By Kari Curletto, Ransom Wydner, Kirk Wydner, and Daniel Wydner
Growing up poor is hard. And we grew up very poor. “Nothing to eat” poor, “no hot water” poor—there were years when we didn’t even have running water. But we always made it through because we had each other. Still, it was tough. There were always reminders that we were different, and that we didn’t have what other kids had. Even at Christmas. How can a mom make Christmas memorable for her kids when we couldn’t even afford to pay our gas bills?
Yet somehow our wonderful mom, Jeri Schoppe, always made our Christmases magical. Her deep belief in the magic of Christmas inspired her to write Christmas True and she used that magic every year. Here are some of our favorite memories of our mom’s Christmas magic.
Ransom
My first Christmas memory was coming down the stairs with my brothers and sisters to a magical room. It was still dark outside, and the only lights in our little living room were Christmas lights. Some of the presents were from my siblings or grandparents, some were from “Mom and Dad,” but most of them were marked “To: Ransom, From: Father Christmas.”
We never had money growing up. But my mom (and Father Christmas, of course) always found a way to make Christmas magical for us kids. When we were living with my grandparents and had no money, the firemen came to visit. When we lived in the basement of a nudist who celebrated Christmas every day, we stayed downstairs on the real Christmas and played Monopoly. And well into my adulthood, my mom would have all of us kids spend the night on Christmas eve so that we could do Christmas morning together as a family.
My mom taught us that Christmas magic isn’t about the presents that she always managed to make or find. It’s about the love we have for each other and for our traditions that stretch back thousands of years.
Kirk
I will never forget the importance of Christmas that our Mom impressed upon us all our lives. She once made me promise that, as a father, I would do everything in my power to make Christmas as magical for my children as she had for us. Which I think is a tall order to fill as it seemed like no matter how hopeless the prospect of scrounging together an amazing Christmas for us was, she always found a way.
Through her resourcefulness, willpower, and mother’s grit – she somehow made it happen. As a child, I don’t think I understood why she bothered so much – I was just happy to have fun with my family/friends and to get presents. Now as an adult, I finally understand that our happiness was all she was ever after all along. And that was worth all the trouble for her. Very little humbles me more than the thought that, despite all the grief I’ve caused my Mom over the years, MY happiness was actually worth the struggle she went through for it – whether for Christmas specifically, or my life generally. She made Christmas a symbol of God’s love for His children, because it’s always been an expression of her love for hers.
We hope that your Christmases are as magical as ours, no matter where you are in the world or what the rest of life has put in front of you. From our family to yours, have a merry and magical Christmas!
Kari, Ransom, Kirk, and Daniel
