Christmas Coal

Christmas Coal

by

Kenneth A. Stephenson

“Why coal?” I asked, dusting the Christmas Pecan Nutters. Gammy looked up and chuckled. I was wearing as much powdered sugar as the cookies.

“Save some sugar for the next batch.” Gammy slid a fresh tray of the pecan delights out of the oven. “Coal?” 

“Why does Santa punish naughty children with coal in their Christmas stockings?” I set aside the finished batch of cookies.

“Let’s sit down, I’m not as young as I used to be, and I'll tell you the story of Christmas coal.” Gammy hobbled to her favorite rocking chair, I climbed up and she drew an afghan over us. I snuggled up to her as she began her story…

“It was a long time ago. I was just a young girl the first time I found coal in my Christmas stocking. We were farmers and we had had a few dry years but the harvest this particular year had been devastating. My father was trying to pick up odd jobs just to make enough money for food and the mortgage payment. We burned as much wood as we could find to stay warm that winter and even some of the furniture. Christmas was looking pretty bleak. Dinner would be rabbit and some potatoes. If we were lucky.

“By Christmas eve I found that our friends and neighbors all across the village were in dire situations similar to ours. Even the richest families were struggling. And I thought, “It's going to be a bad Christmas indeed”. 

“When I awoke the next morning, Christmas day, I rose from my bed with a stretch and a yawn, and wandered to the fireplace to check my stocking. I was sure it would be limp and empty but to my surprise it was heavy. I upended the stocking and out fell three pieces of coal and some hard candy. I didn’t know what to think? Santa had come and left me…COAL? What kind of a gift was coal?

“My father, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, tossed one chunk into the stove, and two into the fireplace. They began to glow and gave off the most deliciously comforting heat, and quickly warmed the whole cottage. My father had found three rabbits in his traps that morning and had traded two to our neighbors for potatoes, a bread pudding, and some dried apples for a pie. The potatoes were boiled, mashed and buttered. The pie was baked, filling the air with the sweet scent of cinnamon and nutmeg. Soon the rabbit was roasting by the fire.

“Oh, what a Christmas dinner. That night, after the last bit of pudding, after the last bite of apple pie, with a full belly and such a feeling of joy, I quickly went to sleep. When I awoke the next morning I thought it had been a wonderful dream. But the coal was still burning and continued to keep us warm, day after day, until spring. The coal was enchanted by the spirit of Christmas.

“Some of the children from wealthy families had cried and stomped their feet that Santa had brought them coal. They were so upset they decided to misbehave (even more than usual), and tossed the coal out the window. Later, the rich families learned that the coal had been magic, and burned with the warmth of the Christmas season all winter. They searched in vain to find the magic coal the naughty children had thrown away but it had disappeared.

“The drought soon ended, the fields were ripe again with corn, potatoes and sugar beets. The next Christmas toys showed up in good children's stockings. But ordinary coal showed up in the naughty children's stockings. And still does today.”