Copyright 2011 Stacey L. Bolin
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.
Please note this story is a work of fiction with the exception of state and town mentioned.
"Peaches for Christmas"
Written by: Stacey L. Bolin
Patty sat at her dining room table with only the illumination of her heavily decorated mantle of green garland, white lights and numerous crystal snowflakes that she had collected over the years. She gazed upon the prisms rays that danced across the room from each illuminated snowflake. Her husband had taken their three kids out to do some last minute Christmas shopping and to give her some time to herself before relatives would start making their grand holiday appearance to signify Christmas Day would soon be here.
“How peaceful,” she though while sipping a hot cup of tea and an occasional bite of a tree shaped sugar cookie that her children helped her decorate earlier in the day. It was hard to believe that it was the day before Christmas Eve. The presents were wrapped, the cards were mailed out, and the house was decorated to the point of testing the capacity of the fuse box in the basement. With the occasional smell of something burning in the oven, all but one dozen cookies survived the cooking rush. It was a great relief to know that all the Christmas food traditions, request by her husband and kids had been baked and sampled. To everyone, it appeared that Patty Granger had it together, yet something was still missing after all that she had accomplished - she had lost her Christmas Spirit.
She tried to convince herself that her spirit had been lost in the overcrowded stores, the endless miles of cars and grid locked traffic trying to get across town or the fact that stamps had gone up another two cents. Forty cents to mail a card was highway robbery. She chuckled to herself when she recalled her grandma Nettie sharing her disgust that stamps went up from five cents to six cents, in a time when it was customary to send out an awe-inspiring number of Christmas cards. No matter how many excuses she would try to reach for, to explain her loss of the Christmas Spirit, only one would be the real reason – Grandma Nettie’s passing four years ago. Little by little, Patty just couldn’t find that little girl inside her that was always excited about the holidays. Since she had gotten the news that Grandma had made the trip to heaven, holiday’s always felt like something was missing.
Patty had always felt so bad, when she recalled when Nettie got after her for not mailing her a Christmas card, even though Patty was sure she had. It wasn’t until a month after Nettie’s passing, while she was cleaning out her car, that she had discovered that the card had fallen down between the seats. It was addressed, stamped, but would never arrive for Nettie’s last Christmas. Then adding to her sorrow about the Christmas card, she was forced to face an even harder part of life. Since grandpa had passed more than twenty years ago, and then the passing of Nettie, their home began to fall victim to the emptiness of lifeless rooms that were once filled with laughter, love and care. It was a hard choice, but the family eventually decided it was best to sell the home to someone who could either bring it back to life, or tear it down and rebuilt. This broke Patty’s heart, as she felt she would lose her connection to her grandmother completely.
“Grandma Nettie, how I miss you…I am so sorry” she whispered into the quiet of the room. “Can you see me Nettie? Can you hear me? Can you help me find my Christmas Spirit? I’m so tried Nettie, I’m so tired. Please help me find my spirit again. Show me something that tells me you are still listening.” Accompanying her words, she began to weep softly. To Patty, Nettie was her everything. She was there to listen to her struggles growing up from a young girl into a woman. She gave the best advice anyone could without judgment and no matter what path Patty chose, good or bad, Nettie would always say, “You’re the oldest grandchild, someone has to cut the path to teach the rest right from wrong.” Nettie was also the one who taught Patty how to cook everything and anything to keep a growing family healthy and strong even on the smallest of budgets. This was a lesson that Patty learned exceptionally well and would smile when her husband would remark to others, “My wife may have her faults, but cooking isn’t one of them.”
“Ok Patty, nothing worse than tears for Christmas. Think of something that makes you happy in addition to your family.” Then a smile came across her face as she went many years back into her childhood memories to a Christmas where her passion for the Holidays began. Never in her wildest of dreams could she have ever imagined, that this Christmas memory held a very special secret that was about to be revealed and the gift that would change her and her families lives forever.
***
Awe, there was nothing like the change of the fall season in New Hampshire. The trees had shed the last bit of autumns color and the skies were painted a cold steely grey to suggest that Mother Nature was getting ready to blanket the Lakes Region area into a sparkling white winter wonderland. She was a big dreamer.
When Patty was a 4th grader at Elm Street School, it was then her talent began - She knew when winter was going to make its grand appearance, she could smell snow. Yes, it was indeed a very odd talent for a child to be so sure of, but non-the-less her ability never failed here. The others students would mock and make fun of her when she would comment that she could smell snow in the air.
“You’re so stupid Patty. Everybody knows that you can’t smell snow!” They would shout out as they laughed and pointed at her like some freak side show at the circus. But patty knew that they were all just jealous. Her special ability to smell snow’s arrival was as real as the nose on her face and it never let her down and Grandma Nettie would boast, “Chin up child, they’re only jealous as you know when school will be closed because of the weather.” Then Nettie would smile that special smile.
Along with snow, Patty loved Christmas, all the brightly colored wrapped packages and ribbons of gold and silver. How her eyes would twinkle in amazement as she’d look upon their Christmas tree that shimmed with colored lights and a heavy adornment of tinsel. At the age of three, there were gifts as far as her eyes could see, but over time the change in the economy hit her family hard. Christmas became more of gifts of necessity and need vs. want. The bright packages and bows became newspapers and brown bags decorated in crayon. Times were difficult for the Hamilton’s and having food on the table or gifts under the tree where the choices the family faced. Yet that didn’t get them down as they realized that it wasn’t about the gifts under the tree, Christmas was so much more than that. It was about family and celebrating the birthday of the Baby Jesus.
The one Christmas Eve that had etched its memory deep within Patty soul all started with a knock at the front door as the family sat in the living room around the fireplace singing Christmas carols. Much to the family’s surprise, when they opened the door the only thing they found was a homemade jar of canned peaches shimmering in the light of the porch that was reflecting on the snow that framed the jar. How delicious they looked. What a beautiful and wonderful gift. Her family was so excited, but one question still remained, it was a wonderful gift - but from whom? They oddest thing about this gift, each year around the same time, there would be a knock at the door and a gift of homemade canned peaches would be sitting on the welcome mat, but no name or indication who the kind stranger was that would leave such a wonderful gift. Mother was wise and knew that somehow she much find a way to share the families thanks, and so with hopes and wonderment, Patty and her mother would make a homemade Christmas card just for this stranger thanking them for the delicious gift and invite them in for the following Holiday season. Each year, nobody would say they had provided the delicious gift, yet their homemade card would be gone and a mason jar of peaches would be in its place.
Grandma Nettie loved to tell her friends of the special gift that her Son’s family had been receiving for many years each Christmas Eve. People would be amazed to learn that still this mysterious gift did not have a name or a face to put with it and would still find its way to the family’s door even after Patty was all grown up and had a family of her own. Without fail her mother would call her and say, “Guess what arrive on the door step this year? I’ll bring them with us to the family dinner tomorrow as I know how much you love them.”
“Mom, how much longer will we get these peaches before we ever learn who is doing this?” she question some years ago.
“I don’t know sweetie. I wish I did and I am so very grateful. It made many hard Christmas’s so very special to all of us. It would be a shame to never learn the identity of the kind person behind the gift.”
But one Christmas Eve about two years ago, her mother called. She had waited for hours for knock that never came. This time the card remained and there were no peaches to be found. Everyone knew that this time would come, as nothing lasts forever, yet they were more saddened that they couldn’t thank the unknown someone in person.
***
“Hon, Mom, we’re back from the store.” Her Husband and children yelled out as they made their way into the house. Patty’s quiet time was officially over.
“Peaches!” It was the peaches!” Patty turned and exclaimed to her husband.
“Are you talking about the peaches you got as a mystery gift each year as a kid? Maybe having alone time isn’t the best thing for you sweetie.” He smiled.
“Yes I am talking about the Christmas Peaches. When our family was very poor, it was the gift of those peaches that brought our family together. God I wish I had a jar of them right now. I can still taste them as if they were fresh off the tree. If only I could find the person who made them, they should have been sold in the stores…they were so fantastic.”
The kids dragged their bags of gifts they had gotten for various family members, to their bedrooms to begin the secret collaboration of making each gift look extra special. Patty hoped that this year they would remember to put the gift tags on each gift. Oh what fun it was to open a present only to find it was for Grandpa Granger or Auntie Lynn. How funny it was when Grandpa opened a gift of new satin underwear that was for Auntie Lynn. It was certainly a Christmas to remember. As she watched the kids scour the house for scissors, wrapping paper and tape, the phone rang.
“I’ll get it” said Patty. “Hello?”
“Mrs. Granger?”
“Yes.”
“Patty Granger?”
“Yes…who is this?” she didn’t know the voice.
“Ma’am, you don’t know me, but I think I have something that belongs to you.”
“Excuse me?” She remarked with a sense of curiosity.
“Ma’am, I know it is Christmas time in all, but I really need to see you. I live about a town away, would it be possible for you to come to my home.”
“Sir, like you said I don’t even know you.”
“Please ma’am, you won’t be disappointed. Bring your family, they’ll all enjoy this. My address is 244 Willow Road in Meredith, New Hampshire.”
Patty dropped the phone and stood in complete shock.
“Patty! Patty! Hon, what’s wrong!?” said her husband after hearing the phone fall to the floor.
“Hello? Hello?” said the voice yelling over the phone “Ma’am? Are you there? Patty?”
“This is Patty’s husband, what can I do for you?”
Patty turned to look at her husband’s face as he spoke with the man on the phone. Judging by the look on his face, she had heard the information correctly. The address that the unknown person on the phone had provided was the address of her grandmother. Her husband gently hung up the phone and simply said that the whole family would be going to Meredith tomorrow. He didn’t seem worried about meeting a stranger and he also didn’t indicate why they were going in the first place. That night, Patty couldn’t sleep.
“Why would we be going back to my grandmother’s house that had already been sold?” she through over and over “Maybe they found something that belongs to the family?”
Morning came quickly and in record time everyone was loaded up and underway to Meredith. Patty was so nervous and still questions filled her mind as to why a stranger would call her and want to see her at her grandmother’s old home. As they made their way down the street towards the home, cars lined the streets on both sides, faces of the young and old smiled as Patty and her family drove down the street.
“What is going on? Hon, do you have any idea what is going on?”
Her husband just smiled that devilish smile.
As they pulled up into the driveway and got out of their car, there were about fifty men lined up from the front of the house to a large moving van. They were carrying many old wooden crates that were being taken out of the house that appeared to be filled with something heavy. Just then a man turned and saw the family.
“Hold up guys…she’s here” Yelled a stranger.
“Hi. You must be Patty Hamilton.”
“Patty Hamilton is my maiden name, I’m Granger now.”
“Yes ma’am, I know all about you.”
“Sir, please…would you kindly tell me what is going on. What are you putting into that moving van?”
“Well, ma’am it is for you.”
“Me?”
Her husband smiled and said “Patty, it’s OK. You’ll want this. “
“Mrs. Granger, I am the one who brought your grandmother’s home. As we were working on its foundation we found a very large and very old root cellar. Inside this extremely large root cellar were hundreds of these crates all marked “Patty’s Peaches” stacked to the ceiling and each jar was marked with a year on it if someone was making peaches to give away a year for the next 200 years. I wouldn’t have believed what I was seeing until I read the handmade cards I found in a box on top of a current crate of peaches that had your name inside them. You made had made the cards Patty.”
Patty was speechless as her mother stood with tears in her eyes and a smile upon her face. “Patty, Grandma Nettie always felt so bad that you were teased in school, and how sad you were when hard times fell upon us. She didn’t want you to lose your Christmas spirit and left that jar of peaches on our front door step all those years ago, to teach you the meaning of Christmas and the giving of one’s self. It was only to be that one Christmas, but when Nettie saw how much excitement you were filled with as you anticipated the arrival of Christmas because of a Gift of peaches, not a gift from the store or bright shiny paper and bows. She knew that the peaches had to become a tradition. But when she passed away, nobody knew where she stored the peaches and we were not aware that her hutch was hinged to the wall to hide the door to the root cellar, but was easy for Nettie to open. Oh and one more thing. Here is the recipe to make these wonderful peaches, but by the looks, I don’t think you’ll have to be making them anytime soon.”
“Grandma Nettie, made the peaches?”
“Yes dear and they were made for you.”
All of the Christmas Spirit that Patty was sure she had lost, had been found the moment she opened a jar and took a bite of the sweetest peaches she had only been able to remember in her memories. Grandma Nettie had indeed been listening. Patty had so many peaches that she wanted to share this special gift with those who know the story, but had never gotten to taste this sweet gift from the heart. Everyone was laughing and wishing each other a very Merry Christmas. Patty wanted to keep Nettie’s tradition going for years to come and she did just that.
As years passed, Patty had never forgotten that special gift and learning that the unknown stranger was actually her Grandma Nettie meant so much to her. Christmas was forever merry and her Christmas Spirit was never lost again. To this very day, now that Patty’s children are grown up, you will still find her in her kitchen in the middle of summer putting together Grandma’ special recipe to give peaches for Christmas to all of her family with extra jars for years to follow. Grandma’s Christmas Tradition lives on.
Here’s wish you and yours a sweet and memorable Christmas season.
