Christmas Past

A Kansas Portrait

The account of Myra Williams Jarrell of a Christmas past applies, perhaps, more closely to present Christmas celebrations though it also reflects the less tangible feeling of Christmas.

She wrote that, "The Jarrell Family Christmas probably differs little from that of others in that the spirit of the season is paramount to common sense: Which translates to mean that we go berserk in the matter of buying gifts we can't afford, getting out from under one year's burden of debt in time to assume other debts that will keep us jumping for another twelve months. Even that, however, is powerless to dim the joyousness of the occasion, especially, as happens this Christmas, the children are all at home." The words were written in 1936.