Celebrating Christmas with a Bang!

Generally, I don't enjoy things that make loud noises and produce nothing, except the loud noise, of course. I've never been a fan of fireworks. I'm not talking about those fabulous displays we see on Independence Day or at midnight on December 31st, or the nightly shows at the Disney parks. I'm talking about firecrackers.

My Grandma Gean loved firecrackers, and she never grew tired of them. She couldn't afford to give all her grandchildren great gifts for Christmas, so she gave us all a small package of firecrackers. She would wrap them in Christmas paper, and the little rectangular packages didn't vary much from year to year.

We celebrated Christmas with Grandma on the 24th, because in addition to being Christmas eve, it was an uncle's birthday. While Mama and Grandma and some others were busy getting the meal ready, they got us out of the house by giving us our gifts and a pack of matches.

Every year, someone trying to be brave would have a firecracker explode in his/her hand, then ended up crying like a baby in front of all of us. It never happened to me, because I always put mine on the ground before I lit it and ran away. It was not that I was a darling child that obeyed my parents, but I just didn't like firecrackers in my hands. I pretended to have fun but I was always so glad when all of them had been used up. Sorry, Grandma, I would have much preferred some fingernail polish or a little blue bottle of Evening in Paris cologne.

The little church in our neighborhood always had a Christmas pageant where all the children got to wear bathrobes and exchange gifts. One year, some immature 'heathen' teenage boys lit a whole package of firecrackers and threw them in the back door of the church house. After they had all exploded, everyone there except Grandma was horrified that this had happened. Grandma thought it was hilarious and added great depth to the Christmas festivities.

Usually, I am in bed asleep when the clocks and calendars roll over to a new year. I always know when it happens, however, thanks to my neighbors who set off boxes of firecrackers when midnight arrives. Grandma would have loved to live in this neighborhood.

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Amish in Stantonville, Tennessee

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