When I was a little girl, I looked forward to the Christmas party at school. I also enjoyed the one at church where the priest dressed up as Santa Claus and handed out gifts and small boxes of hard candy.
The church was decorated with evergreen wreaths and trees that made it smell like the outdoors. On a side altar was the manger where you could kneel and welcome the Baby Jesus.
At home the Christmas tree always stood in its familiar corner. It was adorned with all blue lights, silver tinsel and colored balls. But what I remember most was how my Irish mother put a lit candle in the kitchen window at dusk on Christmas Eve. She explained that it was to welcome the wayfarer, the stranger, who might be seeking shelter or welcome on that dark night. Our home would not be like the inn where Mary and Joseph were turned away.
Seeing my mother do this every Christmas and how she lived her life, gave me the core values that I honor to this day.
—Bernadette R. Gentry