We asked Kyla Rowland .. What is your favorite Christmas Memory?
Too much curiosity and impatience is a bad combination. Mammaw always gave me the neatest gifts, so I nosed around her presents more than any.
I was ten years old, picking up, shaking and checking my gifts. It was three days before Christmas and the anticipation was more than I could bear! Then I noticed the gift—Mammaw’s…there was the slightest loosening of wrapping paper on one corner. Ahhh….could it be possible…a sneak preview?
I planned, shifting my eyes from side to side all day, sort of like a hound on a hunt. Then the moment came. My heart pounded in my ears; all the excitement, the anticipation and the risk was making me tremble.
Finally, stealthily, I opened the loosened corner, then another, and another until the box under the red foil paper was revealed. Another side to side glance and suddenly the treasure was in my hands.
Lifting the lid of the Miller’s department store box, my excitement was at a fever pitch, until, at last, there it was—a beautiful little wool skirt and matching soft cashmere sweater. They were a beautiful yellow; my favorite color.
I heard a noise. Caught! No, I’ll just shove it behind the big Victrola. It worked. I found that trying to behave normally was near impossible, so I fled to the bathroom.
Lying awake that night, waiting for my chance to ease into the living room and rewrap my beautiful yellow skirt and cashmere sweater, I began feeling just awful; the guilt was like an anvil on my chest.
Christmas Eve, opening gifts with the family, I feigned surprise, but there was no joy. Guilt had stolen all my joy.
I never enjoyed wearing that lovely gift. In fact, I hardly wore it at all, much to Mother’s dismay. I just couldn’t stand to look at it, for when I did, there was a mortal fear of exposure, and the skirt and sweater felt like a weight on me when I was forced to wear them.
Just the year before, I had given my heart to Jesus, and now, I had disappointed Him, terribly. But, it was a life lesson, and has stayed with me for more than sixty years—giving in to impatience is just not worth the pain.