Holidays in the Holler

Holidays were different in the holler. There were no Christmas shopping trips, no presents stacked high around the tree. The difficulty my grandparents experienced growing up influenced how they celebrated, making the focus of the holidays family and good food. They lived through the Great Depression. My mamaw was born in the 1920s. She told me a few stories about her life growing up. She was her daddy's favorite. When she spoke of him, I could hear the love shining through in her voice. Mamaw’s family worked farm fields. Being a little girl, she wasn't much help in the fields, but she cooked their dinner and supper. She was so small, she had to stand on a chair to reach the stove. Mamaw never talked about the Depression, although she lived through it.

Papaw didn’t say much, but said enough to know he carried trauma from the Depression. He was born in the 1930s. As a child, I knew he had seen hard times as well.

At the beginning of the holler, on the hill to the left, sits a family cemetery. My papaw’s brothers and sisters rest under towering pines and sky. One brother was lost in World War II. He left the holler to serve his country, and he came home to rest on the hill under the pines. The other siblings were babies and toddlers. Papaw once told me some of his siblings were stillborn, and some died of rickets.

I asked him, “What is rickets?”

“I’ll tell you like this: if all a baby has to eat is bean juice, it ain’t going to live very long.” His words have stuck with me, and always will.

I believe the Depression impacted how my grandparents celebrated holidays. Store-bought gifts were minimal and limited to the children. The gift was family gathering around a kitchen table loaded down with food. When I stepped into their home, the comforting warmth of wood heat wrapped around me, the scent of turkey, sage, and celery drifted through the house. My mamaw and aunts packed in the little kitchen, working together to get dinner on the table by noon. It was never about gifts or decorations, but I still felt the spirit of the holidays in their home.