By Dr. Jacquelyn Simmons
Scripture:…And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord… (portions of Scriptures from Luke 2:8-20).
This child of the Living God was blessed to be born into a family in which the “head of the family household”, who was W. W. Hill, pastor and founder of our church, Triumph Baptist. He was my grandfather. We affectionately referred to him as “Papa”. My mother, Mrs. Willie B. Hill, Hilton in pecking order of seven was number six- that is born next to the baby, Wilma Hill Thomas. Therefore, my siblings and I were born into the family custom at “Papa’s” house beginning at 11:30PM and ending on Christmas morning. Purpose: to partake of “Papa’s” Spiritual Food with his quoting from memory the aforementioned scripture for which our text for this message consists.
Believe it or not as the younger ones of us grew older, we were taught to recite it from memory along with many other Scriptures, also. Family members and friends came from distant cities-north, south, east and west to be present at “Papa’s” house in time to be blessed at the event each year. After my “Mom”, Willie B. and “Dad”, Clifford Hilton, moved to Denver, Colorado, they tried their best to make sure that we were present, also. Afterwards, “Papa” gave a brief Christmas message, prayed, blessed all of us and then we sang the hymn, Silent Night. We also passed a container to receive gifts for “Papa”. In addition, we had two relatives who were born on Christmas Day, my mother and first cousin, Robert (Bobby) Powell. We sang Happy Birthday to them and exchanged Christmas gifts among ourselves.
Children gifts from their parents were usually opened after they returned to their individual homes unless family members chose to give them gifts while they were in their company. Sometimes they let their parents take them home and open them along with the other gifts at home.
Various family members had prepared a “complete” Christmas dinner for everyone. Some of us ate the dinners while others took theirs home because that was the only traditional foods they would eat on Christmas day. Why? This is a beautiful idea some of you may want to incorporate in your family: during the Christmas Holidays, each family household held a complete Christmas dinner on every day of the Christmas week, ending on New Year’s Day. Every one of us was told on which day to come to each house in order to share another complete Christmas dinner. That also was an excellent way to fellowship with our visiting relatives and each other.
We usually ended our rounds of Christmas dinner on New Year’s Eve at the home of my cousin, Joyce and Wickliff Bassett and baby daughter Rene’. Our holiday celebrations came to an end and by that time family members and visiting friends had boarded buses, planes, trains, and their vehicles and took up their lives again. We cried at each departure while wondering who would be present to spend Christmas Eve at “Papa’s” house the next year.
