On the 1st Day of Christmas Past,
Question: How could a bundle change Christmas?
To be entered into today’s daily giveaway & FREE tour drawing- Read the story below; “Comment” & “Share” your answer on Facebook or our blog.
“One Christmas When Lorenzo D. Young Played Santa Claus”
“In order that you may understand what a few gifts at Christmas time meant to a group of pioneer children, you have to imagine how hard it is to carve out a community where there was none, and the desperate conditions under which the people lived condensing belongings into only the barest necessities.
After a long journey, my father, mother, sister and I arrived at Huntington, Emery County where we were to establish a settlement. We worked constantly to get a small crop planted to feed our cow through the winter. Oh how we depended on that cow and had great faith the Lord would bless the corn to last! About a week before Christmas a man came to Huntington with six head of oxen. He tried to buy feed for them; but there was no feed for them to be found. One morning father found all six head of oxen in our corn fodder; they had destroyed it all. Now there was nothing to keep our cow alive. Father was very angry; Mother cried. The man did not have any money to pay for the feed. He said he was leaving but he had a forty gallon barrel of molasses that we could have. When he had left the molasses I heard father and mother talking. Father said, “Don’t give up. I will go to Emery and buy a load of straw and the Lord can bless the straw as well as corn.” When he got back, the cow ate the straw as though it were the best hay. Can you imagine Christmas being able to come under such conditions? Mother listened to us children prattle about Christmas, all us children in the settlement prayed to Heavenly Father for Santa to find us.
The day before Christmas, we kiddies were told to go play and not come in the house. The men were busy making chairs & baby doll cradles out of willows for presents for their wives and daughters. The women made big rag dolls with eyes made of buttons and yarn for hair. We children all ganged up and played steal sticks, run sheep run, or anything to keep moving and warm. When we were running we would have a chance to smell something real good as some of the mothers would come out and run home with something very nice in their aprons. The mothers had mixed, rolled, cut and baked ginger bread dolls, all sizes with our barrel of molasses. There were dogs, cats and horses. They were made out of bran ginger bread with just enough precious flour to hold it together.
On that Christmas morning, there were rag dolls in cradles made from willows, gingerbread dolls, and great big sticks of molasses candy. Father went outdoors and there in our doorway sat a great big new rocking chair with a big bundle in it. Father brought the bundle in, then the chair. He picked mother up and sat her in it. In the bundle was 40 yards of gray linsey, a bundle of floss, 40 yards of factory, 10 pounds of sugar, a lot of dried fruit, six papers of tea, a lot of nuts, and 10 pounds of store candy! Just think, lumps of clear candy with flowers through it, striped candy, pretty lumps that looked like little cakes; two white candy bird nests with little eggs and a little blue bird. It was the most beautiful thing we had ever seen. My sister and I agreed that the Lord sure could bless straw, even better than corn! Then there were two boxes with our names on them. When we opened them there were two dolls all dressed. One with dark hair and a pink dress, the other had light hair and a blue dress. They would open and shut their eyes. It was the first real dolls we had ever seen. A letter in the bottom from Great Grandfather Lorenzo Young said:
“Dear Lydia: I cannot help worrying about you away off there wondering if you are cold and hungry. When Br. Oliphant was going through Huntington to his home I hired him to take a few things for you for Christmas. Hoping you have a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.”
I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed that Christmas. I will begin with the fabric, it was used for garments, sheets, and pillow cases. We could not understand why mother cried as she cut a pattern from Grandfather’s velvet coat and vest he included to use on mending father’s suit. Father put his arm around her and said, “Never mind you can’t cover every hole. It will be so much better and warmer with this much fixed. I can hardly wait to try it on.” Mother and Aunt Hannah made each of us a dress, princess style. My sister and I each had two slips to wear under our aprons, and two new Sunday dresses. Mother embroidered them and we were so proud of them. All the women and children were barefooted, so Sister Marshall cut and sewed the tops for shoes, Br. Marshall tanned a horsehide and put soles on the slippers. Everyone had new shoes. But you will say, “Did you eat all that candy alone?” How could we not share that which was shared with us? Inside of an hour on the Christmas morning a cup of white sugar, some dried fruit, a spoonful of tea, some nuts, two pieces of candy for each child was in every home in the valley. The candy was so pretty and too precious to eat, so the children just sat and looked at it and tried to see who could keep it the longest. After we had been to each home, mother called my sister and myself and said, “How would you like to take your bird nests to John and Delight?” They were two children who had been badly burned and were still in bed. She said, “You have your dolls and you can run and play.” You will never know how bad we wanted to keep the bird nests. We looked at them and then at mother, so sweet, and sad and away we went. Never will I forget as long as I live the look of joy in those children’s eyes as we put the nests in their hands and how the weeping mother hugged and kissed us, although she could not speak. That was the happiest Christmas of our lives. Surely God heard our prayers and whispered to Great Grandfather of our needs. Lorenzo D. Young was “Great Grandfather” to every child in that little town ever after.”
Taken From:
Carter, Kate B. Heart Throbs of the West – Daughters of Utah Pioneers, vol 2, p. 338-340.
Matt Steadman
Comments are closed.
This bundle changed a Christmas of scarcity into a Christmas of wonder and sharing with others!
We live in such a world of plenty to excess, it is so nice to remember the blessings that a few things can bring to so many. Lorenzo Young’s bundle of goodies blessed a whole community and he was acting as the hands of the Lord that Christmas.
What a great story to show how much better it is to give than receive. The blessing that comes to each of us when we share with one with another. The true virture of love and charity.
While the family was impressively resourceful in creating the best Christmas possible, this bundle created an amazing Christmas that not only blessed the family but was treasured and shared with the whole community.
This story helps me to remember how blessed I am. I to have many bundles of blessings I can share to help others have a Merrier Christmas. What may seem, so little to me, could bring great joy to others.
The pioneer families were so destitute at Christmas time when their grandfather had someone passing through Huntington leave them the bundle of gifts. Those a simple gifts provided treats for all the children in the valley.
Growing up in a struggling family was a blessing for me. We saw the families around us with their plenty, yet not appreciating what they had. We learned early that it is family and not things that make Christmas.
That is a wonderful story. We hear such about the pioneers but sometimes they happen to us in times of need. After my husband passed. my family was visiting with my parents and my father came and hugged me and while doing so slipped money into my coat pocket. It helped to buy things for my 5 children.
I was impressed by all who shared of their poverty to bless each other. But it also reminded me of that “bundle” that a loving Father shared with all the World over 2000 years ago that we might have Eternal Live…something we could never have the means to purchase.
God is a God of miracles and we are often his hands in bringing those miracles to pass, especially at Christmas time.
A wonderful story how our Father in Heaven inspires others to serve and provide for our needs, whether it is ‘Great Grandfather Lorenzo’ or this family also serving and blessing the lives of all in the valley!!!!!
The bundle in the story gave purpose to the faithful parents and neighbors of this tiny community. The children were taught to be hopeful for Father Christmas to come. Because of the hard work and kind souls, these children grew in faith of their Heavenly Father and learned to appreciate the sacrifices which made their Christmas full of joy.
I love that story! Amazing how simple things can bring so much happiness to a child.they felt blessed instead of unhappy
The bundle brought joy and lasting happiness to the great grandchildren of Lorenzo D. Young. Because they had been sent candy, sugar, fabric, tea, and other goodies. But it was too good not to share. So they in turn shared that joy and lasting happiness with the other children and families in the valley, by sharing what their Great Grandfather sent them for Christmas. This was during a time when people were living with the bare necessities, sometimes less. It changed Christmas particularly for one family in the valley. The children of that family had been badly burned. While the girls wanted so desperately to keep these beautiful candy bird nests. They gave them to these children. It made everyone’s Christmas and one that would be remembered for life.
I am impressed by the faith of the father, “The Lord can bless the straw as well as the corn.” It is by faith that miracles are brought to pass.
It is by faith that we can bless the lives of others.
The simplest things can bring the greatest joy.
That bundle brought joy to the family as they were able to receive the gifts but it also brought joy to other families as they learned to give to others. That bundle went full circle. First receiving and then giving. And the father taught his family to pray and have faith in the Lord. The best gift of all for those kids. They learned their father had faith that the Lord would bless the straw for their cow and He did. So many blessings that Christmas for this family.
The first time I read “bundle” I thought of the Christ Child being wrapped up like a bundle. That Bundle really did change the world and for the better. When I read the story of the pioneers I realized the bundle was a blessing to all those who participated – the men and women who created and the children who partook of the blessings of the bundle. May we all realize how blessed we are every day.
The faith of the saints resulted in their own little miracle and the bundle brought much joy …. how blessed am I to remember the Saviour bundled in a manger that I might have the miracle of eternal life.