home, farm, & garden
The Littlest Gift You may have heard me say it before, but I wasn’t raised in a so-called Christian home. It wasn’t that we were bad people per se, but our focus was more on “working hard so we could have fun on the weekend” type of life. When I was a very young, we were dirt-floor poor, so as our family’s economic situation improved, we moved naturally into the flow of pursuing pleasure for pleasure’s sake. But once a year, for about four or five weeks, something almost magical happened to my family. Each year, beginning around Thanksgiving, we’d all start looking forward to our annual family Christmas get-together to be held at our home. Nearly all the extended family would come, and in addition to the inevitable feast engineered by the ladies of the clan, my mama would always come up with some silly activities that would get us all together for a couple hours of fun and laughter.
by Larry VanHoose tried to watch even a few minutes of this simple, yet charming and heartwarming tale. So, what captured my heart from this silly little story based on a silly little Christmas song, one that some say is just an annoying repetition of the not-even-real words, “pa rum pum pum pum”? Remember now, that at that time I really didn’t have any real idea of who Jesus was, just that he was some little baby that was supposedly born thousands of years ago on Christmas and was the reason we got presents. As a young boy, that was all the was really important after all, wasn’t it?
But was it? As I said, each year I’d sit as close to the TV as my folks would let me, sometimes closer, and be totally mesmerized for 25 minutes by the simple message portrayed by that poor little boy with his pitiful little drum. Who was he? Why was he alone at night? Where was his parents? Did he have a home? And why did he play the drum Mama was also the queen of yard sale treasure for the newborn baby? So many questions hunting, so with a little help gift wrapping "... our focus was more brought on by such a simple little song and from my sister and me, the giving of show. But even with all my questions, the presents for everyone, and I mean everyone, on “working hard so we one message that played loud and clear to commenced with very little ceremony but could have fun on the my heart was, that all the little boy had to with much excitement, especially for the weekend” type of life." give, even in the presence of wise men and littles. It was that one time of year when I shepherds, and Joseph and Mary, all that he saw for myself just how much better it was had to give this newborn king of kings, was the gift of “pa rum to give than receive as Mama would have my sister and me pum pum pum” rhythm from his worn out little drum. And hand out the individually wrapped and labeled presents to my yet it was enough. And for me, each year when the song and cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. She’d even manage story got to the part where the Baby Jesus smiled at the boy to have a few blank-labeled, extra presents handy in the event and his drum, my heart would seemingly leap up from my an unexpected friend or long-lost relative happened to show chest and come gushing out my eyes. Jesus, the coming king, up. No one was to be left out! Truthfully, our extended family accepted his gift, accepted him, a poor little boy with nothing would never have been thought of as even middle-class, so to give except a small part of himself. Even though I did not it was with much anticipation and gratitude that most fully realize who Jesus was, I could never deny the impact that of them received those gently-used presents my mama so song or those words had on this little boy’s heart. tirelessly searched for at yard sales and bargain store closeouts throughout the year. When you have 40 – 50 family members Years later, when I came to know and understand Jesus much to buy for, giving a little something fun and thoughtful was more personally, I began to realize how he used the little a huge undertaking, but it was a tradition that my mama drummer’s story to draw me to himself. A well-known verse embraced and one my sister and I both enjoyed being a part. from the Bible emphasizes his love for all God’s children, even when we are young and don’t fully comprehend... “Jesus said, Another Christmas season tradition that had an impact on ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for me as a young boy—the watching of Christmas-themed the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these’ (Matthew 19:14, animated TV shows! Each year we’d gather around our giant NIV).” walnut console Zenith television with the "huge" 17-inch screen, and eagerly await the annual broadcast of animated As this Christmas season draws near, I hope that we will all classics like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, How the Grinch remember the message that God expressed so wonderfully Stole Christmas, and Frosty the Snowman. My favorite though, through Christ and the gift of his love and life, but also through was one that not everyone appreciates—one that even annoys that silly little story that touched my heart and still holds its some folks (which I find mystifying)—the one known as The place there—that it truly is better to give than receive, and Little Drummer Boy. I'd just turned seven the first time I saw that nothing done out of love—and sacrifice—is too little. it, when it was released in 1968, and every year thereafter I’ve 10 • SURRY LIVING Dec. 2021 Issue
