Three gifts

Three gifts
My father gave his sermons in the Cherokee language.

Christmas was the best holiday in my childhood. My father was a Cherokee Indian who spoke the language fluently, and as a Baptist minister and missionary in Oklahoma, he ministered to 43 churches for 15 years. The sermon and songs were in the Cherokee language, but if there were visitors who didn't understand Cherokee, he would do part of the sermon in English.

A Christmas treat from the churches was a brown bag with an apple, orange and ribbon candy. I would eat mine very slowly to save it as long as I could. He didn't receive much in the offering, but the ladies would give him a quilt they had made during the summer or some canned goods.

My father has passed, and my husband and I raised two children and have three grandchildren. We are always together during holidays. Ask me what gifts I received last year, and I would need to think a minute. But I can always remember what I got as a child: an apple, orange and ribbon candy.

Georgia Gibson, Hurdle Mills, Piedmont EMC

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