Disappointment turns to joy on Christmas morn

In 1932, with taxes to be paid and eight children to provide for, Christmas was not a welcomed event by our mother. Our father had passed away one year before, and our family's support was largely the responsibility of our sisters, 21-year-old Belva and 22-year-old Blanche. Blanche taught for $68 a month at the Midway Elementary School. The bulk of her check was given to our mother.

Blanche's marriage was coming soon. The desire of her heart was to have the beautifully engraved cedar chest displayed in the window of the Heber City Exchange, our local general store. The chest had been in that window for months, and our few trips to Heber always included a brief walk-through of the Exchange to again admire the chest's carving and woodwork. As Christmas drew closer, the store was stocked with dolls and toys, one of which was a wide-eyed, golden-haired doll that I, as a 7-year-old little girl, had my eye on.

With little-girl excitement, I wasn't shy about telling Blanche the long list of things I wanted Santa Claus to bring me. But my sister was looking at something else. After hearing my many desires and wanting again to see the chest, we walked over to where it was. I watched her beautiful hands slowly slide over the satiny finish and the carving. Then she carefully opened it and peeked inside. The pungent cedar aroma enveloped us as we both peered in. Today, after 72 years, the cedar aroma of that chest still lingers in my memory.

Unknown to our mother, and as a Christmas surprise, Blanche and Belva had saved for several months to pay the house taxes. On Christmas Eve morning, Blanche and I went to the Wasatch County Courthouse to pay the money due. To our surprise the county clerk's records showed the taxes had been paid, and with a large and solid sounding "thump," the county clerk astonished Blanche when she stamped a huge, "Paid in Full" across the front of the tax notice. We never learned who paid the taxes.

With the tax notice and money still in her purse, she took my hand to cross Main Street with the anticipation of buying the chest. To her astonishment it was gone! Disappointed, she left the store and quickly drove home. When we arrived, mother had just finished wrapping her homemade presents with brown paper and string and was carefully placing them under the tree.

That evening Blanche prepared for her Christmas Eve date. (Belva was waiting for her missionary, or she too would have dated.) When they had safely gone, my three older brothers ushered all of us by flashlight to the barn.

There, buried carefully in the hay, was the beautiful cedar chest, so longingly sought. My dear brothers had bargained with the Exchange manager to pay a bit each month -- before monthly payments were the norm. The small amount of money they earned from their newspaper route was being saved for a hunting rifle but was now better spent.

Secret excitement swirled around Blanche that Christmas Eve. Blanche told nobody of her disappointment. As always, she was her joyful self. Mother quietly told our brothers she was proud of them for forfeiting their longtime accumulated gun money. Anticipating the joy Blanche would have with the surprise was indeed bringing happiness to an otherwise dreary Christmas holiday.

That evening nobody slept until Blanche came home from her date. We thought she'd never go to bed as she fluttered about the house, inside and out. After all was quiet, I peeked out my bedroom window to watch my brothers lovingly carry the chest from our large, aged barn. There were no bows or ribbons on this gift, for it was wrapped in the love and selfless sacrifice of three teenage boys.

Of course we were all up early the next morning. And mysteriously enough, the very toys I had wanted, Santa had put under our lowly tree. There were gifts not only for me but for every member of our family.

But for my sister, this was another matter. "Wake up, Blanche. See what Santa brought you!" we all cried. She was slow to awaken, as if there would be little to surprise her. But when she did, we were all hiding behind doors and chairs. At the riveting and remarkable moment when her sleepy eyes fell upon the chest, it was impossible to tell who was more thrilled, Blanche or our brothers. The bond of that moment remains until this day.

Later that morning when the excitement had abated, Blanche called our mother to the front porch. There, secretly placed, was 100 pounds of sugar (mother canned hundreds of quarts of fruit with lots of sugar), and on top of the sack was the tax notice, with large black letters reading "Paid in Full."

Blanche is now 94. She has received many gifts, as her entire life has been lived in unselfish service, but her most precious gift, which is still in use today, is an aroma-filled, old fashioned cedar chest.

About the author

Margaret Turner of Midvale was born and reared in Midway. She is married to Jack Turner, and they have four children, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Margaret taught school for 35 years in the Jordan and Millard school districts. Her hobbies are quilting, hiking and writing.

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