Christmas in the Sticks
文章来源: 文章作者: 发布时间:2007-05-04 03:22 字体: [ ]  进入论坛
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The year I moved to Alaska, I lived with my husband's family while he stayed in Montana and worked. I had never been around a huge family before, and he was the oldest of ten children, most of them married with kids of their own. They all lived within a forty-mile radius1 and used any excuse for a family gathering2.

No one had any money. Kids were small; families were young and many of the parents worked more than one job just to pay the bills.

But that first year, the Christmas of 1981, they showed me what the giving-thing was all about.

I had only been there for about six months and was still in awe3 of the strength and power the love in a big family can generate. What they did that year was long-standing tradition for them, but I had never seen anything like it.

Two days before Christmas, the entire family gathered at Mom's house. Each couple threw $100 into a pot; singles tossed in $50 if they could, kids pitched in allowances or babysitting money.

We had "a family." A name and address from the church, we knew the situation, dad's been out of work, the baby's been sick, mom didn't want to put up a Christmas tree because she didn't want the children to be disappointed when Santa didn't come. The Power Company had shut the gas off once, but the church had paid the bill.

First we went to the grocery store. Ten adults, a dozen or more kids, we took the store by storm. Stomping4 snow off our boots and shedding hats and gloves, we worked up and down the aisles5, five carts, soon full of turkey, dressing6, potatoes, pies, and Christmas candy. Someone thought of simple stuff, how about toilet paper? Did anyone get butter? What about orange juice and eggs for breakfast?

Then the kids got to work. I watched, amazed, as a six-year-old gave up her $2.00 allowance so another little girl could have new mittens7. I saw a ten-year-old's eyes light up when he found the saber light-sword he'd wanted, and then put it in the cart for a little boy he didn't even know. A warm, fuzzy blanket for the baby was my four-year-old nephew's choice.

Back to Mom's to wrap the gifts. There were two separate boxes of hand-me-down clothes, sized, pressed and folded. Soon 10 grocery-store boxes, overflowing8 with holiday food, joined them.

The kids created an assembly line to wrap gifts, big gifts, little gifts, special mugs and warm driving gloves. Paper and ribbon was everywhere. Laughter was woven in and out of satiny bows; love was taped to every tag.

Colorful plastic sleds were shoved in the back of the Bronco and stashed9 in the little available trunk space of warm cars idling in the sub-zero Christmas chill. The moon was out and the trees were covered with frost, glittering like a snow globe in a happy child's hand.

The favorite uncle got to play Santa. Dressed in a dapper red suit, he led the caravan10 to the trailer stuck back in the scrubby alder11 woods. Once we had to stop because the ruts in the snow got too deep and someone's car bottomed out. We transferred gifts and people, and carried on.

There were no other houses around the frosty mobile home, but the lights were on and a dog on a long rope barked from the wooden porch when we pulled up. Most of us stayed out on the main road, but we loaded the boxes on the sleds, tied them together and sent "Santa" and a few of the older kids to the door. We hung back and sang "Silent Night."

Santa and his helpers knocked and went right in when the door opened. The young family had, after all, decided12 to put up a tree, and they were stringing lights when we got there. They stood, stunned13, as the Santa's helpers unloaded box after box, piled gifts upon gifts. It wasn't long before the tree was dwarfed14 by a mountain of presents.

Santa said the mom didn't start crying until she pulled the wool coat out of the clothing box. She only said, "Where did you come from?" and then, softly, "Thank you, so much."

With the standard "Ho Ho Ho", and lots of "Merry Christmases!" the delivery crew sprinted15 back to the car.

We sang one last verse of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" jumped in our magic sleighs and disappeared into the night.



点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 radius LTKxp     
n.半径,半径范围;有效航程,范围,界限
参考例句:
  • He has visited every shop within a radius of two miles.周围两英里以内的店铺他都去过。
  • We are measuring the radius of the circle.我们正在测量圆的半径。
2 gathering ChmxZ     
n.集会,聚会,聚集
参考例句:
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
3 awe WNqzC     
n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧
参考例句:
  • The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
  • The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。
4 stomping fb759903bc37cbba50a25a838f64b0b4     
v.跺脚,践踏,重踏( stomp的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • He looked funny stomping round the dance floor. 他在舞池里跺着舞步,样子很可笑。 来自辞典例句
  • Chelsea substitution Wright-Phillips for Robben. Wrighty back on his old stomping to a mixed reception. 77分–切尔西换人:赖特.菲利普斯入替罗本。小赖特在主场球迷混杂的欢迎下,重返他的老地方。 来自互联网
5 aisles aisles     
n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊
参考例句:
  • Aisles were added to the original Saxon building in the Norman period. 在诺曼时期,原来的萨克森风格的建筑物都增添了走廊。
  • They walked about the Abbey aisles, and presently sat down. 他们走到大教堂的走廊附近,并且很快就坐了下来。
6 dressing 1uOzJG     
n.(食物)调料;包扎伤口的用品,敷料
参考例句:
  • Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
  • The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。
7 mittens 258752c6b0652a69c52ceed3c65dbf00     
不分指手套
参考例句:
  • Cotton mittens will prevent the baby from scratching his own face. 棉的连指手套使婴儿不会抓伤自己的脸。
  • I'd fisted my hands inside their mittens to keep the fingers warm. 我在手套中握拳头来保暖手指。
8 overflowing df84dc195bce4a8f55eb873daf61b924     
n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的,充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式
参考例句:
  • The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
  • The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。
9 stashed 07562c5864f6b713d22604f8e1e43dae     
v.贮藏( stash的过去式和过去分词 );隐藏;藏匿;藏起
参考例句:
  • She has a fortune stashed away in various bank accounts. 她有一大笔钱存在几个不同的银行账户下。
  • She has a fortune stashed away in various bank accounts. 她在不同的银行账户上秘密储存了一大笔钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 caravan OrVzu     
n.大蓬车;活动房屋
参考例句:
  • The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
  • Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。
11 alder QzNz7q     
n.赤杨树
参考例句:
  • He gave john some alder bark.他给了约翰一些桤木树皮。
  • Several coppice plantations have been seeded with poplar,willow,and alder.好几个灌木林场都种上了白杨、柳树和赤杨。
12 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
13 stunned 735ec6d53723be15b1737edd89183ec2     
adj. 震惊的,惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
  • The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。
14 dwarfed cf071ea166e87f1dffbae9401a9e8953     
vt.(使)显得矮小(dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • The old houses were dwarfed by the huge new tower blocks. 这些旧房子在新建的高楼大厦的映衬下显得十分矮小。
  • The elephant dwarfed the tortoise. 那只乌龟跟那头象相比就显得很小。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 sprinted cbad7fd28d99bfe76a3766a4dd081936     
v.短距离疾跑( sprint的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He sprinted for the line. 他向终点线冲去。
  • Sergeant Horne sprinted to the car. 霍恩中士全力冲向那辆汽车。 来自辞典例句
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