Author: Sharron Burnett

I always loved going to visit my Aunt Opal. I was enchanted by her name which sounded so old fashioned. She was my father’s older sister and by the time he was born she had already married and had children of her own, creating the crazy fact that he was an uncle to people who were older than he was. It always boggled my mind to think of such a thing, but I also saw it as something fun and unique about our family. 

Aunt Opal lived on Wakefield Street with her husband, Harold. Their home was set on a huge lot that featured handmade lawn furniture and an enormous swing set that Uncle Harold had built in his huge workshop. Their home was one of his creations as well. He had built it with some help from my grandfather and it was quite different from most houses in Houston with its stucco exterior that seemed more suited for Arizona, New Mexico or California. 

I never understood how Aunt Opal’s seven children had managed to squeeze themselves into the tiny place that only had three bedrooms and one bath. Six of those youngsters were boys and only one was a girl who played the piano so beautifully that she might have been featured in Carnegie Hall. Aunt Opal’s sons were tall and lanky and adventurous souls who were as entertaining as their sister with their outrageous stories of life along the bayou that meandered near their home. Most of them were grown and gone from their parents’ watch by the time I was a young girl visiting with my mother and father, but invariably word would spread that we were there and one or more of them would drop by to talk with my father who was more like one of their siblings than their uncle. 

Aunt Opal knew how to cook like her mother, my grandmother Minnie Bell. She often invited us into her kitchen where she would literally whip up a couple of pumpkin pies while sharing steaming hot cups of coffee for the adults and glasses of milk for me and my brothers. She worked away as though the process of baking had become second nature, like breathing. Before long the spicy aroma of the ingredients would fill the kitchen and our anticipation would mount. We knew how good those pies would be. 

Uncle Harold often pried my father and brothers away for a visit to his workshop. It was a sight to behold with its incredibly organized array of tools of every conceivable kind. I sometimes thought that his work area was cleaner that the interior of the house. He was adamant about keeping the area pristine. Nary a speck of dust escaped his eye.

My brother still gets a warm glow on his face whenever he speaks of Uncle Harold’s workshop. He tells me stories of our uncle instructing him on how to repair most everything. Mostly he learned how to use each of the tools. According to my brother, Uncle Harold was more interesting and informed than the builders on the program This Old House. Building things was indeed how he had earned a living and cared for his great big family. His hands were as beautiful and adept as a sculptor’s. He was an artisan of the craft.

After my father died Aunt Opal became an important link to our family history. She told us about his boyhood and how special he was to her and the whole family. She brought out photo albums with images of him and my grandparents that I had never before seen. She was a chronicler of family folklore and I loved her stories which she always told while sipping on heaping cups of coffee. 

One time Aunt Opal came with our little family on a trip to see our grandparents. My mother was only newly widowed and a bit leery of traveling alone with three children, so Aunt Opal happily agreed to be our guardian angel. I soon learned that taking a trip with her was fabulous because she insisted on stopping for snacks and stretching of legs every two hours or so, unlike my father whose method was to make time driving down the road without relief for hours. With Aunt Opal we became acquainted with tiny cafes from Houston to Hot Springs where waitresses wore little uniforms and called everyone “Honey.” 

I never thought to ask my Aunt Opal questions about our family even as I realized she was attempting to provide me with our history. I wish I had thought more about what I would one day want to know. Over time I saw her less and less as I launched my own life with a family and a career. My mother would become too ill to consider visiting Aunt Opal and so our link to her slowly faded. One of the most devastating moments of my life was to learn that she had died and none of us had been informed. I felt guilty that her children had come to believe that we were not interested in our beloved aunt.

Aunt Opal and Uncle Harold’s home is no longer where it once was. The land where it had stood was valuable and her many children sold it after she died. The new owners tore down the place that had been hewn with Uncle Harold’s hands. His workshop and the swings and all of the quirkiness of the place was gone along with those wonderful tales that Aunt Opal so loved to tell. Somehow though, her spirit and Uncle Harold’s as well seem to hover over the spot even to this day.

I find myself wondering what happened to all of Uncle Harold’s tools. I think of the antique phonograph that was a prize possession of Aunt Opal. She so delighted in turning the crank to operate the machine and play records for us from a time early in the twentieth century. Mostly I think of sitting in her kitchen watching her work on those pumpkin pies like a master baker while enchanting us with her never ending tales of long ago. I can close my eyes and feel those moments as though they were happening in the present and I think of her every single time that I make pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas, an art passed from my grandmother Minnie to my Aunt Opal and eventually down to me. Now it is my grandson, William, named after his great grandfather who sits and talks while I spin my magic on those pies and tell him of his ancestors and how wonderful they were.

I have been quite fortunate to receive an amazing education during my lifetime, beginning with my elementary, junior high, and high school years. My teachers instructed me to ask questions before blindly accepting or following any idea or philosophy or group. They taught me how to use the process of critical thinking. It has sometimes been both a blessing and a curse to approach the world with objectivity. As my mother often noted, ignorance can be bliss. My choice has been to research, challenge, weigh pros and cons and base my conclusions on a willingness to learn about opposing views. Thanks to the influence of my teachers I continually seek understanding of different ways of living and thinking. 

There is a movement in my beloved country known as America First. This philosophy certainly has merit in that we have many individuals in the United States who are suffering and need assistance from those of us who have more than we really need. As with a family unit, we have to take care of our own and not place them in danger because we foolishly give away help that we cannot afford, but I also believe that we do indeed have enough plenty to share with people across the globe who are longing for the freedoms and opportunities that we so often take for granted. We may be a kind of island unto ourselves, but we have enough wealth and hopefully compassion to share.

I have been greatly inspired by a local doctor who created a vaccine for Covid that does not require refrigeration like the ones that most of us have received. This new vaccine makes it possible to bring immunization to even the most remote areas. The inventor of this miracle, Dr. Peter Hotez, might have become enormously wealthy by selling his vaccine, but instead he gave away the formula to any country that wanted to have an inexpensive and easy to use vaccine for its citizens. At this moment millions of people around the globe have benefited from Dr. Hotez’ largess. 

I have not forgotten the people of Ukraine during the many months that they have endured a war that was forced upon them by Russia. Winter will be long and difficult for them. Russia has destroyed much of their infrastructure leaving then without heat, water and or electricity. Some here in America complain that money sent to them by the United States might be better spent on people here in our own country. I beg to differ. We cannot abandon the people here, but it would also be a travesty to cease helping Ukraine when the souls there are freezing and starving in hopes of defending their freedom. We can cinch up our own belts just a bit and find the funds to send aid. 

I remember when we had the horrific floods of Hurricane Harvey here in the Houston area. There were people from every state in the union and places across the globe sending contributions to help those whose homes had been destroyed. I was comforted to be reminded that we humans come together in times of great need. There are always heroes who ignore borders and allegiances to help the afflicted. 

I have exchanged gifts with my dear friend, Linda, for years. Last Christmas she pointed out that we both have all that we need and suggested that instead of giving to each other, we choose a charity to support in one another’s names. I loved that idea and we plan to do the same thing again this year. There is so much need that I am having a difficult time deciding which group to choose, but I feel so good about being able to do this. I have the wherewithal to be generous, something that my mother did in spite of being poor in every sense of the legal definition. 

Upon my mother’s death we found thank you notes from dozens of organizations to whom she had sent donations. While she often turned off her heat in the winter to save money, she eagerly gave to the children at St. Jude’s Hospital. She may have eaten thin soups to save on her grocery bill but she regularly gave money to missions, Habitat for Humanity, soup kitchens. She owned her home and felt great compassion for the homeless. She often spoke of her mother providing food to people who came seeking sustenance during the Great Depression. She understood so clearly that each of us has something to give even when we have very little. 

At this time of year I always count my many blessings, among them the wonderful education that I received that has led me to meaningful work and enough income to live better than most people in the world. I try to remember those who have not been as fortunate as I am and I believe that it is our moral duty to help them wherever they may be, rather than seeing them as a problem that we must remove. 

I think of the power that we each have if we were to change just one tiny habit of indulging ourselves and instead use those funds to help our brothers and sisters all over the world and even in our own backyard. The power of such a movement would be enormous and would also bring us together in the kind of love that was born on the first Christmas morn. I pray that we will come to our senses and come together in understanding and generosity in the coming year. That is what the true meaning of Christmas should be. 

Three years ago I was hunting for a really good gift to give my husband for Christmas. He wants very little aside from an electric car and a trip back to London, so each holiday season I have a difficult time finding a present that will bring a big smile to his face. Three years ago we were planning a trip to Scotland in the spring, so travel was already in the bag and I was not inclined to purchase an automobile without his inspection and approval. Out of the blue I saw an announcement that Elton John would be coming to Houston the following July for his Yellow Brick Road farewell concert. I instantly knew that I had found the key to a great surprise for my sweet and always generous man. 

I rushed to Ticketmaster and found two great seats, reserved them with my credit card, and printed the confirmation. I placed the exciting paper inside a lovely box and wrapped the treasure for Christmas Day. I was a ball of excitement, feeling certain that my husband was going to be incredibly happy with the prospect of seeing Elton John perform. When the day for opening gifts finally arrived I could hardly wait to see his reaction. I was not disappointed and neither was he. The gift was a hit and he immediately put the date and time of the performance on his calendar. It seemed like fun times lay ahead in the coming year.

Of course, the rest of the story is wrought with twists and turns. The whole world became undone with Covid in late February. By early March cancellations began all over the globe. Not long after that we got notice that Elton John would be staying home until further notice. All of his concerts were temporarily cancelled, but our tickets would still be good whenever it appeared to be a better time for assembling large crowds. We were assured that we would receive notice far in advance of the new date when new arrangements were settled. 

We waited and waited, wondering if Elton might eventually decide to scrap the whole project. Month after month went by with no word alerting us to a new date. So much time elapsed that we almost forgot about the concert that had once filled us with so much anticipation. I’d check my texts and email, but nothing ever came. 

One evening I was flipping through posts on Facebook when I saw photos of my daughter and son-in-law wearing glittery glasses and crowing about how much fun they were having at Elton John’s concert in Houston. I was stunned and immediately checked and rechecked my email hoping to find that there had been some kind of mistake. In fact there was no communication at all. The concert was happening and we were not there. I was devastated and had little or no recourse for compensation. I simply took my daughter’s word that it was a fabulous night of world class entertainment and fun and chalked it up to one of those crazy things that happen from time to time. 

A few days after the Houston concert Elton John came down with Covid and cancelled dates in some cities once again. I comforted myself with the thought that my husband and I might have become sick if we had gone to the musical extravaganza. I decided that it was probably too early for us to risk our health no matter who was performing. I put my disappointment behind me and moved on to other more important things. 

Lo and behold, almost one year after we should have seen Elton John in concert in our city and three years after I purchased our tickets, we learned that Disney +, which we have, was going to live stream his concert in Los Angeles. We would get to see what we had missed after all. Even better was the fact that we would be able to enjoy the music in the comfort of our home. 

We were unable to use our large television with a movie theater sound system because the concert would not start until ten in the evening and my father-in-law’s bedroom is adjacent to our great room. He has come to live with us since the time that we had so many grandiose plans for 2020. We set him up in the master bedroom so that he would not have to climb the stairs. He retires for the evening at around eight thirty because he is ninety three years old. We have become accustomed to using our upstairs television which is small, but useful for the video games that our grandchildren play when they come to visit. It would have to do for our viewing pleasure of Elton John and it did the trick. We donned our pajamas and reclined on our couch rocking along with Elton into the early morning hours.

Elton John at age 76 performed with only minimal breaks for all of the almost three hours. He demonstrated why he is revered all over the world in a tour de force of his many great hits. He is a bit stiff in the knees these days, but his fingers still glide across the keyboard with precision and joy. His impish ways are still there and were emulated by the huge crowd donned in sequins and feathers. He was in perfect form as he performed songs that made us smile and dance with joy back in the sixties and seventies and even unto this very time. For three hours we were young again and everyone was happy and loved and understood. Elton has uniting people with his wit and his talent and his compassion. It was a moving performance that left us smiling and sometimes shedding a few tears.

My husband finally received his gift, albeit in a very different fashion than he had imagine and it was okay. We were okay. Somehow it felt good that in spite of all that has happened to change our lives and the world we are all still standing and walking with one of the greats of our time beyond the yellow brick road. 

I’ve been amazed at how quickly Christmas decorations began to appear this year. I have a mid November birthday that has always been the start of the holiday season for me, but up until recently fall decor was still very dominant from that time until the day after Thanksgiving. Now the lights seemed to go up as soon as Halloween was over. There is a  Christmas wreath on the door of the house across the street and pumpkins and colorful leaves on another next door. It is as though we can’t quite decide when is the best time for transitioning from one celebratory season to another. 

I’m a rather linear person who has a routine that I have faithfully followed for years. On the first day of September I deck my home with fall colors. When October arrives I bring out the ghosts and goblins and jack o lanterns, but promptly store them away the day after Halloween. I leave generic pumpkins in the decor and add a pilgrim or two to the mantle. All of it stays in place until the day after Thanksgiving when I begin to transform the house into a winter wonderland. 

It takes me days upon days to do all of the Christmas decorating. I have to make may trips up and down the ladder to my attic to pull out dusty boxes of the treasures I have collected over the years. I used to have the energy to just get it all down in one very long day, but my knees and hips and bones complain when I try such things now. I have learned to be more patient and do a bit here and a bit there until everything is in place. 

I have to admit that I like seeing the Christmas decorations that arrive in November. I’m quite open minded about letting each family do its own thing. I’d be okay with starting in October if that’s what somebody wanted to do. I actually find if fun to watch the transformation of my neighborhood each year. The decorations and their timing tell me so much about how happy my neighbors seem to be. I laugh at the perfection of some and the haphazard look of others. 

What impresses me the most about all of it is that we humans just keep ploughing on in both good times and bad. Somehow when Christmas comes all of the troubles we have had melt away in the awesome realization that we are all mostly good and loving people just trying to do our best with whatever we have. We stop from the frenzy of the year to be with family and friends. We decorate to demonstrate our joy. Those lights in the windows or in the yard bring smiles.

I remember as a child riding with my family to see the lights of Christmas. We’d choose a neighborhood and go up and down the streets oohing and aching at the displays. There was a place near Wayside and Lawndale streets that had one of my favorite scenes. It was a life sized manger from which the sound of Silent Night echoed into the air. My mother would always stop the car and just sit in front of the house until we had heard the full song and then we would move on. It was an almost sacred yearly ritual for me. I always felt that Christmas had finally come when we saw that display. Sadly it one day went away and I was devastated wondering what had happened to the people who had so faithfully provided it for us for so many years.

When I was a young mom the displays in Glenbrook Valley were always awesome. At one home Santa sat in a huge chair near the curb handing candy canes to the children who came to see him. My little girls were always so delighted when they saw the jolly old man. It was a destination that we never failed to visit each December until it too was no more.

Of late we have enjoyed the spectacular views in River Oaks where people come from all over the city to see the incredible sights. There are even horse drawn carriages that ferry folks from street to street. Some park their cars and walk around taking photos of themselves in front of the extravaganzas. When we go we always follow up the drive with milkshakes or hot cocoa just as we did when we were young.

Our own yard is a hodgepodge of things that we have collected over the years. It’s a bit on the tacky side, but the parents of young children tell us that it is a favorite among the little ones. We have a wooden Christmas tree lit up with colored lights. For fun we have a Grinch appearing to be stealing the presents and strings of lights from the tree. At the corner of the house we post a snowman that is so old I can’t believe that he still lights up each year. We put lights around the flowerbeds and along the sidewalk and line the fence on the side with icicle lights. We’ve never won an award for the best display, but I feel good about what we’ve done. Everything in that yard means something to us.

Every year we wonder if we will have the energy to do our usual thing, but when the time comes we pull the boxes out of the attic and make quick work of the process even as our knees complain a bit about our efforts. When it’s all done it really does feel like Christmas and leaves us with time and determination to remember that Christmas is really about love. 

That baby born in a manger would grow up to teach us all how we should live. We don’t always remember his message, but the annual celebration of his birth sets us back on track. It’s not the gifts or even all of the lights that make the holiday season special. It’s all about our brotherhood and sisterhood in the world. 

As we enter the Christmas season I think of the people whose nations are at war. I hope that my lights shine for them for anyone who is suffering anywhere on this earth. I’ll be putting them on display soon and thinking of how I might do my part to create more peace on earth by letting my little lights shine. It’s good to resolve once again to be our best.

Back in nineteen sixty eight I was a not quite yet twenty year old bride barely two years out of high school. The reality is that I had no idea what I was doing. In fact, I was winging it from day to day, playing a role for which I was not fully prepared. I approached each my life as a wife with a wing and prayer, thinking that I had my future all figured out as long as I had my handsome husband by me side. 

Both of us were still attending college at the University of Houston so plan A was to find an apartment close to campus. Things cost a great deal less back then so leased a nice one bedroom space for one hundred ten dollars a month. Utilities were included in the price. In spite of such a fabulously affordable rate, we were cutting it close with my two hundred dollar a month salary as a teachers’ aide. If not for my mother’s tutoring in living on the edge financially I suspect that we would have been broke and on the curb in a couple of months. Instead I knew how to cook frugally and account for every penny like a miser. 

That first year was an acid test of our commitment to one another because there were literally times when we had nothing to eat in the house but a can of pineapple chunks and a head of cabbage. I’d literally manage to get two meals from our meager fare and make safely to the moment when I held a paycheck in my hands. By carefully spreading out the timing of our visits to our former homes, we managed to actually get some hearty home cooked meals from our mothers, along with leftovers that tied us over for another day. 

Somehow we did indeed manage to survive and when our first summer as a married couple came my husband worked as an electrician’s helper with his uncle. His days were very long because they were stationed at NASA where preparations were under way for the first moon launch. Sometimes he would work sixteen or more hours a day, seven days a week. We felt rich and squirreled away lots of cash in a savings account knowing that the fall, winter and spring months would be lean by comparison. When the new school year came my husband landed a position as a teaching assistant at the university while pursuing his Masters degree. We believed that the worst of our economic woes were over but we would learn soon enough that surprises came along that stretched the budget to a breaking point.

When our second summer together came he landed a job at a downtown bank. We were overjoyed that he earned a whopping four hundred dollars a month. We actually felt wealthy and able to splurge now and again. When he decided to continue working full time at the bank our coffers swelled, at least in our minds. Those horrific moments of wondering if we were going to make it to the next payday were finally gone, but not our need to be careful with how we spent what we had. 

I suppose that it is human nature to have a bit of dissatisfaction with one’s fate because it was about that time that I began to dream of being rich, which in nineteen seventy meant to me having a one thousand dollar a month income. I wondered if we would ever get that close to living a luxurious lifestyle. Even though it seemed so untenable, I kept up hope and did my best to make what we did have work for us. 

My husband moved up in the ranks at the bank and I took care of the home front which eventually included two little girls. I also did odd jobs here and there while earning my own degree. Before I accomplished my goal I had worked in a daycare center, watched children in my home, worked as a pre-school teacher and served as the Director of Religious Education at my church among many other little gigs here and there. Along the way we had reached the one thousand dollar a month milestone, but by then it was no longer the kind of salary a wealthy person might enjoy. My goals reached ever higher as the cost of living increased for everyone. the days of twenty dollar grocery bills and twenty five cent gasoline were long gone. Fortunately we had purchased a lovely home for twenty thousand dollars before housing prices had gone up as well so we just hunkered down and let life proceed. Eventually I became a teacher and together with my husbands salary we felt comfortable, but never rich. We learned that money was a necessary component of feeling secure, but we were content with the jobs and the budget that we had.

I suppose that when two people fall in love and decide to get married they don’t always consider the financial aspects of the partnership. Sadly it’s something that can make or break the relationship if times get too tough. I applaud the young people today for being more conscious of that kind of thing than we were fifty four years ago. Without sacrifice and determination we might have ended up going our separate ways after only months because we had not realistically determined our course. Living on the economic edge is a major strain on a relationship and it was much more difficult that we had ever envisioned.

The younger generation is getting married at an older age than we did back then. it’s no doubt a wise move. My husband and I were still just kids, quite immature if truth be told. We managed to grow up together but might just as well have grown apart because of the stresses that were so much a part of our early years. In many ways we simply got lucky as we stumbled our way through very adult situations. Today’s youth seems to be much more aware that joining together can be lethal without a plan.

I suppose that my mother and my husband’s mom quietly had a great deal to do with our success. They never once indicated that they were worried about our well being, but I know they must have been quite anxious. They found surreptitious ways to keep us afloat without criticizing our efforts. They were as responsible for our ultimate success as a couple as we were. Their surprise visits always came with gifts that kept our pantry filled or provided us with extra breathing room. They did these things with such grace and love.

I suspect that success in marriage requires effort from everyone, including the extended family. If we truly love and support each other it’s possible to overcome great challenges. We did that but knowing that we were never totally alone made the difference we needed to keep striving. Now we sit in comfort reminded of how fortunate we have been. In retrospect I’d recommend waiting until there is a firm plan for paying for the joint venture, but I’d never change what we ultimately decided to do.