Perhaps the Best Little Christmas Ever

When I was a boy of eight we had a very special Christmas at school. I attended a very small three room schoolhouse in rural South Carolina.  Like children everywhere we got excited about Christmas. Every year, on the last day of school before Christmas vacation, we would decorate a Christmas tree and sing carols to celebrate the Christmas season. Each of us would bring something to put on the Christmas tree.

One afternoon on the  day before we decorated the tree my sister and I got off the school bus near twilight at the farm where we lived. After doing our chores we had supper of salmon patties with grits and milk gravy.  It was one of my favorite meals. We, Sissy and I, asked Mama about some Christmas decorations for our tree at school. Mama said, “I don’t think we have anything you can use. But I will look.”

A few minutes later she returned and said, “I’m sorry children, but we don’t have anything for your Christmas tree at school. It has been a very bad year for the farm, and Christmas will be  small this year.”

“But, Mama, what are we going to do?” I lamented.

“Maybe Grandma can help you! Tony there’s a full moon tonight. You can take a flashlight and walk to her house if you want. And you take care of your sister, you hear?”

It was beginning to get very cold as we walked down the red dirt road to Grandma’s house. It was about a mile away. The moon was full and very bright. Wisps of feathery clouds hid some of the millions of stars in the sky.

Soon we were at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Their dog, Black Boy, met us barking with his tail wagging.  I patted him on the head, and his tail wagged faster.  

Grandma hugged us as usual, and we went inside. Grandpa was sitting by the fire in his rocker dozing. I could smell a batch of fresh baked cookies. It made me  almost forget why we were there.

“Grandma,” I said, “Mama said maybe you could help us.”

“We need something to put on the Christmas tree at school,” Sissy said.

“Course I will help you, child! We’ll find something”.

Grandma left the room, and I could hear her looking for something in their bedroom. Soon she came back.

“I thought about what we could make.  I couldn’t find nothing. But, I think we can make something” Grandma said.

“I like to make things!” Sissy said.

Grandma sat in her chair, and Sissy and I gathered around. She pulled a piece of shiny Christmas wrapping paper from her apron.

“A long time ago an old gypsy woman showed me how to make a star out of paper. This paper will make a real pretty one if I can remember how to do it,” Grandma said as she began to fold the pretty paper. She folded the paper several times. When she was finally satisfied with the way it looked she reached into her apron and pulled out a pair of scissors. With a quick snip she cut the paper.

Slowly she unfolded the paper and like magic a beautiful five-pointed star appeared. It sparkled in the firelight.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful, Grandma, just like the star of Bethlehem!” Sissy said, “The star over the baby Jesus in the manger.”

“It is pretty, but we need to get back home before Mama starts to worry about us,”I said, “but could we get a cookie before we leave?”

We had milk and cookies before we left. They were very good, 0the way Grandma’s cookies always were. Sugar cookies, yum..

It was much colder on the walk home. Normally, I would have told Sissy a scary story to scare her, but I didn’t. Maybe I had the Christmas spirit. When we got to our house we saw the first snowflake of winter.  I could tell it was going to be a very good Christmas.

The next day was a special day at school. There would be no reading, writing or arithmetic that day. It was the day before Christmas vacation. Our teacher, Miss Kate Johnson, let the older boys use the school axe to chop down a beautiful cedar tree. They drug it inside the schoolhouse and stood it up for us to decorate. Mrs. Scott, the cook, popped lots of popcorn which we made into garlands to hang on the tree. Some of us boys ate some of the popcorn although we weren’t supposed to. The younger kids made colored chains to put on the tree, too. There were painted pine cones, which the older kids put on the tree, along with some colorful lights. The flashing lights were very pretty. We had almost finished decorating the tree when Miss Johnson asked, “Does anyone have anything for the top of the tree?”

“I do! I do!” screamed little Judy Wideman, jumping up and down. Judy always seemed to want attention.

“Look what I’ve got!” yelled Billy Walker. Billy thought he always had to be first.

“Okay, okay! We’ll vote to see whose ornament we will put on top of the tree. All for Judy’s raise your hand!” said Miss Johnson.

Judy’s ornament was selected. It was a beautiful angel she said her grandmother had bought on a trip to New York City. Judy climbed the ladder that the teacher put beside the tree to place the angel on top of the tree. As she was about to set the angel on the tree it slipped from her hands.   It made a big crash, and tiny pieces of angel went everywhere. Judy cried, but after Miss Johnson hugged her and spoke softly to her she seemwd to be alright. Then Billy got to climb the ladder to place his ornament on top of the tree.  “This is a special Christmas star my father bought in Chicago. It flashes on and off. Watch when I plug it in!” Billy said. But when he plugged it in there was a FLASH of bright light, a loud BANG, and a puff of SMOKE. The lights on the tree went out too. Some of the girls screamed.  The room was dark. There was no light except for what came through the windows from outside. Billy looked angry and said something must have been wrong with the tree’s lights!

Miss Johnson said, “What are we going to do now, children?”

I said, “My little sister has something.”

“What do you have, Sissy?” the teacher wanted to know.

Sissy, who was very shy, said haltingly in a low voice while looking at the floor “It’s just a paper star my grandma made…  It’s not fancy and expensive like Judy’s and Billy’s ornaments.”

“Let’s see it!” Miss Johnson said

Sissy slowly brought the little paper star from behind her back for everyone to see.  Miss Johnson said, “ I think that is exactly what we need. Tony can you place it on the top of our tree?”

“Yes ma’am,” I said as I grabbed the star and climbed quickly to the top of the tree. I used a short piece of thread to tie the star to the tree. As soon as I released the star a curious thing happened. All the lights on the tree came back on with a bright flash.

Miss Johnson and the children said, “O-o-o-o…”  Then, “Wow!” And then they clapped and cheered!  I  remembered what Sissy said the first time she saw it. It was like the star of Bethlehem!  The star over the baby Jesus! What a Christmas present it was! For all of us!

We sang and danced around that tree ‘til time to go home.  I think it was about the best Christmas ever!

                *******************

As many of you know I frequently do the children’s sermon at SPC. The following is one of those sermons which, as usual, is in the form of a story. This is a story of fiction but is very reminiscent of my childhood. I did attend a rural three-room school house and I lived on a farm in rural South Carolina.

Our Visit to RAF Museum, London Sept. 2016

We went to the Royal Air Force Museum today. Claudette and I had to change Underground trains once  to get there. A bit of the ride was above the ground. I think I have a fixation on the lady that makes all the announcements on the train. I think she would like me too. I particularly like the way she says, “Mind the gap.” It was a long half mile from the station to the museum. I don’t like the way the British build sidewalks. They slope toward the curb.

After we entered through the gate we saw some airplanes and a missile on a missile launcher. But, when I spied a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane on pylons, I knew we were in the right place. Those planes were stalwarts of WWII and the battle of Britain. It was good to compare these two aircraft side by side. I have had difficulty determining the differences between the two, but the shape of the wings is the most discernible difference.

Once inside we bought our tickets. I spoke with the lady at the desk who had difficulty understanding me, and her heavy middle Eastern accent required careful listening on my part. It seems that most of the people in service or clerical jobs in London speak English as a second language. There was a Spitfire painted silver mounted on the wall, which I believe was a reproduction. We entered the display area by climbing some stairs to a balcony overlooking the Milestones of Flight display.

This display is perhaps the creme de la creme of the museum’s displays.There were over a dozen aircraft on display. A reproduction of the first plane to fly across the English Channel hung in a prominent place near the balcony where we stood.  Right beside it was the modern Eurofighter built by a consortium of European countries. We took a stairway down to the exhibit floor. The first thing nearest the stairway was a full scale mock-up of an F-35.  Flown by many NATO nations, it’s the most advanced plane represented. We walked toward one of my favorite aircraft. “Look, Claudette, it’s a Mosquito!” I exclaimed.

“I didn’t know they had them in England, “ she answered.

“Not the insect, the plane. It’s made of plywood, you know!”

“A wooden plane? Built of plywood like our garage storage shelves?”” said she in disbelief.

”Well, sort of, it’s of laminated wood construction. They hired piano  and cabinet makers to build them.”

“Why?” she wanted to know.

“I don’t know, but I would guess it was because metal was in short supply,” I answered.

“Okay.”

“Do you see that silver plane right behind it?”

“Yes, it’s pretty.”

“Yep, some say the P-51 Mustang was the most beautiful fighter plane of WWII,” I said adding, “ It has the same engine as the Mosquito.”

“I don’t understand. It has American markings on it rather than the British bullseye?”  she asked.

“I’m glad you asked that. You see, the British asked the Americans to design them a fighter plane, and the Mustang was what North American Aviation came up with. At first it did not perform well with an Allison engine, but when the engine was replaced with the Rolls Roycè Merlin engine the performance improved dramatically.”

“I guess that is where the Mustang car got its name,” she said.

“Not really. Aviation aficionados would have you believe that, but the horse was the impetus for the name.”

We were wandering around the historic aircraft when Claudette said, “Hey, we’ve seen one of those before!”

“We sure have; at the Beaufort  Marine Corps Air Station.  During one of the air shows we saw a demonstration in which it was flying ground support for marines on the ground. Did you know that the Hawker Harrier first made vertical take-off and landing practical?”

“Okay…” she said sounding rather disinterested. Sometimes she just doesn’t share my interest  in airplanes.  I cannot fathom why.

The aircraft behind us represented perhaps the greatest technological advancement of the Second World War. It was the Messerschmitt Me-262, the Swallow.  It was the first jet aircraft used in combat. It was over 100 mph faster than any Allied fighter plane.

“The Me-262 was the fastest thing in the sky in 1944,”  I told Claudette.  “The two Juno jet engines pushed it to over 500 mph.”

“Haven’t we seen one of these before?” she asked.

“Yes, several.  There is even one in the U.S. Naval Aviation Museum that has a back seat. I thought it was built as a trainer but most likely as a bomber. The back seat would have been for the bombardier.  Hitler wanted the bulk of the planes used as bombers, although they were  better suited for fighter aircraft. After the war many features of this plane were incorporated into modern jet aircraft. Interestingly enough the turbojet engine was patented by an Englishman, Frank Whittle,”  I added.

“If the British invented the jet aircraft engine, why were the Germans so successful in building a jet powered fighter plane?”

“There are a couple of reasons for that. One reason is that although Whittle invented the jet engine in 1930, the Air Ministry did not support the development of his invention. On the other hand, when Hans von Obain built his jet engine in Germany years after Whittle, he received full government support for its development. The British did build a jet fighter, but very near the end of the war. There it is, the Gloster Meteor.”

We saw several more interesting aircraft in the Milestones of Flight exhibit, even a rare Hawker Typhoon. The Napier H-engined fighter was the only one left in existence

We ventured into another hanger by way of a fabric covered walkway.  It was like a tunnel. The first thing you see in the hanger known as the Bomber Room is a huge Avro Lancaster  bomber.  Also included in the collection is the B-24 Liberator, the B-17 Flying Fortress, and the B-25 Mitchell.  There is a huge Avro Vulcan I remembered from a James Bond movie. There were other bombers as well as ancillary equipment.  There were also some WWII fighter planes as. German Bf-109s and a FW-190 were on display. The 190 was the dual cockpit version, which I had not seen before.  There was also a Heinkel-163 which was an early German jet plane.

“I like that sign!” Claudette announced.

“What sign?”

“That one,” she said pointing, “It says Echo, Apha, Tango--EAT!”

“We sat in the shadow of the a giant flying machine of  wars past and enjoyed a cup of tea. Scones and strawberry jam made the rest break complete.

I had a bit of fun with some kids as I was sitting in an open cockpit. I was telling them to watch the rear control surfaces as I operated the stick and rudder pedals. At one point I pushed the stick forward and announced that I was diving toward earth. I abruptly slammed my hands into the dash with a loud bang. The boys jumped with surprise as I announced that I had crashed.

There is a special building for the Battle of Britain. Aircraft, including some which had crashed, as well as displays depicting bombed out buildings were there. Naturally, there were V-1 and V-2  German missiles on display. It was quite moving. There I was able to walk through a giant Short

Sunderland flying boat. The restoration area was accessible, also.  There I saw, among other things, a German twin engine bomber under restoration.

We were at the museum over four hours, and I enjoyed every minute walking rather briskly through the various buildings.  Soon it was time to get back to our apartment in Kensington to get ready for dinner.