Christmas Remembrances

            While I was wrapping some gifts that I had bought in Christmas paper, I became hungry for Kentucky Fried Chicken. I am not sure if I had a yearning for it or thought of Christmastime for my grandparents Edson and Anna Beck. They were in their mid-eighties by this time and what to get them for the holiday became a problem for my wife Cindy and me. Mom said when she helped Grandma clean their bedrooms they still had clothing in their cellophane wrappings from the stores, tucked into the dresser drawers.

            They reached the age when Grandma didn’t decorate the house for Christmas any longer. Gift buying for them became more and more difficult, until I learned that they liked Col. Sanders’ secret recipe. After that, it was easy. I would go the Connellsville, Pennsylvania restaurant and buy a bucket of chicken with all of the fixings about a week before Christmas day. It was a gift that they enjoyed and that they used. Because they ate so little, they dined on it for entire week. We never found any chicken tucked away in cellophane in any drawers.

            We also began to buy a Christmas tree for them. Not one of the large ones, but the ones that were about fourteen inches high and sold with a few decorative bulbs already on it. That would be their Christmas display. Granddad would water it and keep it in the basement after the holiday and when spring arrived, he would plant it in their back yard.

            My brother-in-law bought my grandparents house when they died and has remodeled it. He occasionally complains about the pines in the back yard. There must be ten of them that have grown to be quite large and overshadow his garden.

            In another posting, I may share the Nativity set that I bought for them. Grandma kept it up all year and claimed the coveted spot on top of their T.V.