Christmas Memories

My memories of Christmas are happy and they were formed in a loving, Christian family that I was born into in 1960 in Southern Oregon. As I reminisce I can still smell the pine scent produced by the many evergreens around our home and the cold crisp air of winter. We did not have a lot of snow in the valley floor of the Rogue Valley, but we were only a half an hour from the snow capped hills and mountains. I remember one outing, when I was 6 years old, that we took to cut our Christmas tree in the woods. After we had selected a beautiful Silver Tip tree, the best one ever, I thought, we tied it to the top of our station wagon and then we went on to Mt. Ashland to do some tobogganing. We didn’t own a sled, but we did have some inner tubes. My dad and I climbed the steep hill to the top. We watched other kids yell and squeal as they rushed down the hill on their snow saucers and toboggans. They would hit bumps and fly into the air, laughing and then continue down the hill. My heart was pounding because fast rides at carnivals scared me and I was not the dare devil type. But I felt safe when I sat in my dad’s lap and he was on the inner tube with both arms around me. It was like slow motion as we started down the big slope. We began to pick up speed and the icy wind was stinging my cheeks. Half way down we hit a bump and it popped us up into the air. I flew out of my dad’s arms and my face was heading for the snow. My dad reached out his had and put it between the snow and my cheek. The snow caused an ice burn on the back of his hand that turned into a scar after it healed. We made it safely to the bottom of the hill and we were done tobogganing for the day! We had some hot chocolate that mom had fixed and then packed everybody up and went home. As I grew older and came into a deeper and richer relationship with the Lord, the example of my father’s love for me became more precious. He had allowed a scar upon his hand instead of my face, just like Jesus had taken on the scars of the cross that should have been for me.