My favorite part of Christmas day as a kid wasn’t the presents, believe it or not, it was all the McBride’s—all 10 of us—piling into the VW bug (not bus, but bug) and heading to our Grandma Annie’s house. Grandma lived just 2 hours away, but for me as a 6-year-old, it seemed like it took forever! On the way, to kill time we’d play games like “I spy” and “I’m thinking of something”. And then we’d move on to the “alphabet sign game”. But eventually we’d end up with the inevitable: counting mailboxes! As we approached the interstate, Dad would finally announce that we were almost there and then promise a quarter to the first of us to see the Harrisburg water tower. And it was here that I would sit up and take notice. A quarter was a big deal back then! But, as much as I wanted that quarter, what I was really trying to do was to beat my older sister, Liz, to the punch. I’d do anything to make sure she didn’t win! But, on the Christmas that sticks in my memory, I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew my sister, Liz, was waking me up and announcing that we were here. And as soon as I was awake, she sprung it on me: she had won the quarter. And the entire day she kept rubbing it in!
That was soon forgotten, though, because we were at grandmas. Now, before you go crazy with your Christmas ideas of toys everywhere, I just want to stop you. We didn’t love Grandma because of her toy game. We loved her because of her heart. She didn’t have a ton of money. Her house was the smallest house in the little town of Harrisburg. To be honest, it wasn’t much bigger than our VW bug! But grandma was always so excited when we came! And although her gifts didn't come from the Sears catalogue, they stick in my memory by the shear adhesive of my love for her. When we came in the door, grandma had 10 small brown sacks on the couch. One for each of us. In each one was one orange, a homemade popcorn ball, some assorted nuts (she even had a nutcracker), and some butterscotch candies. That was it! But what was really special was grandma’s story. The same story every year. Of how when she was a girl the only gift she ever got on Christmas day was an orange. “And that,” she said with a twinkle in her eye, “was the only orange we got all year! It was delicious!”
The rest of the day, for me, was spent sneaking into grandma’s bedroom and raiding her lemon drop jar while the rest of the family played canasta! My goal was to get enough lemon drops to have one a day through January! But that day turned sour (forgive the pun), because my sister, Liz, noticed what I was doing and told grandma. And when no one was looking, grandma pulled me aside and made me put back half of them so, as she said, “others could have some too!” I had never been so embarrassed...and mad at my sister, Liz! No one likes a snitch!
On the way home, I ended up sitting in the same spot I always sat, in the back cubby hole with guess who---my sister, Liz! Ugh! Let’s just say I sat as far away from her as possible...but we were still touching! And the whole way home, Liz kept playing with that stupid quarter! Sometimes sisters can be so annoying!
I don’t know if it was because of me, but it seemed the whole car was annoyed that trip back home. Erin and Joe were playing the slug bug game and Joe hit Erin so hard on the arm that he started crying. Mom and Dad were arguing about why we never went to Mom’s family on Christmas. Ida and Gretchen were mad at each other because Gretchen wanted to sit in the front and help Dad shift the gears to the car, but Ida said she wasn’t old enough! I mean that car was full of anything but the spirit of Christmas! The McBride's had moved right on to January!
Until...
My sister, Rachel, yelled,”Dad! Stop the car! Pull over! You have to see this!" And so, Dad did. He thought maybe it was a deer or some pheasants. “I don’t see anything,” he said. “Rachel if this is a joke I’m going to...”
“No, Dad. Mom. Everybody. Get out of the car and look!” And so, the whole grumbling, mumbling, mess of us did. And we looked and looked and looked and the only thing we saw was snow. And the only thing we felt was wind. But it was then that Rachel said: “Not down there, sillies. Up there! Look up at the sky! Just look at those stars! They are huge!”
And it was at this moment that a miracle happened. All ten of us looked up at the same time and were suddenly silent. A hush came over us as we looked at these stars so bright, so sparkly. It felt like God was bending down as low as God could, trying to give each of us a star.
It was then that I felt Liz’s hand reach out to mine. And in it was the quarter. She smiled at me, and I smiled back and then I reached into my pocket and gave her a lemon drop. And then I reached out to Erin, and Erin reached out to Joe, and Liz reached out to Gretchen, and Gretchen reached out to Ida, and Ida reached out to Hope. and Hope reached out to Mom, and Mom reached out to Dad as we all stood in the midst of that miracle not saying a word.
On the way home, Rachel started singing Christmas carols...and for the next hour and ½ we all sang.
My sister, Rachel, died in a car crash 5 years later. And on the first Christmas without her, my dad made a great big star and hung it on the house. After he put it up, we all went out to see it, and found ourselves holding hands in silence, remembering our wonderful, star-gazing sister...Rachel. Hearing that voice again saying, "Stop. Look up. Look at those stars!" Let’s just say our eyes were twinkling back up at her that night. Life wasn’t the same without her, but the memory of her stays. Dad kept putting that star up until the year he joined Rachel in the heavenly chorus.
Thanks, Dad, for reminding us.
Your friend and pastor, pleading with each of you to stop, get out of your car, get our your funk, and look up to a God who is truly bending down to touch you through the memory of Christmas past, Brook
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