama was crying, too.

"And Margaret," said Papa, "Uncle Cyrus told me I have a new daughter and I’m so glad you came to live in the Huddle house."

"Me, too," returned Margaret. "It’s the best place of all to live. I’m happy, Papa."

"I’m the richest man in the world," declared Papa. I have a good wife and now six beautiful children. It’s a wonderful Christmas Day."

It was the beginning of a most wonderful holiday. Papa was home.

By: Mary Wingfield Bell