One Mama’s Story: Short and Sweet Christmas Devotionals
[Editor’s Note: This is a Christmas guest blog by D.M. Webb. Here’s another “Short and Sweet” devotional to help you celebrate Christmas! If you missed Tuesday’s opener and to learn more about this year’s series, read Candy Cane Christmas here.]
One Mama’s Story
(excerpt from 30 Days: A Devotional Memoir)
The Christmas Orange Story told by Betty Sue Tutor:
I grew up in a large family. As a large, poor family we seldom had a Christmas tree, much less Christmas toys. We waited for Santa Claus, but usually we got…a note promising presents “next year”…
I remember waking up on Christmas morning and seeing a lot of cars and trucks in the yard. We didn’t own a vehicle, so even a few cars would seem like a lot to me back then. We had just moved into the community and had very few household items. I remember walking into a room that must have been a living room without furniture, and there were several people sitting around on the floor with boxes of food, toys, presents, fruit, and clothes in front of them.
My mom was sitting in a straight-back chair holding the baby, and someone asked, “Which one is Betty Sue?” My older sister pushed me towards the person, but I was reluctant to go as I was a very shy child…The person who asked for me showed me a box with my name on it and said it was for me. The one thing that caught my eye was an orange. I grabbed the orange and bit into the peeling. Nothing else mattered but that orange.
…and that was the best Christmas I ever had.
…I shared this memory with my mom and older sister when I was eighteen years old. They were both surprised I could remember that Christmas since I was only three years old. My mom filled me in on the circumstances: how the church had heard from the farmer, on whose land we were living, about how we were poor, without food and without winter clothes. She said
she cried that day thanking God for sending these people to help us and told me to keep this memory, to share it with my kids.
Every Christmas I look forward to my Christmas orange, and every Christmas I find my orange under the tree…A bag of oranges can sit on my counter, but the one that tastes the best is the one I find under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning.
Praise God for ordinary people willing to go about doing the Lord’s work, and thank God for Christmas morning and my Christmas orange.
D.M. Webb resides in Iowa. A transplant from Mississippi who fell in love with the Midwest state, she spends her days writing editing, hiking, antiquing, and planning adventures with her husband and sons. Having always dreamed of being a writer she pursues this dream with only one goal in mind: To Glorify His Name. D.M. is also an avid reader who devours books in many genres.
