I recently had a birthday, which reminded me I’ve now lived in Georgia longer than my home state of South Carolina. Please don’t try to do the math, just suffice it to say I am hard pressed not to say I’m a native when someone asks. I am however privileged to be the daughter-in-law of not only a Georgia local, but a family with deep Gwinnett roots.
My mother-in-law was born and raised in Lawrenceville, and frankly rushed back here the first chance she got once my father-in-law retired from military service. Anne was reminiscing the other day about her memories of Christmas growing up in Lawrenceville. As the youngest of three, with two older brothers, I’m certain she was, as they say, the apple of her father’s eye.
Daddy Kelley, as I always knew him, owned the Kelley Appliance store on the Square in Lawrenceville. I’m sure he knew everyone in town, and I’m certain he was a hard-working, kind and generous man.
Back then, as families were still emerging from the Great Depression, Anne remembers her Christmas stocking was one of her daddy’s old boot socks. On Christmas morning the stocking would be stretched long with hard candy, nuts, apples and oranges.
There were no Christmas tree lots, or commercial tree farms in those days. Anne tells me the family just went out in the woods and chopped down a tree. Now, mind you the Kelley family lived a block from downtown, so they may not have always had permission to cut down those trees.
Santa came on Christmas Eve, with one or two treasured gifts, but the thrill and memories remain just as magical. No one had a lot in those days, but everyone was pretty much in the same boat.
What I learned from listening to Anne’s stories, as well as my own parent’s tales, is rough stretches will happen. Things can even seem very hopeless at times. Somehow though, getting through those challenges makes us stronger and better prepared for the inevitable hurdles ahead.
The past few years have been enormously challenging. We all know someone, many people in fact, who have lost their jobs, lost their homes to foreclosure, or had medical burdens.
Perhaps not everyone’s Christmas stockings will be full of electronic games or the latest and greatest new phones this year. But I’d like to suggest that as long as we have loving family and friends, we might, perhaps just look back on these days with fond memories despite the tribulations.
May I even propose we could reminisce with a touch of pride knowing, yep, we survived those tough years. Christmas, or Hanukkah, or whatever your family celebrates may not be what you had in mind, but hopefully it will be filled with loving memories.
Karen Huppertz has lived in Gwinnett County for 14 years. Reach her at karenhuppertz@gmail.com.
