Story #51 The Best Christmas Ever

From Mark's List

The Best Christmas Ever
In the early 1930s, Margaret Kisilevich and her sister Nellie gave a

Christmas gift to their neighbors, the Kozicki family, which was remembered

by them all their lives and which has become an inspiration to their

families.



Home to Margaret back then was Two Hills, Alberta, Canada—a farming

community populated largely by Ukrainian and Polish immigrants who

generally had large families and were very poor. It was the time of the

Great Depression.



Margaret’s family consisted of her mother and father and their 15 children.

Margaret’s mother was industrious and her father was enterprising— and with

all those children, they had a built-in labor force. Consequently, their

home was always warm, and despite their humble circumstances, they were

never hungry. In the summer they grew an enormous garden, made sauerkraut,

cottage cheese, sour cream, and dill pickles for barter. They also raised

chickens, pigs, and beef cattle. They had very little cash, but these goods

could be exchanged for other commodities they could not produce themselves.



Margaret’s mother had friends with whom she had emigrated from the old

country. These friends owned a general store, and the store became a depot

for folks in the area to donate or trade surplus hand-me-down clothing,

shoes, etc. Many of these used items were passed along to Margaret’s family.



Alberta winters were cold, long, and hard, and one particularly cold and

difficult winter, Margaret and her sister Nellie noticed the poverty of

their neighbors, the Kozicki family, whose farm was a few miles away. When

the Kozicki father would take his children to school on his homemade

sleigh, he would always go into the school to warm himself by the potbelly

stove before returning home. The family’s footwear consisted of rags and

gunny sacks cut into strips and wrapped about the legs and feet, stuffed

with straw, and bound with twine.



Margaret and Nellie decided to invite the Kozicki family, by way of the

children, for Christmas dinner. They also decided not to tell anyone in

their family of the invitation.



Christmas morning dawned, and everyone in Margaret’s family was busy with

the preparations for the midday feast. The huge pork roast had been put in

the oven the night before. The cabbage rolls, doughnuts, prune buns, and

special burnt sugar punch had been prepared earlier. The menu would be

rounded out with sauerkraut, dill pickles, and vegetables. Margaret and

Nellie were in charge of getting the fresh vegetables ready, and their

mother kept asking them why they were peeling so many potatoes, carrots,

and beets. But they just kept peeling.



Their father was the first to notice a team of horses and a sleigh packed

with 13 people coming down their lane. He, being a horse lover, could

recognize a team from a long distance. He asked his wife, “Why are the

Kozickis coming here?” Her response to him was, “I don’t know.”



They arrived, and Margaret’s father helped Mr. Kozicki stable the horses.

Mrs. Kozicki embraced Margaret’s mother and thanked her for inviting them

for Christmas. Then they all piled into the house, and the festivities

began.



The adults ate first, and then the plates and cutlery were washed, and the

children ate in shifts. It was a glorious feast, made better by the sharing

of it. After everyone had eaten, they sang Christmas carols together, and

then the adults settled down for another chat.



Margaret and Nellie took the children into the bedroom and pulled from

under the beds several boxes filled with hand-me-downs they had been given

by their mother’s merchant friends. It was heavenly chaos, with an instant

fashion show and everyone picking whatever clothes and footwear they

wanted. They made such a racket that Margaret’s father came in to see what

all the noise was about. When he saw their happiness and the joy of the

Kozicki children with their “new” clothes, he smiled and said, “Carry on.”



Early in the afternoon, before it got too cold and dark with the setting

sun, Margaret’s family bid farewell to their friends, who left well fed,

well clothed, and well shod.



Margaret and Nellie never told anyone about their invitation to the

Kozickis, and the secret remained until Margaret Kisilevich Wright’s 77th

Christmas, in 1998, when she shared it with her family for the first time.

She said it was her very best Christmas ever