OASIS

MEMORIES

Special Memories!!

CHRISTMASES

PAST

We started our Christmas Holiday with two children, a dog, all our stuff for a week, and a Christmas tree in a Chevy pickup, . We spent an unforgettable Christmas in a wee small place called Copper Basin. It was 6,000 miles above sea level. Snow country!!! It turned out to be the most beautiful Christmas I have ever spent in my life! I had spent several years in Eastern Pennsylvania, but those Christmases could not compare to the one spent in Copper Basin. We were going to spend it on a mining claim. That's right, a real, old-fashioned mining claim!

We had come from Phoenix every weekend for almost a year so my husband could gold mine. It was up in the mountains. Secluded. With an elderly lady named Aunt Belle and her sister Aunt Virginia. Auntie Belle had lived there since the early '50's and her late husband before that.

When insisting on hauling a fresh cut tree up to the mining claim, several things did not occur to me. First, this claim was in a forest. Forests have trees, Christmas trees, right? So instead of lugging a tree down from the area, which everyone else did, we lugged one up. That was only the beginning!

To get in you either took the long way around which took an hour, or you took the short way which took 1/2 hour on a good day with no traffic. The difference? The hour drive was over paved main roads. The other way? A one lane, boulder strewn, dirt path. Down a mountain, through a National Forest, and through the washes at the bottom. And yes, it could be done in 1/2 hour with a 4-wheel drive and no oncoming traffic. Yes, there was oncoming traffic!!!

We had been coming here every weekend all summer and fall. It was like camping out, I thought. No electricity, no hot and cold running water. Matter of fact, no running water at all! There was a pvc line coming from the mining shaft which brought water down to us. It had a cheesecloth filter on the end to filter the silt that came with the one temperature water. Cold!! (That was in winter. In summer it was hot!) At least I could go back to civilization when the weekends were over. Little did I know! And that's another story!

We saw the leaves change during autumn. And could smell the snow in the air as we drove to our "second" home. However, no snow had appeared, yet. I really wanted a white Christmas for the kids.

Arriving like a band of gypsies with my prize possession, our fresh-cut Christmas tree, Auntie Belle wanted to know why we hadn't just cut one down by the house? Now why didn't I think of that??!!

We arrived the day before Christmas eve and settled into our accommodations. What could they be? An old 10' by 65' (what we call mobile home today) trailer. Now remember, no water, no electricity, and the gas stove didn't work. Merry Christmas!!!

Did I forget to tell you that I had a 7 foot tree? With a 6 foot ceiling? And I'm one of those people who doesn't like to cut off tree limbs because the tree is perfect the way I picked it out? Yea, right! You know what happened next. Argument time! Hubby wants to cut, I want to lean the tree. After all we don't have to have it in water. It's too cold for that! The little propane heater could not put out enough heat for that. Well, we compromised. He cut off a little and we still had to lean it.

The tree was placed in the living room. Now picture this. A living room with a sleeper sofa already pulled out, two sleeping bags on cots, and a 7 foot Christmas tree! Cozy, huh? We all slept in the same room because there was only one propane heater. Believe me, as a woman, you wouldn't want to sit down on the toilet seat!

Then it dawns on me! We couldn't use lights on the tree because there is no electricity!! Duh!!! This Christmas was turning out to be a disaster. And I had so wanted it to be perfect for the kids! (Or was it really for me?)

Consoling time. And guess who did the consoling? Yep, that's right. The kids! They tried to reassure me that we didn't need lights on the tree and that everything would be all right. Yea, right, again!

As Christmas Eve Day came upon us we started to decorate the tree. With what? Well, in Phoenix I had made some knit-cro-sheen snowflakes and candles and starched them. I also had brought some of our favorite decorations we had collected over the years. You know the ones. Ones the kids had made, I had made, friends and relatives had given. Our tree has been a potpourri of memories.

We had crocheted snowflakes and candles, paper chains the kids had made after we arrived, old beads from my grandmother's tree, and plastic icicles that shimmered when the lights hit them. Remember, no electricity! And tinsel! Can't have a tree without tinsel! But it still was missing something!

As I pondered the question of something missing my husband was listening to the battery-operated radio for the weather forecast. Please be snow. The kids were helping Auntie Belle bake Christmas cookies in an old wood stove oven. And singing Christmas carols the whole time. It seemed they were really enjoying themselves.

Christmas Eve was drawing near and the forecast of snow was not promising. It was too far and too cold to go into town for church on the slippery roads at night in this area. So we spent Christmas Eve huddled by the propane heater singing Christmas carols, eating Christmas cookies and drinking hot chocolate. What could be better? Snow, electricity, warmth, etc., etc., etc. Why did I suggest spending Christmas in such a remote area? Didn't I know this was crazy?

We bundled up to go to our "trailer" to sleep. As we left Auntie Belle and Auntie Ginger's two room house we gazed into the sky. It was cloudless with a full moon looking down on us, making the air crisper and clearer than ever before. Not a cloud in the sky! Oh, well, so much for hopes, dreams, and a white Christmas.

After we got ready for bed, the kids told me to climb into bed because they wanted to show me something. With sweatsuit, flannel nightgown, socks, earmuffs, gloves, neck scarf, and several blankets, I climbed into bed waiting for their surprise.

First, they turned off all the kerosene lamps and flashlights. That's all we had for light. Then one by one they turned on the flashlights directing them towards the tree. Did you know that plastic icicles and tinsel do not need electricity to shimmer?! It was the most beautiful site I have ever seen! Shimmering icicles, glistening tinsel, and snowflakes on the tree!! What a site to behold!! It's just a shame there is no snow! Oh, well, we can't have everything. And the kids did try to make it a perfect Christmas for Mom!

As I drifted off to sleep I could hear the kids whispering to each other and occasionally raising their heads to see if I was asleep. I guess I did finally nod off because all of a sudden it was light out and not by flashlights either! The kids were shaking me and shouting and trying to get dressed all at the same time. I was having nothing to do with it. It was warm under those covers and cold everywhere else. Leave me alone!

As the kids and hubby prodded and shouted and pulled back the covers the only thing I really remember was their greeting of

"It's Christmas and there is three foot of snow on the ground."

"Merry Christmas!!!"