Sitting here on this Christmas morning and thinking back at all of the memories with family in the past. There is one Christmas that stands out as the best Christmas ever even though I really don't remember it too well because it was when I was 8 years old in December of 1977. My mom Charlotte was battling cancer for two years by this time and we didn't have that much extra money for Christmas because my dad was a coal miner which during this time was in a nationwide strike. This Christmas ended up being the best Christmas thanks to Kenny Cleeton, Marge and Orville Price and many of the Huntsville community because they took up a collection for our family to fly to Tuscaloosa, Alabama and spend Christmas down there visiting with family. I really don't remember very much and I got most of this information from the newspaper article that was written after we got back from our visit.
When I read this article it brought tears to my eyes that the community was so thoughtful and took the time to take up a collection so that my family could make this trip so that my mom could spend her last Christmas with her parents, sister, brother and many other family members that from the article I knew meant a lot to her because as she said in the article it got her spirits up.
I look back at this article from time to time and it makes my heart feel good to live in a community that was so generous to help make the Christmas of 1977 a wonderful Christmas for my mom so that it could take her mind off the fight with Cancer that she has been battling for 2 years and a time that she could be with her family for the last Christmas that she got to celebrate on Earth, because now she is celebrating Christmas and all holidays in heaven.
