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So Loved

December 8, 2019

In Cedarfield tradition, the Pastoral Care Team created this compilation of holiday memoirs by team members and residents. We will share one a day through the holidays. Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Nancy Brown, Resident

In the mid-fifties my parents kept my sister and me “in the dark” the twomonths before Christmas. Daddy’s workshop was suddenly off-limits. Mymother would blindfold us before measuring us for a surprise outfit shewould create on her sewing machine. One year we received doll beds with highchairsand cowgirl outfits; another time, tables for our shared bedroom and nurseuniforms. Each gift was a delight, but that table I received may have given me ahead start in my teaching career.

This table was used as a desk, but its top was a chalkboard that could be easilylifted and secured for “instruction.” My class included my sister, younger friends,and their dolls. And I always called the roll. One doll was a “Betsy Wetsy,” andanother when turned over said, “MA-MA” and then “PA-PA.” Others like “TheBride Doll” and the Madame Alexanders seemed more sophisticated than most ofthe students. No matter, this was a diverse class that welcomed those who generallyhad a ten-minute attention span.

I had a growing library of books Daddy thought he had hidden well in his chestof drawers every December. The topics I “taught,” however, were not Little Womenand The Secret Garden, but basic addition and subtraction, simple diagrammedsentences, and a few vocabulary words. We also often sang “Jacob’s Ladder.” Mytopics were gleaned from wonderful elementary school teachers.

It is my parents I most remember. They made two daughters aware of how“…God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son…” and they alsoshowed immense love in such memorable ways.

Voted Best of Virginia 10 Years in a Row!
Voted Best of Virginia 10 Years in a Row!
Voted Best of Virginia 10 Years in a Row!
Voted Best of Virginia 10 Years in a Row!
Voted Best of Virginia 10 Years in a Row!
Voted Best of Virginia 10 Years in a Row!
Voted Best of Virginia 10 Years in a Row!
Voted Best of Virginia 10 Years in a Row!
Voted Best of Virginia 10 Years in a Row!
Voted Best of Virginia 10 Years in a Row!
Voted Best of Virginia 10 Years in a Row!
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