"The Ugly Green Sweater" (A Christmas Story)

A tale of a young girl who finds out how to receive a gift gratefully.

                                             The Ugly Green Sweater

           (A Christmas Story)

 

     The holiday season brings back memories of days gone by. The smell of gingerbread cookies takes me back to the little kitchen in Michigan where my dear grandma Barton and I spent many an hour baking goodies for the up coming Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. It was a warm and cozy place filled with love and good cheer. Each and every year during the first months of fall and winter I am brought back to this most pleasant time and have an overwhelming urge to bake cookies, cakes and candies of all kinds. So I do.

     I am also at this special time of year sweetly haunted by the thoughts of holidays past. Like the Thanksgiving that Aunt Allean and her family spent with us and we roasted the family pig for the holiday feast. Or sadly the Christmas our family was snowbound. Or even the time during a Thanksgiving ice skating trip my father accidentally brought the hard spiced cider for us to warm and drink after our skating adventure and we all got a bit tipsy. Oh, the lessons learned from those experiences of days gone by. However, this is a story of a little girl's curiosity and the real meaning of Christmas giving!

     It was cold and snowy outside and the family was gathered 'round the T.V. set watching "The Andy Williams Christmas Special," and although I love the Christmas music that was being presented on this yearly event I really just wanted to know what mommy and daddy were hiding in their bedroom closet. Now usually I didn't snoop. I was a considerate sort of child and believed that everyone deserved their own space. (Although on looking back, I myself had very little space and had to share a bedroom with my two sisters who were constantly going though my stuff!) But this overwhelming urge to snoop fell over me and I went searching through the closet in my parent's room just as the Williams Brothers started their Christmas medley.

     Most of the stuff was typical. There were walkie talkies for my brothers, a new snow suit for my little sister, a small record player for my older sister and a box that contained the ugliest green sweater I had ever seen. I was only 8 years old at this time but I didn't care for this hideous monstrosity of a garment. It had red embroidery around the cuffs and was made of the roughest wool that one could imagine. I just knew that it had been bought for me!

     I heard footsteps coming near and quickly placed things back as they were and pretended that I was just returning from using the bathroom. It was my grandma going to look for her pills as it was long past time for her nightly medication. She'd put it off a bit because it made her sleepy and she didn't want to miss another Christmas special. She smiled and patted me on the head, "Good night sweetie!" she said as she walked out of the room.

     "That was a relief!" I thought to myself as I too wandered off to bed.

     I spent a restless night thinking of that ugly green sweater. I didn't understand how my mom and dad had ever even found something that completely gross. I couldn't imagine why a sweater maker would make something that unbecoming. It haunted me for days. I couldn't think of anything except how much I hated that darn stupid sweater!

     Christmas Eve came along and I was still worried about this unwanted gift that I knew was coming my way. While baking a batch of gingerbread cookies to decorate the Christmas tree I posed a not so veiled question to my dear grandma.

      "Grandma, what would you do if someone gave you a gift that you didn't like, I mean what if this gift was really hideous and gross and stuff. What would you do?"

     She smiled in her sweet loving way, looked over the top of her glasses and said, "I would just be happy to receive the gift. There are folks who don't have anything at all during this time of year and I think that it would be a very selfish person indeed who would not accept, gratefully a gift just because they didn’t like it or even hated it. It isn't what the gift is that matters but the fact that anything was given at all! Remember the story of the first Christmas?"

     "YES," I replied, "That's when the baby Jesus was born in the manger."

     "That's right sweetie, and do you remember what gifts the three wise men brought for the baby?" Grandma remarked as she slipped another batch of gingerbread men into the oven.

     "I believe it was gold, frankincense and myrrh." I quickly responded.

     "And what use are gold, frankincense and myrrh to a little baby?" my grandma responded.

     "I suppose none at all." I said as I pondered the wisdom of her comparison.

     "Exactly! The baby would have no use for these things but his mother Mary gratefully accepted them on his behalf." Grandma smiled, turned and went back to the cutting out and decorating of the cookies we were making for the celebration.

     I had my answer and even though it wasn't the one I wanted I accepted it gratefully and went on to enjoy the holidays in the spirit of love and the joy of giving!

     Many a Christmas season has gone by since then, and so many times are my thoughts brought back to the lesson learned while baking cookies in our little kitchen back in Michigan. Whenever my own children were disappointed with the gifts they had received or were snooping about looking to find out what gifts they might be getting.  I would remind them of the baby Jesus and tell my little story of "The Ugly Green Sweater".

 

                   An original story by: Margaret Barton-Wahl

Author's Note

I wrote this story as a Christmas card favor rather than a stuffy old Christmas family news letter this last Christmas. I hope that you enjoy reading it and PLEASE do not feel like you can't be completely honest in your reviews. Thanks...~M~

Reviews

[FuMiko]

I like it, it's sweet and sentimental.

I guess, at this moment, I'm not old enough to look back at follies and little stories from a time when I was young, and did not possess quite clear thinking.

But, it's a fun little story, and, though, I understand that it'd be nicer for me not to point out any typos, and leave those for you to notice-- for they do not affect the overall quality of a piece of work, but I think that there are a couple in the second paragraph.
Of perhaps I was reading it correctly?

It's a good write, and thank you for sharing!

[T. F. Rice]

check out this contest: on growing and being green...

http://www.writerscafe.org/contests/7879/

[Michael X]

If I can be completely honest, I love this story because it took me to another
place and time, what I admire most are 3 things wording, meaning and skill,
your words truly leave the reader with a feeling of added knowledge,
as well as a deep, absolutely moving, sentimental feeling, warms heart and soul.