Joyce Krawiec is a conservative activist, former North Carolina Republican Party Vice-Chair, and retiring North Carolina Senator. Christian, wife, mother, small business owner, and conservative. She has endorsed Dana Caudill-Jones for North Carolina Senate.
I have spent the last week or so addressing Christmas cards and shopping. I’m sure many of you have done the same. Of course while I’ve been home working on the cards, there have been either old Christmas classic movies or the newer versions on the Hallmark Channel playing in the background.
I watched my all time favorite, “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the 1,000th time and realized something that I’ve never noticed before. Remember the end when it’s Christmas Eve and George has seen what would have happened had he never been born. Everybody is at his house donating money to pay off his debt and George is celebrating wanting to live again. They start singing “Auld Lang Syne” to close out the movie. It’s Christmas Eve and they’re singing a New Years Eve song. I can’t believe I never thought about it before. It’s still the best movie ever though.
Did you know this movie was a huge flop at the box office when it was released 75 years ago? The movie lost $500,000, which is a lot of money now, and was a lot more back then. It was such a flop that it closed down the studio that produced it, Liberty Films, and ended director Frank Capra’s career for a long time. Jimmy Stewart feared it was the end of his career and considered going back to work in his father’s grocery store in Pennsylvania. Thank Heavens neither gave up and realized many successes later on.
I have been remembering Christmases past as I often do this time of year. Some have been far more memorable than others but it is always a special time of year.
I remember some very lean Christmas years when I was a child. We had very little but it was still a special time for us. We had a tree cut from the woods and decorated with handmade ornaments. We spent lots of time making those ornaments. We had a few store bought balls but mostly it was adorned with things we made.
My mother made snow with Tide detergent and whipped it into a fluffy white substance. We threw it at the tree and it stuck to the branches and looked like real snow.
I had a friend, Linda, who lived nearby. I thought she was rich because she lived in a nice house with a big picture window. I remember one year they had an aluminum tree with blue balls and a light shining on it in front of that window. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I ever saw.
One day Linda’s mom came to my house and asked to see our Christmas tree. She said Linda told her we had the most beautiful tree she had ever seen. Amazing!! She thought ours was special (she even helped make some of the ornaments) and I was envious of hers.
The first Christmas that my sweet hubby and I were married is another that I remember vividly. He bought me my first coat that I ever had that wasn’t pre worn by a cousin. It was a camel coat with a raccoon collar. Oh my, did I love that coat? I wish I had kept it.
In the 1980s, several members of my husband’s family came up from South Carolina and New Orleans to stay a few days before Christmas. One of the worst cold fronts on record moved into the area. The cars from those more southern areas were not equipped to handle it and the cars wouldn’t run. Nobody could get back home as planned for Christmas. We ended up all staying at our house and rationing out presents that we had for our girls and going out Christmas eve and finding odds and ends so Santa could leave something for everyone. We also explained that Santa had left presents at their own homes also. To this day, the cousins still remember that as one of the best Christmases of their childhood.
Have you ever stopped to think about what it would be like to see the impact your life has had on others, as George Bailey did? I think we might all be surprised.
My mother always said God has a purpose for every life and He equips us all with gifts to do the tasks that he has set out for us. What if you weren’t here to perform the tasks that He has set for you? There would be no one to do those tasks.
Just remember it’s all about the precious baby born in a manger because there was no room at the inn. The baby was sent by God for a purpose and the world has never been the same.
Merry Christmas to all of you, dear readers. I am wishing you all the happiness and joy of the season.
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Joyce Krawiec is a conservative activist, former North Carolina Republican Party Vice-Chair, and retiring North Carolina Senator. Christian, wife, mother, small business owner, and conservative. She has endorsed Dana Caudill-Jones for North Carolina Senate.