Out of the Frying Pan

The Christmas Spirit

Grandpa sat in his chair and my brothers and I sat on the floor facing the tree. With the warmth and beauty all around us, we could feel the tiredness from our labors of the day taking over. As I sat there watching the bubbling lights, almost ready to nod off, it came to me what Grandpa said: Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve. For some reason, I started to sing.

Christmas-time’s a-coming, Christmas-time’s a coming...

Before I knew it, Grandpa had his fiddle out and was singing right along.

Christmas-time’s a-coming, and I know I’m goin’ home.

My brothers joined in and so together we sang and laughed, our feet tapping to the lively beat of the song. It was a good time.

When the tune was over, Grandpa announced, “Now that we’re full of the Christmas spirit, let’s go and get full of some food.” As we all got up and headed for the kitchen, I felt a big hand come down on my shoulder.

“That was good, Mike,” Grandpa said, “we sure needed that. I wish I had thought of it myself.”

We were still laughing and humming the song as we prepared for supper. We seemed to have found new energy as we ate, laughed, talked, and just had us a good ol’ time. When Lanny said, “Hey, look, it’s getting dark!” we all looked out the back door window and then at Grandpa. He knew what we were thinking.

“Well, let’s see if those newfangled lights are going to work.”

We all jumped up from the table and put on our hats and coats. We hurried through the front room and out the front door and didn’t stop until we were off the porch and a little ways out into the yard. Grandpa stayed behind to turn on the switch.

Standing out there facing the house, the tree in the window caught my eye. It was beautiful. The different colored lights gave the front porch a warm, welcome look.

Grandpa hollered out, “You boys ready?”

“Yes, sir!” we all replied.

In the hush that followed, we could hear the click of the light switch, even from where we were standing. And nothing came on.

Grandpa started laughing. “That was for the ceiling light in the front room.”

With another click, every light came on. We cheered as Grandpa came out to look with us.

I was in awe, the lights made everything look so different. The garland and wreaths sparkled with a rainbow of colors as their fronds moved in the light breeze and the snow on the ground shone like millions of multicolored stars. Near the porch, the snow glistened with the color of the bulb above it, then further out the colors collided and mixed until, out by where we were standing, it reflected a soft yellow-gold tone.

Even the dogwood tree with its bare branches seemed to have more life, with the strings of popcorn we had hung in it earlier. Each kernel looked like it had a color of its own and the seedcobs shone like Christmas balls as they gently swayed back and forth.

As we all stood there together, silently taking in all the splendor, it started to snow. The flakes were huge, about as big around as quarters. As they floated down, they changed colors as they passed the lights, creating a living moving kaleidoscope before our very eyes. It was as though God Himself was pleased and wanted to enhance the scene in a dramatic way that only He could.

After a few moments, Lenny spoke up, “With the house on top of this hill, people can probably see these lights from pretty far away.”

Grandpa agreed, “This way people will know we believe in Christmas, and just like the star on that night, the house will be a beacon of welcome to all those that see it.”

We were all smiling as we went back into the house. We still had to clean up the kitchen and get ready for bed, but maybe, just maybe, there would be time for another song or two.