Homemade Holy Night

She feared this would be her last Christmas. A Guideposts family classic from 1982.

- Ella Ruth Rettig

Where did i get the idea of a family Christmas pageant? I don’t really know. All I can say is that when the idea came to me, I felt that I might never see Christmas again.

It was June. I’d just gone through major cancer surgery that hadn’t been fully successful. Once a month I would travel 250 miles to Houston for chemotherapy, and returning home I felt sick to death.

The days were long. My husband, Gene, is a telephone repairman, and we live on a hilltop in the farm country of central Texas. It’s beautiful country, but I had no energy to go out in it. I’d just sit by the window and watch our horse loping from the barn to the shade of the mulberry tree. I’d lost my appetite and my hair, but, worst of all, at times I was too sick to care whether or not I got well.

My family tried hard to bolster my spirits, but I couldn’t seem to focus on anything. Then I tried playing a little game with myself. Get rid of all those gloomy thoughts, Ella Ruth, I told myself. Start thinking only good, bright thoughts. And when I asked myself what was good and bright, I came up with—Christmas, my favorite time of the year.

If only, I thought. If only I could feel that every day was leading me nearer and nearer to Christmas.

But what could I do? Start my Christmas shopping early? In the summer? No, that would be silly. Well, maybe I could plan a special celebration that would bring my family all together. And, of course, it should honor Jesus’ birth. I had read somewhere that cancer patients should set goals—and a Christ-honoring Christmas became one of my goals.

What I really wanted to do was bring the Christmas story to life for my grandchildren. Maybe a Christmas play… Yes! But how? Where? With what? My mind and body were weak. How could I put a play together?