A Christmas story that has been a part of our family for more than 100 years has been retold so often that it makes us feel we were there. It gets better each time we hear it, as the message exemplifies the true meaning of Christmas.
My mother, Ada May Bowers O'Driscoll, was born in a log house on the river bottoms on the east end of Woodland, Utah, in the wee hours on Christmas Day, 1892. It was a clear, crisp, cold winter morning as Grandpa woke up the family to tell them the great news. As he climbed the ladder to the loft, he could tell with a quick glance out the window that it was day. "Wake up, everyone!" he called. "Come down to the parlor and see what Santa Claus has brought us."Grandma was a large woman, and Grandpa had taken one of her stockings and wrapped the little one up and placed her in the top of the stocking. He carried the little blue-eyed blonde out into the parlor to show the family. "Look what Santa Claus has just brought us," he said as he carried the baby around the room for all to see. The children were so happy and wanted to touch the baby. There were ooohs and ahhhhs. Many were the questions that were asked. "What will we name her? Is she like baby Jesus born on Christmas Day?" All except one little boy, who after seeing the baby, quietly slipped away and climbed back up to the loft, put on his mittens and wrapped as warmly as he could in his well-worn coat. Down the ladder he went and out to the barn. Little Freeman saddled his little pinto pony and started out across the fields to Kamas. As the pony bucked through the deep drifts and banks of snow, little Freeman had big dreams pouring through his head.
He headed straight to Alma Warr's store in Kamas. When he got there, he pounded on the front door, and from somewhere deep inside the store he finally heard Mr. Warr shouting, "I'm coming, I'm coming." When he opened the door and looked down he saw a shivering little boy looking up into his face. "Come in, my boy, before you freeze," he said. "What are you doing out on this early Christmas morn?" Little Freeman retold the story of the baby that Santa Claus had brought and then, looking straight into the eyes of the old Englishman, he said, "I came to get her a present. She doesn't have anything, not one thing at all."
He pulled off his mittens and there clutched tightly in his little fist was his life savings: a nickel and two pennies.
Mr. Warr rubbed his chin and said, "Well, let's see what we can find." They walked to the back of the store and looked on a few of the shelves, and then Freeman saw it, the gift of all gifts for a baby girl. It stood there on the shelf as though it were calling to Freeman to buy it.
"I will take the little flatiron," said Freeman. He reached out his hand for the present, then quickly drew it back. "Oh!" he said. "How much does it cost?" Mr. Warr had seen the nickel and two pennies, and so he thought to himself, well, it's Christmas. "That will be one nickel and two pennies, my boy," he said. "I have it!" cried Freeman, placing the coins in Mr. Warr's hand.
Mr. Warr wrapped the little iron in brown paper and tied it up tight in white string. They went to the door and out into the cold air, and he helped Freeman up on his pony and watched as he headed back across the fields to Woodland.
When Freeman arrived home his father had been searching for him and was very worried. He started to scold the boy and then Freeman told him where he had been. He reached down into his pocket and pulled out the precious package and showed it to his father. Tears welled up in the deep blue eyes, and the father gathered the boy into his arms. "What a nice thing to do," he said.
They took care of the pony together and then went into the house. Freeman warmed himself by the fireplace and then went over to Grandma's bed where she and the baby lay.
Freeman took the little flatiron out of the brown paper wrapping and carefully laid it on the bed cover by the baby. "Now you have a present, too," he whispered to the baby, "and you are my special present."
The little Christmas baby, just like the Christmas baby of so very long ago, proved to be a precious gift to her family as well as the world she lived in, and she and her brother Freeman were not only brother and sister for their mortal lives but very best friends also.
The little flatiron has been kept all these years, and now its home is with Ada's youngest daughter. The family shares the beautiful Christmas story of love with each other every Christmas season . . .
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Bessie B. Russell
A lifelong resident of Kamas in Heber Valley, Bessie B. Russell is an accomplished musician who studied with R. Freber Walsh at the University of Utah.
She and her husband, Ronald, have four children and 10 grandchildren. Bessie Russell has sung with the Six Notes, The Choralettes of Heber City and the Kamas Choral.
Among her service accomplishments is a trip to Washington, D.C., to lobby for breast- cancer research. She is active in the fight against the disease and has served in all of the women's organizations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Russell works for the Summit County Bee as office manager and has written many articles for the newspaper. She also co-authored a cookbook to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Summit County Bee.