That... and Presents
Little Britches story
By Aussie Lass
is story and its artwork have been rescued. We have tried to contact the
author, but gotten no reply. Since we had permission to list her stories on
Lady Angel's M7 Library (now M7FC), and I hate to see good stories lost, we
are hosting it here for safe-keeping.
“No we don’t.”
“Yes we do!”
“No, we don’t.”
Josiah entered the lounge room where the two small
children were arguing. “Unca Josiah, we have
Christmas so we can all get presents, don’t we?” J.D. insisted, rushing up to
the huge man.
Sanchez peered at the large dark eyes staring up at
him with such all consuming innocence and then glanced across at the eight year
old sitting on the mat in front of the fire. “Is that what you two are arguing
about?"
J.D. nodded vigorously.
"So you think it is about presents? Vin? Why do you think we have Christmas?”
“We have Christmas to make sure everyone goes to
church at least once a year.” Josiah burst out laughing. Vin’s
face fell. “That’s what Uncle Ezra told me,” he whispered.
Sanchez patted J.D.’s head, walked across to Vin and lifted him to his feet. “Come and sit with me boys
and let me tell you why we have Christmas Day.” The children followed him to
the lounge chair and sat down on either side of the gentle giant. Their fathers
were at some meeting and so Josiah was ‘babysitting’… a term Vin
hated for he was no baby.
“In a way, I suppose you are both a little bit
right. Let’s see. Christmas.” Josiah rubbed his chin
thoughtfully. “Let’s take each letter of the word Christmas.”
“Why?” J.D. asked.
“Because each letter stands for
something special about Christmas. They are the clues
that will tell us why we have Christmas Day. The first letter is…?” Josiah
asked, turning to Vin.
“C”.
“Right. ‘C’
is for the Christ child who was born on Christmas Day.”
“Baby Jesus,” J.D. agreed. “And everyone brought him
presents so that is why we get presents,” he added in triumph.
Josiah smiled. “’H’ is for Heaven’s angels who let
people know that the Christ child had been born.”
“And the people took presents and that’s why we get
presents.” J.D. directed his comment to Vin.
“’R’?”
Vin asked, now intrigued.
“’R’ is for redeemer. Ummm,
how do I explain that? Jesus was sent by God to save us and redeemer means
save. Do you see?”
Vin
nodded. J.D. shook his head. “So he was going to save lots of presents for us?”
the little boy asked.
Vin
smirked at Josiah who patted J.D.’s head. “’I’ is for Israel, which is the part
of the world where the Christ child was born.”
“’S’?”
Vin asked. “That would be the star?”
Josiah nodded. “Good boy.”
“What star?” J.D. asked.
“When baby Jesus was born there was a star in the
sky that showed everyone where to find Him,” Vin
explained.
“Ohhhh.
It showed them where to leave the presents.” J.D. leaned against Josiah,
becoming sleepy.
“’T’ is for the three wise men who travelled from
the east to see the Christ child.”
“And they brought presents.” J.D. yawned.
Josiah pulled the sleepy youngster onto his lap.
“They sure did, J.D. Gold, frankincense and myrrh.”
“No toys?”
“No toys,” Josiah chuckled.
“’M’? Vin asked.
“’M’ is for the manger where Jesus was born. The most important king born in a simple stable. Pretty
incredible don‘t you think?”
“’A’?”
Vin asked.
“’A’ is for ‘All’ He stands
for. Love, hope, peace, goodness…”
“Presents?” J.D. asked, rubbing his eyes with the
back of his hand.
“In a way.
They were the gifts God gave us when Jesus was born. And finally we have ‘S’. Any ideas, Vin?”
“Ummm.
Shepherds?”
Josiah shook his head. He stood with J.D. on his
hip, took Vin’s hand and led the child across to the
window. “Look up there in the sky. Tomorrow night, the ‘S’ will appear.”
Vin
eyed Josiah. “Do you mean…?”
“Yes. ‘S’
is for Santa.”
“Santa?”
Vin asked surprised. He was old enough to have heard
the rumours. “But I thought…” he stopped and glanced
at J.D. who was suddenly wide awake again. The youngster was beaming.
Josiah smiled. “Santa is God’s gift to every child.
He is the symbol of unselfish giving. He brings presents to remind us of the
gift God gave the world on the first Christmas. The man in the red suit just
does his bit to spread love, joy, happiness and a lot of hope.”
“Lots of presents!”
J.D. cried, bouncing up and down with excitement in Josiah’s arms.
Josiah looked at the older child. Vin
was intuitive and he seemed to understand. “It is about presents,
son, but not the sort that are wrapped up under the tree.”
Vin
nodded, reciting carefully, “The Christ child, Heaven’s angels, Redeemer,
Israel, Star, Three wise men, Manger, All He stands for and Santa.”
“Together they spell Christmas and that, Vin, is why we have Christmas Day.
“And we get presents,” J.D. squealed. Josiah
squeezed the child, affectionately.
“When he’s older, he’ll understand more,” Vin defended his little cousin.
Josiah nodded. “Now, it’s time the two of you went
to bed.”
“Two more sleeps,” J.D. chirped.
“Only two more sleeps until Christmas,” Josiah
agreed as the trio entered the boys’ bedroom. Josiah lowered J.D. into his bed
and pulled up the blankets.
“Can we have a story, Unca
Josiah?”
“Of course.
What would you like?”
“Cowboys.”
“No. Can you tell us about Baby Jesus?” Vin asked as Josiah tucked him in.
The ex-preacher smiled. “The first
Christmas. You know, boys, that is my very favourite
story and do you want to know why?”
J.D.’s smile broadened. “Because
it’s about presents?”
Josiah winked at Vin. “Yes, J.D. It is my very favourite
story because it is all about the greatest, most wonderful present ever given.”
J.D. nodded. “When God gave the world Baby Jesus.” Vin and Josiah both looked at the youngest stunned. “What?
That’s what you meant, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, J.D., that’s exactly what we meant. That’s
exactly what Christmas is all about.”
“Yep, that and presents!”
Vin
and Josiah both burst out laughing. “That... and presents,” Josiah chuckled.