CHRISTMAS AT THE FIVE AND DIME

 

CHRISTMAS AT THE FIVE AND DIME

 By Sheila King

 

This Christmas is looking pretty thin, what with my broken hand and arm healing and Tom's knees reminding him of the upcoming surgery he needs with each step. Meanwhile, I'm struggling to dress myself with only one hand. On my one Christmas shopping outing, even Walmart seemed to be holding back on the seasonal Christmas decoration.

 

Western Washington is experiencing widespread flooding this year and the mood is less than festive here. In stubborn defiance, I've gone back in time to relive a favorite memory from a Christmas long ago.

 

I was nine years old in 1963 and no longer believed in Santa Claus. Two weeks before Christmas, Daddy gave my Mama $50 for her purse. That would be the Christmas budget. My Mother couldn't drive so usually my Dad did all the shopping. This was a rare excursion for her. 

 

Because I had abandoned my belief in Santa, I was invited to go along with her on the shopping trip. She donned her winter coat and head scarf, took an excited little girl by the hand, and the pair of us trekked the long street to the corner bus stop. We stepped off the city bus in downtown Monroe into a damp, cold Louisiana December morning.

 

For a couple of hours, we darted in and out of the brightly decorated shops and stores. Mama was looking for potential gifts for my little brother, sister, and other family members. She would pick up items, look at the price tags, consider her meager budget, and either put them in the cart or place them back on the shelf.

 

She turned to me and asked me what I wanted. I chose a doll. I wanted that year's highly advertised Thumbelina, a realistic baby doll that moved and cried. My mother picked up the doll, looked at the price tag, then reluctantly set the doll of my dreams back in it's place in the display. 

 

She didn't have to say anything. Even at my age, I knew it wasn't meant to be and quickly selected another, less expensive doll; one that neither cried or moved. Thumbelina would have to wait until another year.

 

Around lunchtime, her money nearly spent, she said to me, "Let's go have lunch." I was surprised. This would be the first time I can remember eating a meal someone in my family had not prepared. Mama steered us into the Woolworth Five and Dime. As we stepped through the door, warm air struck me in the face. The aroma of fresh-popped popcorn greeted our nostrils and strains of Christmas music filled our ears. Mama knew just where to go and soon I found myself sitting on one of the tall stools at the lunch counter.

 

Mama didn't need a menu. She knew just what to order. A kind lady appeared and asked what we would like to have. Mama smiled at the waitress and without hesitation ordered two bowls of chili and two cold Coca Colas. It wasn't long before she returned with steaming bowls of chili topped with onions and grated cheese. We each had two packets of saltine crackers and two glasses of Coke over crushed ice.

 

What a meal that was! What an adventure! This became one of my best Christmas memories. Every Christmas to this day, I get a yen for a steaming bowl of chili and a cold glass of Coca Cola. That year, our trip to the Five and Dime lunch counter was my favorite Christmas present - just me and Mama, two bowls of chili and two glasses of Coke. For me, that will always be a cherished Christmas tradition.

 

The Five and Dime is gone now and so is my little Mama, but the memory of that Christmas lingers in my mind and heart. This Christmas, in spite of everything, I count my blessings and they are many. I remember what Jesus said to his disciples as he was leaving this Earth. "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will surely come again to receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also." The baby, born in Bethlehem, unlike the coveted Thumbelina doll, is real. His promises are real. His gifts too are real, and His budget is not meager.

 

So, if you are having a hard candy Christmas this year, take heart. Someday soon, we will meet on that other shore, and oh my,what joy will fill our hearts.

 

See you at the heavenly lunch counter. Merry Christmas everyone.

 

Sheila

© 2025 by Sheila King