What a Gift!

What’s a Kehler Christmas in the eyes of this child?

As long as I can remember, Christmas was a special time of year. The smell of baking often jogs my memory of a child’s meaning of Christmas. Grandma Kehler was always in the kitchen, when you came to visit the Kehler grandparents, for Christmas. The smells of cookies, plumi moos, Borscht and freshly baked buns were ever present. Since food was such an important part of my Mennonite heritage, the variety was endless. You were never sure what you would indulge in, as the food tables at some of these Kehler gatherings were endless. Who would notice how many cookies we ate? (It was always noisy, with aunts and uncles talking and laughing, lots of laughing). The white Schmaunt Kuchen were especially good. Grandma’s white peppermint cookies were my favorite, until I bit into one that took my breath away. I must’ve commented on that one, because that was the first time I had heard of ammonia cookies. Many years later, I baked these and the comment was, “What are these?” I replied they were ammonia cookies. “What? You’re using cleaning ammonia in cookies now?” I realized they thought I had lost my mind. I explained that you use baking ammonia for these cookies, but I still got that suspicious look. Well, I told them I am retirement age, ate those cookies many times, and I’m still here. It’s probably a Mennonite thing.

Another childhood memory was the Santa experience. Who didn’t believe in Santa? It was a yearly Christmas ritual to see Santa everywhere, thinking if we didn’t believe in him we might not get presents. How many Santa’s were there, in this world? My first recollection of Santa was at age five, sitting on Santa’s knee after a skating party held in Great Falls, MB.(Close to Beausejour where we lived.) After his “Ho, Ho, Ho!” he asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I can’t recall what I asked for, but I do remember what I thought about his beard. I lifted his beard and said “You’re not Santa!” He replied, “I’m not Santa?” He smiled and proceeded with his jolly Ho, Ho and handed me my Dick Tracey black and white reel and View Master. I accepted the gift, but it still seemed weird that a jolly, roly-poly man in a red suit, with elastic around his ears holding up his fake beard, was giving us presents. A couple of years later, I decided to stay up all night to catch Santa in the act of putting presents beside my brothers’ and my bed. This reindeers in the sky thing, couldn’t be for real! Sure enough, around midnight, Mom and Dad snuck into our bedroom and gently laid a few presents beside each bed. As I pretended to be sleeping, I could hardly contain myself from waking my brother, to have our own Christmas party. That didn’t happen as I realized that Santa would have been discovered for who he was, and I loved my brother too much to blow Santa’s cover.

Another memory of my childhood was the reciting of scripture, verses (en Farsch)or a poem, to the grandparents. It was expected that grandchildren recite whatever was taught to them for the Christmas program, in Sunday School, or grade school before receiving a gift from the grandparents. Favorite gifts were Tootjes (usually a brown paper bag, filled with unshelled peanuts, an orange and some hard candy). A pair of mittens or scarf were bonus gifts. We did not feel deprived. We knew there were many others to buy for and each brown paper bag was filled with love from Grandma & Grandpa’s hard working hands.

The best gift of all, besides knowing our parent’s gave us the best they could, was their gift to us in the Christmas story of the baby, Jesus. I realized raising my own children that, it truly is a gift, passing down this heritage from one generation to the next. Our ancestors fought hard to protect that gift that was given through God’s gift to us. What a beautiful gift, Jesus is to us. We give thanks this Christmas for the one true gift that lasts, year after year, a gift that keeps on giving, the gift of Life.

Merry Christmas to all Kehlers everywhere!!

Carol (Kehler) Penner, resides in Steinbach, MB and is the oldest granddaughter of David S & Helena Kehler.