My 4th Grade Christmas
by Thea Spencer Helderman on Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 12:55pm
In 1986, I was in the 4th grade and living in a small town in Germany. My dad was in the ARMY and he had been stationed there the year before. My mother, a teacher, was determined that we (my younger sister and I) would make the most of this experience and get the most well-rounded education that we could. We were the only American family living in the town and my mother homeschooled us that year. We studied all about the history and traditions of Europe and on the weekends we would ride the train to see castles and museums that we had learned about earlier. I have some really great memories of the time and would love to go back and see some of those things again…
Anyways, around Christmas that year my mother told us that since we had moved to Germany, the German St. Nick was going to visit us instead of Santa. My sister and I were undeterred by that fact as long as we still got presents. This was the year I was starting to not believe but I played along just in case…and we didn’t care what he was called as long as I got my walk-man and she got her cabbage patch doll…I had tried to be especially good in the weeks leading up to Christmas, but not just because I wanted my walk-man…Germany had a TOTALLY different way of dealing with the kids on the “naughty list”….
St Nick was sweet and loving guy… but he had a side-kick His side-kicks name was Black Peter (this would be the politically incorrect character I was talking about and he sometime was a person of African decent, but most of the time was just a white guy in blackface)…and his job was not to leave coal or sticks for the “naughty” person, but to put them in his bag and carry them off until they could learn to behave (FRIGHTENING!!)…and my mother would use this to her advantage. Every time my sister and I would act up, my mom would say “Watch out or Black Peter’s going to get you and take you away!” and we would get scared and stop whatever it was we were doing.
Lo and behold it was Christmas Eve and my sister (who was in the 1st grade) started thinking about all the naughty things she had done. She often got in trouble for being stubborn, a tattle-tale and bothering me…and she was starting to get scared…She asked if she could sleep with me that night and I told her that she could. I wasn’t scared, I was pretty sure Santa and St Nick weren’t real. She climbed in bed and we huddled together waiting until morning….
Around 5 am I woke up…as I came to my senses I realized my sister was NOT IN THE BED!!!! Black Peter had STOLEN SARA!!!! My heart pounded as I ran down the hallway to my parents room screaming “BLACK PETER GOT SARA!! BLACK PETER GOT SARA!!” I flung open the door and my parents looked at me with alarm…”BLACK PETER GOT SARA!” I screamed…My mom and dad started laughing hysterically…and my mom said “Sara’s right here.. in bed with us. She got scared last night and came to our room.” Relief flooded me…and I realized and much as my sister annoyed me, I still didn’t want Black Peter to get her….
…and that is what Christmas is all about!
Merry Christmas to ALL!
Thea
No comments:
Post a Comment
These remembrances are meant to be a reminder of "The most wonderful time of the year." Please feel free to add your version if you were there!