I watched a Walmart commercial on TV this morning about firemen and policemen who take needy children shopping for Christmas. It brought back a memory from my early childhood. I was just about to turn four in January, but it was Christmas, the first Christmas that I would actually remember.

My father had walked out in August leaving my stay-at-home mother with no money, and two girls under four to feed, house, clothe, and provide Christmas for. At least my maternal grandmother was there, but her income was a Social Security pension. We had to leave the house we had been buying and move into a double house, as duplexes were called in those days. I remember that on the other side was a lady who owned a black dog. I was fascinated watching her give the dog a pill.

But there is the Christmas memory that I will never forget, at least in this life. I don't know what day it was, but I remember the roar—the roar of motorcycles pulling up in front of the house. Each cycle carried a policeman who hopped off the cycle and began unloading packages from the cycles' saddlebags. My almost 4-year-old memories are sketchy, but I do remember a little dish set that my sister and I later played with.

Mom told me about what happened. There was absolutely no money for Christmas that year, but my grandmother made some calls that eventually brought those mototcycles to our front door. They delivered toys and food, giving Christmas to a newly fractured family that wouldn't have had any without them.

I don't know who any of those men were, whether they are still living, nothing only that they were members of the Long Beach, California Police Department. To those men, I say thank you. You probably had no idea that 46 years later, the little girl who stood watching wide-eyed on the front porch that December day in 1955 would still remember their arrival and at least one of the toys they delivered that day.

Merry Christmas to everyone and God's blessings for the new year.

merRy ChristMaS

hapPY nEw yeAr

[ December 24, 2001: Message edited by: Linda Sutton ]

I had many 'good' Christmas experiences, but the one that stands out in my mind was the first one I had in the Army.

I was stationed in Germany, it was the Christmas of 1967, my first away from my mom and brothers and sisters.
I tried to put on a show of not caring, but, my Sgt, saw through it.
'Big Steve', as he was known to his men, had just been assigned a few weeks before Christmas to the same post I was on.
I had taken him to Rhein Mein (near Mannheim in the northern part of W.Germany) to pick up his wife, and for some strange reason, she liked this strange little white boy from Michigan.
Steve is African American, and at that time, it still wasn't accepted by some that people from different races hung together.
Steve and his wife invited me to Christmas dinner.
They took me under their wing and made it a better occaision than it would have been.
I didn't get a present in the usual sense, but they gave me something even better, friendship.
God looked down and sent them to help a 'little lost boy' in a time of need.

Merry Christmas
Happy New Year