The Christmas Tree and the Stolen Watch

The Christmas Tree  - an Event at Woodland

As a child, I would hear my parents and grandparents talk about the Christmas Tree – not as an object but as an event. In the 1930s, both schools (Belford and Woodland) in the Big Bend community held an evening extravaganza each December for the students and their families at each particular school.

My father, Edmund Gates, Jr., recalls the enormous decorated tree in the Woodland (not to be confused with the district consolidated in 1990, also named Woodland) schoolhouse located where Lester Anson’s home is currently. The students would perform in the school Christmas program. Then the highlight of the evening was the children receiving gifts that decorated the tree. 

The parents would purchase gifts for their children and then take the gifts to a designated lady from the community who would tie the gifts to the school tree. The children could hardly wait to have their names called and receive a gift from the Christmas tree.  As children living in the Great Depression, you can imagine their anticipation. 

The most memorable Christmas tree for Edmund Jr. was in 1931 when his younger brother Jess at age eight received a rifle off the tree. To his delight, Edmund Jr. who was 12 years old received a watch when his name was called. It was a magical night filled with beautiful music, delicious (and scarce) sweet treats, and laughter as the children shared with pride what the Christmas tree had given them.  In the excitement of the evening, Edmund laid his newly acquired watch on a school desk. Unfortunately, he only briefly enjoyed the first expensive gift he’d ever been given, before it was stolen.

Edmund Gates, Jr.in the 1930s

As I visited with Dad about the stolen Christmas watch, my heart ached for a young boy who experienced such joy and elation over a precious gift only to have those feelings dashed into a million pieces a few minutes later. He described how he spent the rest of the evening in a futile search for his Christmas watch. But as I reaccount the story of that night, a heartwarming realization dawned on me. That same little boy now celebrating his 94th Christmas frequently thanks God in his nightly prayer saying, "Thank you for the Lord Jesus." He so clearly understands that Jesus is the gift that once received can never be stolen or lost. What an amazing thought to ponder and internalize at this hectic time of year!



He (Jesus) came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe on His Name. Taken from the Gospel of John, chapter one, verses eleven and twelve.

                                                        

A Memory of Last Christmas

Christmas Cats

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, one of my friends had her precious dog accidentally ran over by a car. It brought to the forefront of my memory the loss of some of our beloved farm cats this past summer and the dear memories of time spent with them.

Snow and Patches Helping Hang the Wreath - Christmas 2012


Looking at this photo of Patches and Snow from last year reminds me of this moment in time with these two loving felines. I had taken the wreath from its box and was preparing to hang it on the front porch. I was called inside so I set the wreath in the stacked chairs. Upon returning, I looked out the front door to see Snow and Patches posing for what became their Christmas photograph. I grabbed my camera and snapped this treasured photo of the two. It was as though they were saying, “Come on, Bernadean, we’ve been patiently waiting for you to get this wreath hung. We are here to lend a helping paw.”

This attitude of being involved in all "their human" was doing typified these two cats. Snow was one to come anytime he heard me. Even when he was quite ill, he would try to follow me. He liked to be with his humans. Patches was a docile, affectionate cat with gorgeous eyes accented with, as Angie my sister referred to, “permanent eyeliner.” Patches  would have adored being an indoor "lap" cat.

Snow died in the early summer. Patches disappeared not long after his death.

My mother believes strongly that little children can be taught respect as they come to understand animals and how best to treat them. I am so thankful that God created animals that we could daily enjoy and love, because sometimes it seems they give so much more to us than we give to them.

Early Days of Edmund Gates, Sr.

The Two Languages of Edmund Gates, Sr.

Edmund Gates, Sr., my grandfather, was born to Elizabeth Studebaker Gates and John Fredrick Gates on June 16, 1877, in Girard, Kansas. Since both of his parents were deaf, little Edmund grew up in a home where his first language was sign language although he was not hearing impaired. Perhaps John, his father, was more concerned with little Edmund being able to fit into the hearing world by learning to speak. Maybe his father recalled his own childhood years, up to age fourteen, filled with meaningful words and vibrant, beautiful sounds--a time before scarlet and typhoid fever savagely destroyed his hearing leaving him suddenly in a silent world. For whatever reason, John made the decision that little Edmund needed to be in a home where he was exposed to verbal speech. He decided this should take place when their firstborn son was around four years old. Evidently, it was not a mutually agreed upon decision, since Grandpa recalled being torn from his mother’s arms as she cried “hysterically.” One wonders how a little boy coped with being wrenched from his adoring mother’s arms.  In the Gates farmhouse surely Great-grandmother Elizabeth could have frequently been heard sobbing inconsolably as she grieved over her little boy who was going several states away. Although Great-grandfather John must have suffered his own heartbreak over Little Edmund's departure, he was willing to endure the pain of separation because he knew Little Edmund would never learn to talk in their home.

Little Edmund went to Woodbine, Illinois, to live with his uncle’s family. John Fredrick had chosen his brother,  Robert Bell Gates and his wife, Elizabeth, a hearing couple, with whom his son would spend a couple of years. Edmund would meet his cousins - Ira age 10, Edith age 8, and Lois age 6. During his stay with his uncle’s family, Edmund learned to master the English language using his voice. After the two-year stay, he faced a second difficult transition when he had to leave a family he had bonded with to return to his own family in Kansas.

The farmhouse home of John and Elizabeth Gates in Kansas - photographed
by Mamie Marie Gates Judkins Tice in 1991.The right portion of the house
 was built onto the original home after the Gates family sold it.