A Cartwright Christmas Story

By taiwankima09

“I was still miles from home on Christmas Eve…laden down with Christmas gifts for my family. I had gone to Carson City to get a special gift for Pa. To keep myself warm and awake, I reminisced with Cochise about Christmases past.”

“Tonight, is such a beautiful night, Cochise. It’s so quiet and peaceful, the moon is so bright, along with the crisp cold air and the multitude of bright stars shining down at us. I love gazing at them and remembering how Pa had taught me the names of all the stars.”

“Tonight, reminds me of one of Pa’s favorite Christmas carols. I can hear him singing, “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.” Joe starts humming to himself.

“You know Cooch, I never realized how lucky my brothers and I were and are to have Christmas always be a special time.”

“Every year, since I can remember, I couldn’t wait for Christmas to come. For a couple of weeks before the special day, I’d be the perfect son, doing everything Pa and Adam wanted me to do so Santa Clause would bring me gifts.”

“We always had a lot to do before the big day. The first thing, Pa and my brothers would do is wait for safe weather before going to hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. When I was older, I joined them. For many years, we had to wait, until the last minute,to get the tree because of bad storms. We always took our time choosing the right one because it had to be high enough to reach the top of the stairs and be wide and full all the way around. After we got home, Pa and Mama would drink eggnogs with whiskey while my brothers and I would drink hot cocoa to warm us up. Mama had a special recipe for both drinks which later Hop Sing made for us.”

“After warming up, we’d string the tree with popcorn and hang tinsel. Next, we’d decorate the tree with Mama’s special ornaments from New Orleans. After that, Pa or my brothers would put Mama’s angel on top. At the end of the tree decorating, Pa and Adam oversaw putting the candles on the tree in strategic places so the light would glow all around the tree. While we were decorating it, we sang Christmas songs, sometimes off key, and argued where to put different decorations. Every night until we had to take the tree down, I remember sitting in front of it for hours in wonderment at how beautiful it looked.”

“By the way, I never told anyone but I always felt sad for the tree to be cut down so we could enjoy it for a few weeks because  the day after New Year’s, we’d all have to take the beautiful decorations down before the needles on the tree became dry and could cause a fire.”

“Mama and Hop Sing started another Cartwright tradition of spending days making all kinds of Christmas cookies. The smell of the wonderful spices filled the whole house, like the ginger for the gingerbread men. Hop Sing would clear the table and we’d decorate them to later give to friends who came to visit.” Of course, we’d eat them, too.”

“I remember one Christmas, Hop Sing had to go to San Francisco for some family emergency. We told him not to worry because we could make the Christmas dinner. We thought how hard could it be? Boy, were we wrong! While the turkey was roasting, we were talking in the living room. Without warning, we heard a loud explosion. We all jumped. We discovered later that we had over-stuffed the turkey with dressing and that’s why it exploded.”Joe laughed.

“Ooo, it’s cold. I don’t know about you Cochise, but I’ll be glad to get home to a nice warm fire and to Hop Sing’s Christmas Eve dinner. I just hope Hoss leaves me some.” Joe smiles.

An hour later, Joe walks into the living room: “Merry Christmas everyone!”

“It’s about time you got here, little brother. I’ve been… tortured with the smells of Hop Sing’s delicious cooking. How long can a poor man wait?”

“It‘s good for you to have to wait older brother – builds character.”

“Hahaha. Very funny!”

“Any problems getting home son?”

“No, I got delayed at Carrie’s. She made me sit down and eat something with her. I’m glad I went because I think she’s lonely, but she’ll never admit it.”

Ben asks, “How is she doing?”

She’s fine. Cantankerous as usual and she probably says the same thing about me.”

Pa chuckled and nodded.

“At first, she wouldn’t accept the supplies I took her because she doesn’t like charity. I had to convince her to accept them. With this cold winter, I was afraid, she might not have enough food and supplies to last until Spring. When are all the guests supposed to be here?”

Ben responded, “Any time now.”

“Good. It’ll be good to see everyone and their families. I haven’t seen Mitch in months. Plus, Roy and Doc Martin, of course. No offence Pa but it’ll be nice to see other people besides you and my brothers! While we’re waiting for them to arrive, I’ll go clean up and wrap some gifts.

“Don’t be too long, Joe.“

“Ok, I won’t.”

After finishing dinner, Joe tells Hop Sing, “This dinner is wonderful!”

Hoss nods. “I couldn’t agree more Hop Sing. Every year I think you can’t make a more delicious dinner. Then the next year, you do!”  

After everyone is settled, Ben asks, “Adam would you care to play us some Christmas carols on the guitar?”

“Sure, Pa. I’d love to.” Adam leads everyone with old familiar Christmas carols.

“I think we sounded pretty good – except maybe you, Hoss. You were a little off-key.”

“You ain’t no singer yourself, little brother.”

“Could everyone be quiet please. As you all probably know, one of the Cartwright traditions is to read the story of Christ’s birth from the Book of Luke.”

Listening to Pa’s voice filling up the room gives me a warm feeling, full of hope.”

To all the gals reading this, “Merry Christmas!”