Thoughts and stories, by Pal

This was posted last year on December 3, 2013, as blog # 24.  I hope you enjoy these family Christmas stories. There are several stories about Christmas in our family, and you may enjoy these: ----  (The photos are different from last year.) My mother, Ruth, was just 6 years old when her father passed away.  In the summer of 1914, her father, John Butler Allen, got a sliver in his eye.  Later a horse switched his tail and a long hair cut through his eye again.  These accidents caused him gradually to go blind in that eye.  The infection from this brought on Bright's Disease (the old-fashioned term for kidney problems).  He suffered very much with the infection which now could be cured in a few days with antibiotics.  He grew steadily worse until on October 26th, 1914, he finally passed away.  There were 8 children in the family, the 9th child having died at just four and a half months, before Ruth was born.  His wife was left with ...

I'm reposting the entry I did on Dec. 1, 2013, just over a year ago.  It is a favorite Christmas story of mine, and a true one.  Tomorrow I'll post another Christmas entry from last year.   The Christmas of 1939, here in St. George, Utah, was going to be quite humble at our house. My father had been in World War I and had suffered off and on with "shell shock", which now is called Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. He had been in the Veteran's hospital in Salt Lake City during the year, and my mother, Ruth, had given birth to my sister, Mavis, on December 1st. In those days, mothers stayed down much longer with a difficult birth. My mother had been allowed to turn over in bed on the 10th day, and got up on the 17th day, so Christmas found her very weak. My grandmother, Ruth’s mother, was living with our small family, and helping after the new baby. She stayed with us each winter and was a Temple Ordinance worker in the St. George Temple, spending her summers in th...