Christmas in Hawaii

Christmas Morning. We got Moo-moo's

         I have never hidden the fact that my mother was single and the other fact I never hid was that we were poor. I mean really poor. But, mom never dressed us in rags. Mom always had a very clean home, always had us clean and we had cute clothes. 
  Mom did everything she could to make sure that although we did not have a dad at home, we were not going to dress like rag muffins. 
  We had some pretty sweet clothes too. I remember getting the most fashionable clothes. Oddly, mom's favorite thing to do is bargain hunt. So, although she dressed us beautifully, and did not look cheap, and some of the top brand names, she did buy them at either Thrift Stores, Outlets or on the Sale Racks. 
 With that said, I loved dolls. Christmas time was just the perfect time for asking for dolls, and toys. 
  The doll I wanted was "Baby Alive". Baby Alive was the coolest at that time. She could eat, drink, pee, cry, and sleep, almost like having a real baby. 
 I wanted one badly. Every time the television was on, and the commercial came on for Baby Alive, I would holler for my mom to come see Baby Alive. My mom knew I wanted her. 
 We always had a real Christmas Tree during Christmas, and mom always wanted a Douglas Fir. She loved how full they are. I always thought it was because of the little Children's story "The Little Fir Tree" (Very cute and highly recommended!)
  Mom did what we call in our church,"Visit Teach". Once a month mom would go with another woman from our Congregation, and she would Visit another woman. The woman was assigned, and she would help her, make sure this woman was ok and make sure there was something the woman needed. Usually mom would Visit Teach on a Sunday or while we were in School. Visiting Teaching never interfered with mom being a mom. Mom was also Visited. The women in the church all looked out for one another, and was a very organized and great way to make sure the needs of the congregation were being met. 
  Teaching part came from after Visiting and before leaving, the women would leave a message that was a monthly assigned message. Sometimes the message was on being kind to others, sometimes it was on Judging or How to Draw Nearer to God in a time and day where it is more difficult to.
   Mom and her Visit Teaching Companion one day, while out Visiting Teaching, heard about a family that had just moved in from Samoa. Mom heard that the family did not know any English but she wanted to Welcome this family into the neighborhood and bring them something. (This is how Mormons are) Mom and her Visiting Teacher Companion decided to make a dinner and take it to them, and mom came back really sad. 
  I asked mom why she was so sad, and she gathered us girls around. She said that upon going into this little family's home, there was nothing. they had no furniture, nothing. Only clothes and very little things. Mom did not know what we could do to help this family and it was close to Christmas. We had no money ourselves. 
  With out any thought, My older sister got a big Garbage bag and started putting all her gifts from under the Christmas tree in the bag. 
  I honestly knew I should have been doing it but I really wanted that doll and I thought for sure that I would never get her and knew that she was under the tree for me. 
  But I could not help but think of those little kids with nothing. 
 I went back and forth in my six- year- old- mind.  Should I give all my gifts? Should I give one? Should I not give any?
 I helped my sister put all my gifts in the bag. My younger sister helped with hers, too. My mom never said one word to us. She never asked us to give any, she was worried about how we were going to get anything for the family. This idea of giving gifts came from my older sister, and my younger sister and myself just followed in unison. 
   There was one gift in which was too big to fit in the two bags we had for the family and so as we carried the gifts to the family, the one gift I carried was Baby Alive. I was sure it was her. We had not opened our gifts, we just put them in the bags and carried them out the door. 
  We went to the family's home and they were there. We gave them the gifts and left. We did not need to speak the same language to feel the same that evening in Hawaii. I saw the family's faces when I handed them the gifts with my sisters. 
  I had never seen a grown man have tears streaming down his face as he said,"Thank you". I felt good after. My sisters and I all felt good. It was Christmas Eve and we gave gifts to another family. My mom made us hot chocolate, a Christmas favorite, and we read from Luke 2 about the birth of the Savoir. 
  We woke up the next morning to presents under the Christmas Tree from Santa. WE never expected that, as my mom clearly said Santa would not be able to bring us everything we wanted, you know kids that are more poor than us. But he found us. 
   That was the year I confirmed Santa was real, and I felt the true meaning  of Christmas at the same time.

Lavatia and I on Christmas Day! Yep! 75 F Degrees