A Most Mysterious Christmas Gift — Lucy Seaman

"A Most Mysterious Christmas Gift" is a true story. On December 11, 1944 snow began pouring from the sky over northwestern Pennsylvania, the harsh winds blowing it into high drifts, making roads totally impassable; the blizzard continued with the same strong winds for the next four days. I lived with my mother, father and two sisters, one a year older, one a year younger than me on a sixty eight acre farm one mile from the small farm town of Fertigs, Pennsylvania, twelve miles from Oil City, the nearest town of any size. My story is about December 11, 1944 and the weeks that followed before Christmas. This year, when December 11, 2010 arrives, I will have just turned seventy eight years old. However, vividly in my memory will be the odor of the sawdust coming from daddy's saws and sanders in the big room off the kitchen of the old farm house, the exquisite aroma of candy boiling on the stove and the cozy buzz of mamma's little Singer sewing machine that she sat up at the kitchen table. Our great barn, that was so solidly constructed with huge beams cut from trees on the land is gone. But, that grand old farmhouse still stands. Surely the sturdy old walls remember, as I do, that Christmas of 1944 and the most mysterious Christmas gift! Lucy Seaman, nee Emma Lucy Eddinger, was born and raised in northwestern Pennsylvania. She now resides in northwestern New Jersey with her husband, Captain Roger J. Seaman, a U S Airways pilot, retired. They have one son, Captain Roger Kent Seaman, who is in his thirtieth year with U S Airways. Lucy has traveled extensively, written a number of children's stories, other short stories and has a book of poetry ready for publication. She is also an accomplished artist and a pilot, having acquired her private pilot's license in 1971.